Mourning the Loss of Black Lives: Rally at Pliny Park 7/13/16

As a response to recent and ongoing killings of Black people by police around the country and the reality of white supremacy in our everyday lives, members of the Brattleboro community collaborate with Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, Lost River Racial Justice and Brattleboro Solidarity in calling folks together for a nonviolent rall at Pliny Park on July 13, 2016 to mourn the loss of Black lives and lift up the work of racial justice organizing here and across the country.

Black drivers are nearly five times more likely to be searched after a traffic stop in Vermont than white drivers. In this same state that prides itself on its progressive politics, Black people are incarcerated at more than 10 times the rate of white people, which is double the national average. (Data from Center for Criminal Justice Policy Research at Northeastern University)

We invite folks to participate in the following events and actions:

+ Publicly sharing our grief and calling for change in a nonviolent gathering and march.

+ Speaking the names of the 136 Black people killed by police so far in 2016.

+ Writing letters to elected officials to demand an increase in people of color and community oversight of Vermont Police Academy curriculum and allocating funds for implicit bias training.

+ Build connections around future community response actions and regional racial justice organizing.