Black Lives Matter Sacramento

As I scroll through the mangerie of social media, I find that I’m filled with a roller coaster of emotions. Be it laughter and a smile from Black boy/girl joy and magic videos, or ponderment as to how people are seemingly living as per usual in these trying times. So on the one hand as I’m presented with this Black magical joy… but contemplation, I’m overwhelmingly filled with sadness and anger (and more so NOW, than ever)! Like when I read another White male domestic terrorist is treated as though his bombing act was benign. To only then read, yet another Black man “fits the description”; and is hand cuffed in front of his children while eating lunch at the mall. Then unjustly escorted outside, to be told later that he wasn't the one. WTF?!

Police unjustly detaining Jamar Mackey. Lynnhaven Mall, Virginia Beach

Public Statement

Black Lives Matter Sacramento releases the following statement in response to the November 27th, 2020 shooting at Arden Fair Mall.

November 30, 2020

We offer our sincere condolences to the family members of Dewayne James Jr. and Sa'Quan Reed-James. It is unconscionable that a family should have to bury their youthful loved ones this holiday season. The shooting deaths of the 19 and 17 year old were entirely preventable. We are calling on Arden Fair Mall to take ownership of its neglected duty to protect its patrons.

I'm going to have to rewind a little before I tell you what happened recently...

Remember back in June of 2019 when we told you about three 13 year old boys walking to McDonalds in the middle of the morning while talking to one of their fathers on speaker phone, getting some positive words for the day, had a gun pulled out on them by Officer Verk with the Sacramento Police Department? They described it as him "having his finger on the trigger while his hands shook." They didn't actually fit the description of the folks Verk was looking for, and this was the first time any of them had been traumatized by police. 

Full Story and Video From June 21, 2019 Here

One of the boys in particular has had to have therapy. It took a long time for him to want to go outside with his friends and just do pre-teen things. He didn't want to walk anywhere, and has slowly had to heal from that...

Well guess what happened...

This piece seeks to deeply examine how much we have normalized the relationship with Black folx and death and yet the beautiful perseverance and creativity of Black folx amidst it all.

The piece is called "The Black boy and his purple jacket"...

Public Statement Regarding Elk Grove Police Department and Officer Misty Johnson

This statement is in response to the traffic stop initiated by Officer Misty Johnson on September 13, 2020, and subsequent actions taken by Elk Grove Police Department.

• We call for the Sacramento City Council to Stand in Solidarity with the Community of Minneapolis, Minnesota and call for an immediate disbanding of the Police
  Department.
• This include reallocating the 10 million in Measure U funds for the police department and allocating all Measure U funds back to the community for real community improvements like those that were outlined in Measure G in which this council failed to support a mere 2.5% reallocation of the city budget to schools and programs that support children but instead remained steadfast in its continued investment in police and the brutality and violence that is enacts on our communities.
• We call for an immediate reallocation of funds from the police department into the communities which have been over policed. These immediate reallocations should follow the 2.5% budget allocation that was recommended in measure G.
• We call for an immediate change to the city charter so that the city manager, an unelected official, is no longer in charge of termination of police officers and that responsibility be aligned with the Sacramento Mayor and Council.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Tanya Faison, Black Lives Sacramento
(916) 581-0061
[email protected]

Press Statement Regarding Faison v. Jones Lawsuit Settlement

Tanya Faison, founder of Black Lives Matter Sacramento made the following statement: