Black Lives Matter Sacramento

Ahmed Aubrey.   25   2/23/2020 Brunswick, Georgia

Breonna Taylor  26   3/13/2020.   Louisville KY

Jah     14    4/27/2020     Rancho Cordova, Sacramento

Isaiah Swift       23    5/2/2020    Norfolk VA

Dreasjon "Sean" Reed, 21 5/6/2020.    Indianapolis

McHale Rose, 19    5/7/2020.  Indianapolis

Adrian Medearis  5/8/2020

Christian Cooper   57.   5/25/2020  Central Park, NY

George Floyd   5/25/2020   Minneapolis, MN

Tony McDade  5/25/2020 Tallahassee, FL

Sha' Teina Grady 5/26/2020 Michigan (beaten by police)

This is just an informative update on some of the work we are doing, stats we are following, and accountability we are trying to take..

As you know all the cities in California are on lock down. For that reason most govt business is being conducted from cameras in homes. Virtually. 

We decided to look at the agenda of the West Sacramento City Council meeting and it turns out that the May 20, 2020 meeting had an agenda item (#7) that was a report on "21st Century Policing." 

The fact that they have a quarterly report is a good thing. Whats even greater is that the demographics of this council is representative of the demographics of its population. 
We will see how that pans out tho..

Well here is the PDF to the report: https://blob.cityofwestsacramento.org/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=17615

And here was my emailed public comment: 

Read further for the response...

On April 27th 202 Rancho Cordova police Officer Brian Fowell beat a 14 yo boy for an adult buying him a Swisher cigar. Fowell punched the boy several times, held his face to the ground and to the curb by his neck, and twisted his arms around as if he was trying to break them.

Black Lives Matter Sacramento will be fighting for this family to get justice.

Video of the incident

Dear Cheif Hahn,

On March 27th 2020 at around 5pm, Sacramento Police terrorize a Black family at their home. They first said they were coming for a probation search. They demanded all people leave the home with guns drawn on the home and on the family. The search, if that was why they were there, would have only had to have been on the room of the person on probation, who was not present.


Recent incident

On December 23rd 2019 at 11am the family and Black Lives Matter Sacramento held a press conference to speak with the media about Antonio Thomas being found unresponsive in the Sacramento County Jail no more than 2 days after his arrest.

12/7-12/8 - Antonio Thomas was arrested by Citrus Heights Police Department and brought to jail (we dont know the actual date because Sac Sheriff and CHPD is not giving us any information and Antonio's info has been wiped from the Sacramento County Jail website)

12/9/19 - We are assuming this is the day the Sacramento Sheriff Department found Antonio unresponsive in the Jail.

12/9/19 - In the morning at 10 am (according to the hospital) Antonio was brought to the hospital with no brain activity and in a coma.

12/10/19 - The Sacramento Police Department drove all the way to another jurisdiction (Citrus Heights) to tell Antonio's mother that he was at UC Davis and that she should go see him. This was after telling her on the phone that no one is hurt and not to worry.

12/10/19 - Present - Antonio's mother and family have not left his side in ICU. Not one law enforcement agency involved has provided her any information, video, calls, nothing...

We brought this to the attention of the community through media...

Antonio Thomas, a 39 year old Black Man from Citrus Heights was arrested on the 7th or 8th of December. 

This information is still unclear because the family has not been provided the original reason for arrest by Citrus Heights Police, and detention by the Sacramento Sheriff's Department.

The mother of Antonio Thomas was contacted on December 10th, by The Sacramento Police Department and was told at that time that there was not a problem and that no one had been killed or hurt, they just needed to speak with her.

Antonio’s mother agreed to meet with the Sacramento Police Department. 

Antonio’s Mother was informed that the Sacramento Sheriff's Department had found Antonio in his cell and he had been transported to UC Davis Medical Center where she was informed that she needed to visit him.  

By Regina Brown Wilson | California Black Media

This is a direct appeal to Governor Newsom, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez and our entire state legislature. I’m writing this on behalf of the more than 20 African American-owned newspapers that operate in cities and towns across California.

As the leaders we’ve elected to represent and protect the interests of all Californians, we are asking each of you to search your hearts, look beyond blind spots, step in, and do the one thing that will prevent Assembly Bill 5 from putting the Black press in California out of business.

That is: Exempt the contract couriers who deliver our newspapers from being reclassified as employees under AB 5.

YES! YOUR GENTRIFYING IS ACTUALLY COLONIZING!

Let's give a little history before we get started...

Redlining was done to limit access to where Black folks could live.

We were not allowed to live in most places, and the places we did live in became our safe spaces.

Unfortunately history still reflects in our neighborhoods today.

That is exactly why Oak Park has mostly been a predominately Black neighborhood.

This isn't about who lived there first, or last, or next. This is about Black folks being told "you cannot live in East Sac but you can live in Oak Park"

...then "we (the state) are going to contribute to your poverty and access to healthy living."

So for decades white folks were able to have more choices than us, and didn't want to be in our spaces.

White supremacy has it so you can come into this predominately Black neighborhood, buy our homes, flip them and then raise the prices. Pushing us out of one of the very limited safe spaces in this city.

Black folks have historically been told where they can and cannot be.

So complaints about gentrification cant be deflected to "not being able to pick what color you are" ("I cant help it that I am white"), or "we need you to be united with us" (telling Black folks to unify with the status quo is silencing our concerns and our needs), or putting a stick in the ground and calling it yours. 

Oak Park artist, Mozzy. Image Credit to Real Street Radio www.realstreetradio.com