Attorneys & Educators for Social and Racial Justice

12/28/2020

AESRJ Demandment #10:

End the School-to-Prison pipeline: Increase/reallocate funding to target & close achievement gaps between White students and students of color/students with disabilities in areas of literacy, math, intervention, and resources.

The school-to-prison pipeline starts in preschool.Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjOVideo by: Dara Lind, Liz Scheltens, Gina BartonRead more abou...

12/28/2020

This is why the culture of policing absolutely needs to be reformed & reimagined, starting with Aurora PD. This is completely unacceptable.

AESRJ Demand(ment) #9:
End Detentions and Limit Custody. Children should not be in chains and adults should be in their communities. AESRJ is committed to making children free - whether at school or if a child is involved in the juvenile justice system. AESRJ supports cash bail reform and pre-trial support services.

Former officer Levi Huffine admitted to ignoring the woman's pleas for help during the nearly 21 minutes she was on the floor, saying his experience is good enough to know if someone is "faking" their inability to breathe.

11/14/2020

AESRJ Demand(ment) #8

Make Data Collection Mandatory and Accessible: All criminal courts shall make available, or collect on their own, demographic information about the race, gender, age, charge, and outcomes for all cases in their jurisdiction. Schools shall make available race and outcome information about children charged from school discipline incidents.

Waterbury schools called the police on children as young as 4 years old, the report says.

08/21/2020

AESRJ Demand(ment) #7

Diversify the Judicial System: we must have a more diverse bench, prosecutorial agencies, and defense communities. All players in the criminal justice system must work to dismantle a racist and unjust system.

The federal judiciary does not reflect the population that it serves, which has severe consequences for both the institution’s legitimacy and the parties who come before it.

08/13/2020

AESRJ Demand(ment) #6

Recruit and Retain Teachers of Color: We believe that the education field needs to be diversified. Representation matters and is directly correlated to student success. In order to retain BIPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Color) teachers, schools must adopt a culture of inclusion, offer culturally responsive training, support, and competitive wages.

Although nonwhite public school students are now the majority in the United States, nonwhite teachers are anything but.

08/09/2020

AESRJ Demand(ment) #4:

Trauma-Informed Training: All police officers, including any school security officers, and educators, must take trauma-informed training in order to de-escalate, rather than escalate, situations with citizens, particularly with children and children of Color.

---“It’s helpful for them to know why people are responding to them the way that they do. If you can understand that a person is behaving in a certain way because of trauma, then you may adjust your practices so that you’re not further escalating this person’s trauma”---
-Linda Douglas, NHCADSV’s trauma informed services specialist.

As calls to defund or reform the police grow nationwide and within New Hampshire, experts say trauma-informed training, which is sometimes intertwined with de-escalation training, is necessary within policing.Trauma-informed practices – or practices...

08/07/2020

AESRJ Demand(ment) #3:

Officers Must be Community Members: whether by residing in the community, undergoing cultural sensitivity training, and/or implicit-bias training. Officers must be engaged and active members of the community they serve & protect.

African-Americans in Milwaukee worry that the elimination of a residency requirement for police officers will worsen a long-strained relationship with the community.

08/06/2020

Demand(ment) #2:

Decriminalize school discipline: Realign school discipline procedures and policies to be handled equitably & ethically as school matters, and not criminal justice filings.

08/04/2020

We, the members of AESRJ, stand for the principle that justice and education are the only way toward a truly equitable society. It's time to reimagine the Police in order to rebuild trust in our communities of Color.
We introduce our 10 Demand(ments). We will be posting one demand(ment) per day, and welcome community feedback.

We make the following demands to Aurora PD & Police departments everywhere:

1. Restructure / Demilitarize the Police: Reduce funding for police and reroute to increase funding for mental health, social workers, substance abuse treatment, housing, and education.

Two of the family's Black children were handcuffed by police at gunpoint, and all four, including a six-year-old, were ordered to lay face-down on the parking lot.

07/22/2020

Our Mission is to dismantle inequitable systems for the liberation and empowerment of our communities and schools.

We are calling educators & attorneys to action. Stay tuned for our first virtual Town Hall meeting in August.