Spokane Demands

  1. DEFUND THE POLICE: INVEST IN COMMUNITY
  2. CHANGE POLICE CULTURE
  3. POLICE OVERSIGHT
  4. JUSTICE REFORMS

LEARN MORE AT SCARSPOKANE.ORG

Friday June 19, 2020 at 12:15 at The Spokane Tribal Gathering Place (outside City Hall), SCAR and its partner organizations unveiled their full Platform for Change..

PLATFORM FOR CHANGE—
RESPONDING TO THIS MOMENT

RELEASED: June 19, 2020

Spokane Community Against Racism (SCAR) and Asian Pacific Islander Coalition (APIC) – Spokane Chapter, Eastern Washington Progressives, Faith Leaders and Leaders of Conscience, FUSE Washington, Greater Spokane Progress, Hispanic Business/Professional Association, MAC Movement, Muslims for Community Action And Support, Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane (PJALS), Planned Parenthood Advocates of Greater Washington and North Idaho, Progressives of Spokane County, RAIZ of Planned Parenthood, Red Skirt Society, SHAWL Society, Smart Justice Spokane, Spectrum Center Spokane, Spokane Alliance, Spokane Ministers’ Fellowship, Tenants Union of Washington State, demand transformational change. 

Spokane has a problem.

American policing tactics are rooted in white supremacy, fear, and violence. Spokane is not exempt from this, even though our mayor, police chief, county commissioners, and sheriff refuse to admit the true nature of the problem. In fact, Spokane has the 5th deadliest police force in the nation. We must end the cycle of fear and violence in our community and seize the opportunity during this tumultuous time to enact structural changes. 

Death at the hands of police is not the only measure of racial violence. Here in Spokane, Black and Native Americans are disproportionately arrested, receive higher bail amounts, and are more likely to die in jail than whites. Our city and county officials know this. They have hired several consultants for millions of dollars to tell them so, yet they continue to ignore the good advice we all paid for. 

We don’t trust them to understand, because they keep proving they are not listening.

At the invitation of the city and county, community members have spent thousands of hours sharing their testimony and lived experience in the name of community engagement. Yet elected officials have failed to honor this engagement by fulfilling their promises to decarcerate and advance racial equity.The residents of Spokane have fought officials numerous times to avoid building a new jail. Still—despite the wishes of the community—the County Commissioners and the Sheriff’s office continue to pursue a new, larger jail without first enacting the totality of humane, cost effective reforms which have been recommended to them over the past decade.

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich continues to defend bringing the creator of “Killology,” a method of police training that teaches officers how to “…overcome the powerful reluctance to kill…” to train his deputies. He has doubled down on his support for killology training despite receiving thousands of petition signatures calling for the two-day seminar and workshop to be canceled. Spokane demands transformation. The unwillingness of the Mayor, Police Chief, County Commissioners, Sheriff, and other elected officials to heed expert advice and community lived experience, their stubborn insistence on expanding incarceration and entrenched racist systems, and their failure to listen to the community, convinces us that the elected leadership of Spokane does not grasp—or is not willing to meet—the needs of our community. We do not need more studies, consultants, conversations, forums, or media stunts. We are not interested in incremental change, but in drastic action.

To that end, we present the following Platform for Change. While we cannot hope to provide every comprehensive detail of necessary policy, we know the shape that change must take. This is the product of ongoing work within our community and around the country and is meant to serve as a mandate⁠—it’s up to our leaders to help us all live up to its intent.

PLATFORM FOR CHANGE

DEFUND THE POLICE: INVEST IN COMMUNITY

SCAR rejects the idea that the only way to increase public safety is to increase policing. The power of state-sanctioned force and threat of lethal violence wielded by police is often inappropriate and inadequate to address the diversity of situations they are sent to resolve. Police are frequently tasked with handling homelessness, addiction, mental health, intimate partner violence, and other conditions in which they have no formal expertise; the result is often harm, injury, or even death for those whom the police are supposed to protect. The weight of these injuries and deaths falls most heavily upon people with medical or mental health conditions, people of color—particularly Black and indigenous people—and people with disabilities. This is not a problem that can be solved with more training. Expanding the power or authoritative scope of police in our communities will not make us safer. 

Instead, SCAR embraces a holistic vision of public safety, one that accounts for the root causes of crime, and recognizes that shared prosperity and community care are at the heart of a safe and healthy society. When people’s basic needs are met, and experts are empowered to work within their expertise, communities are free to flourish. The City of Spokane and Spokane County will be safer when our leaders follow the advice of their expensive consultants, and the best practices indicated by decades of research in this and other cities. We demand investment in historically underserved communities to create a vibrant and healthy environment where all families can thrive:

Addiction and Mental Health Services 

We demand public investment in culturally appropriate chemical addiction treatment and mental health services and diversion programs. These services should include crisis care, long-term in-patient, and out-patient care. Police are not mental health professionals and incarceration should not be a stopgap for healthcare or an underfunded social safety net. 

Housing and Tenant Protections

We demand strong tenant protections and funding for permanent affordable housing to intentionally address racial disparities by providing equitable, stable, quality, safe, and accessible housing for all. We call on our city and county governments to implement just cause eviction and remove barriers to fair housing choice as indicated by the City’s 2019 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. Greater Spokane Progress and the Tenant’s Union of Washington State are working in this area, use their expertise to help shape policy.

Remove Police from Spokane Public Schools

We acknowledge and support the recently passed Public School Resolution Supporting the SPS Student Community Related to Racial Equity, and we believe this resolution represents a promising beginning to the work of racial equity and inclusion in Spokane Public Schools (SPS). In the interest of continuing this work, we demand an end to the contract between the Spokane Police Department and Spokane Public Schools.

SPS has the largest school policing budget in Washington State at $2.2 Million. That’s $2.2 Million spent to support the School-to-Prison Pipeline, a system which disproportionately funnels children of color from educational settings into the criminal justice system. Using police to address student behavior positions students as potential criminals who require management through the threat of legal and physical force, instead of recognizing them as children who are learning to manage conflict and their emotions. 

We demand investment in school counselors, restorative conflict resolution practices, and activity programming which provides youth with constructive outlets and interpersonal learning environments. The ACLU of Washington has been at the forefront of this issue, listen to them.

CHANGE POLICE CULTURE

Public trust in the SPD is broken. It’s the 5th deadliest police force in the nation, and officers have been using the same knee-on-neck restraint that killed George Floyd until June 8th, 2020. We believe it is necessary to start fresh. 

Disband the Police

Disband the police department, and hire a smaller group of officers to carry out narrowly defined, law-enforcement duties. In 2016, the Police Leadership Advisory Committee (PLAC) put together recommendations for the hiring of a new police chief. These recommendations, which could have helped revolutionize the culture of the SPD, were ignored. We believe these recommendations should be applied to all officers hired to work in the City of Spokane. PJALS has been deeply involved in this work, listen to them.

De-escalation Training for SPD and County Forces

While we do not believe the fundamental problems with American policing can be trained away, we support the will of Washington State Voters who voted decisively in favor of Initiative 940. Passed in 2018, Initiative 940 requires police receive training in de-escalation and mental health, and enforces the duty of all police officers to render first aid. It is our hope that with these tools police will be less likely to use lethal force, and that when they do, that force is less likely to result in death. 

De-escalation and mental health training have the potential to not only act as positive tools in the current policing toolbelt, but to provide an additional standard to which police can be held accountable.

Demilitarize the Police 

Our city is not a warzone, and weapons of war should not be used on our streets. This includes tear gas—a chemical weapon which is banned by the Geneva convention—and all repurposed military surplus equipment. Military uniforms, vehicles, and weaponry communicate to the residents of Spokane that the police view them as enemy combatants. Furthermore, militarized uniforms encourage a “warrior” mindset in police, which emphasizes readiness for violent conflict over the relationship-based work of building community trust. Spokane does not need street warriors, Spokane needs public servants we can trust; from their uniforms to their equipment, police should be equipped for the job that is needed.

POLICE OVERSIGHT

Independent Oversight with Investigative Power is a necessity at the Spokane Police Department and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. 

No Contract without Office of Police Ombudsman Independence 

We demand that the Office of Police Ombudsman (OPO) be empowered to conduct independent investigations and publish public closing reports. We demand that the OPO be free to conduct these independent investigations without fear of reprisal by the Police Guild.

A poison pill amendment to the Police Guild’s contract with the City of Spokane, which is still being negotiated, would allow the Police Guild to preemptively file a grievance against an Ombudsman candidate in an effort to prevent their appointment. It further empowers the Guild to attempt to have the Ombudsman or an OPO Commission Member removed for “exceeding their authority under the collective bargaining agreement.” Police cannot control the fate of the body that oversees them. We demand that the Spokane City Council reject any contract that fails to protect OPO independence. 

NO CONTRACT without independent investigative power and public closing report. NO CONTRACT with police guild oversight of the OPO.

Mandatory body cameras for SPD and County Forces

Body cameras should be mandatory for every SPD officer and County deputy as a tool for reviewing police encounters with Spokane residents. Body cameras do not prevent violence, but they can be valuable for holding the police accountable. Turning off a body camera should come with an automatic charge of destroying evidence.

JUSTICE REFORMS

We urgently need to adopt effective, restorative policy solutions that are driven by the needs of those impacted by our justice system. 

Jail Reforms

We demand divestment from the prison industrial complex: NO NEW JAIL; end policies that criminalize poverty, homelessness, and addiction; end cash bail; and end draconian drug charging decisions by the County Prosecutor’s office.

Instead, the city and county should invest in racial equity tools throughout our justice system; release criminal justice system demographic data; and adopt least-restrictive alternatives to jail with fully funded pretrial services. Smart Justice Spokane has been leading on these issues, and we demand our government listen to and collaborate with them. 

Judicial Accountability

Impartial judges are the ideal, but we know that their decisions are vulnerable to the forces of systematic oppression and unconscious bias. For this reason we demand that the county, in cooperation with the courts, release sentencing data dis-aggregated by judge and defendant’s demographic information, including race and gender. With this data, voters—and the community groups who help keep them informed—will be empowered to identify racial sentencing disparities, and if necessary, right them at the ballot box.

Establish an Office of Civil Rights

The City of Spokane needs a fully funded and staffed Office of Civil Rights. This office would work within the City government to advance civil rights and end barriers to equity. It would regularly assess the city’s approach to racial equity, and provide education and training to government and local entities. The Office of Civil rights would receive civil rights complaints from the residents of Spokane, address hate crimes, and ensure that laws against illegal discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and contracting within Spokane city limits are equitably enforced. The Office of Civil Rights Exploratory Committee and Greater Spokane Progress are already working on the structure of this office. Listen to and collaborate with them.

These are just some of the changes that Spokane needs. These demands are rooted in the data-backed reality, and the spiritual conviction, that a punitive approach to public safety has never, and will never, yield a free and equitable society. 

Policing can no longer be the bandaid we affix to every social wound. Instead, we must build a Spokane where everyone is free to thrive. The time for incrementalism and half measures is past. This community demands transformation, and will continue to do so in statements, in public meetings, at the ballot box, and in the streets. It is up to our leadership to listen, and to do the jobs for which they were elected. The people are watching.

Take Action: Send letter of support to Spokane Leadership!

Download a PDF of the Platform

Donate to help spread awareness of this platform

TAKE Action!

SUPPORT THE PLATFORM!

Spread the word on social media

Resource

Spokane Trial Bushnell Shoots Pointdexter: Bushnell Transcripts

Mobilizing or Organizing After the Marches or Rallies

How I See It by Bob Lloyd

There are mobilizers and there are organizers. The demonstrations you have seen and participated in for George Floyd here and across the globe have been successful mobilization events. What is needed now is grassroot organization.

The map on the left are the communities in Spokane where this discussion needs to take place. Suggestions of what you can do in your community are at this link: Mobilizing to Organizing

Sunday June 7, 2020 started off at 10:30 am with meditation and yoga exercises at the Red Wagon. At 2:00 pm the NAACP had one of the largest outside rallies in Spokane’s history. The tone of this rally was set by Kurtis Robinson, Kiantha Duncan, and Le’Taxione. Kurtis Robinson welcomed a large standing crowd at the Lilac Bowl. Kiantha Duncan followed asking everyone to sit down on the grass and center themselves. She had three messages that she wanted to deliver to three groups of people. She thanked all who showed up to nonviolently express their outrage and disappointment with police brutality throughout the country. If there were those who came looking for trouble with signs with hateful speech, she wanted them to take those signs and sit on them. Then she called upon all law enforcement agents to obey the law and treat all demonstrators with respect and human dignity. My observation was that there were no visible signs of law enforcement. Le’Taxione told the audience that he was not speaking to make anybody feel good, he was there to express his strong objections to brutality and the status quo. But he made it quite clear he and the youth he brought would not allow anybody to hijack this peaceful demonstration. If so, they would be escorted out of town. These photographs bear witness to the unified desire that everyone should receive equal justice.

After your demonstrations at the Red Wagon or City Hall you could:

  • Ask 5 of your new or trusted friends for their email addresses and mobile phone numbers so you can set up a meeting regularly via Zoom to discuss strategies and planned measurable actions. Assign someone to send information about the measurable actions you plan to info@4comculture.com so they can be shared at the website 4comculture.com. Hopefully when the city opens up and you can have meetings in public places such as coffee shops you will be able to have these discussions face-to-face.
  • If you can find 4 people that will accompany you to an arterial in your neighborhood each could stand on a corner displaying their signs for an hour or more
  • Walk up and down the block or cul-de-sac where you live with your sign and handout sharing why you march and what others can do to help. This is something you can do alone.
  • Stand in front of the house you live in with your sign and have a discussion about why you march with anybody that will join you. Have two socially distant chairs nearby.

Being Black I am always visible! I am asking you to shed your invisibility.

History Lesson On Organizing

Kwame Ture: Converting the Unconscious to Conscious

Help Name a New School After Frances Scott

Spokane Public School District 81 is looking for nominations for names of new schools and buildings. We nominated Frances Scott for the new middle school in NE Spokane on Foothills Drive. We also nominated Ruben Trejo (see the link) for the new building for the On Track Academy located on the Shaw Campus.

Frances Scott 1921 – 2010

Scott was one of Spokane’s remarkable people – the city’s first African-American woman attorney, a teacher at Rogers High School for more than 30 years, a president of the Spokane Education Association and a president of the Washington State University Board of Regents.

She was also a forceful and stalwart leader in the local civil rights movement, which helped drag a recalcitrant Spokane toward equality. She believed in nonviolence, but don’t confuse that with meekness.

Listen to Scott in a 1982 talk: “We must exercise some degree of militancy … against slumlords, against Klansmen, against people who want no minorities in their neighborhoods, against racist textbooks and against politicians who thrive on bigotry. Otherwise, people will say in the future, ‘You were there. What did you do about it?’ ”

She grew up during the 1920s and 1930s, especially tough times for a black person aspiring to be a professional in Spokane.

When Scott was a student at Marycliff High School in the late 1930s, she and some of her high school friends went to the Davenport Hotel to interview the famous opera star Marian Anderson for the school paper.

The Davenport made Scott ride in the freight elevator.

“My white friends – bless their hearts – decided if I had to ride the freight elevator, they would, too,” she later said.

They couldn’t find Anderson’s room – for good reason. Anderson was black and the Davenport was lily-white in those days. The girls eventually found Anderson in a small hotel nearby.

Scott spoke often of the time when, as a girl, she had to have her appendix removed at a Spokane hospital. The hospital gave her a private room – but only so a white patient wouldn’t have to share.

“I suppose that was one of the advantages of being black,” she said, dryly. “But it was humiliating when you realize why I got the room to myself.”

She graduated from Marycliff and went on to Holy Names College. She married W. Vernon Scott, a Spokane chiropractor, while still in college – and that didn’t go over well with the nuns at Holy Names.

“The good nuns put her out because she married a divorced man in her senior year,” said her sister, Ruth Nichols, of Spokane.

Undeterred, Scott finished her degree at Whitworth College (now University) and then went on to get a master’s degree in education. This was 1958 – a time when the Spokane School District had only four black teachers, up from zero in 1950.

She was hired at Rogers because “my credentials were good enough for them to hire me without doing me a favor.” She would teach English and German there for more than three decades.

She was 54 when she decided to take on another academic challenge.

“She wanted her son to go to law school,” Nichols said. “And we all said, if you want a lawyer in the family, you should go yourself.”

So she did. She graduated from the Gonzaga University School of Law in 1979 – and became Spokane’s first African-American woman attorney. When she was sworn in to the bar, she said, “I want to be able to instruct, as well as represent, minority people in their dealings with the law.”

She went on to practice law on the side, taking mostly civil rights and pro bono cases, while still keeping her Rogers teaching job.

Scott soon found her law degree handy in an entirely new arena. In 1981 she was elected president of the teachers union, the Spokane Education Association. Her election was notable for at least one reason: She had been one of the few teachers to cross picket lines in a 1979 strike. She was able to convince her fellow teachers that she had been bound, as an attorney, to obey a court injunction that had ordered teachers back to work. She remained president of the union until 1983.

She was also deeply involved in the Spokane branch of the NAACP, in the Democratic Party and at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.

Excerpted from Distinguished Woman Left Us a Legacy by Jim Kershner.

The Spokesman Review Sat. Oct. 23 2010

Innocence Project In Spokane

Ricky Kidd spoke on his resilient 23 year fight for his freedom at the Gonzaga University School of Law February 24, 2020

In 1996, Ricky Kidd was wrongfully convicted of the double-homicide of George Bryant and Oscar Bridges in Kansas City, Missouri. Witnesses to the crime testified that three men entered Bryant’s home in the middle of the day. The two victims were found dead, Bridges in the basement and Bryant in the street outside his home. Bryant’s 4-year-old daughter was discovered alive in a closet inside the house.

Ricky became the lead suspect in the case after an anonymous tip came in naming him as one of the killers; evidence suggests this phone tip may have been called in by one of the actual perpetrators. Ricky had what should have been an airtight alibi for the crime: he was at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Lake Jacomo Office at the time of the murders, filling out an application for a gun permit.

Le’Taxione Has Come Home After Serving 23 Years

Le’Taxione has come home after serving 23 years of a life sentence without parole in Washington State, despite the fact that the courts held he was not a “Three Striker” and that his sentence was unlawful. Nevertheless the Washington Supreme Court held that they were powerless to correct this error and Le’Taxione™ sought and received a commutation of his sentence from Governor Jay Inslee. Le’Taxione is living now in Spokane. His mission is to create avenues to be used by youth in their journey to success – while simultaneously providing life altering opportunities to help assist them in addressing adverse childhood experiences, violence, criminality, homelessness, expulsions, the school to prison pipeline, addiction, mental health challenges etc. He is promoting mentorship, peer support groups, self-determination and empowerment. We will learn how at his:

IMPACTED YOUTH FORUM

Join Le’Taxione at the Impacted Youth Forum February 29, 2020 from 10:00-1:30 at Spokane Falls Community College in the Student Union Building SUB lounge. Youth are encouraged to speak at this event.

150,000 Wrongfully Accused Are STILL in Jails Today.

Here’s What You Can Do to Help.

The Breakdown with Shaun King The North Star

.

Join Shaun as he unpacks the most important stories of injustice, racism and corruption, but also tells you who’s fighting back and how you can support and join them with practical action steps.

This story that needs our help now:
It’s up to us to free Myon Burrell! 17 years ago, Myon was charged and convicted of a murder that he did not commit. He is completely innocent, and has been in prison since 2002.

Ep. 179 – Do you know about Myon Burrell?

We can’t just stand by. Shaun lays the framework for how we will free him. Listen for two action steps that should leave us looking within.

Ep. 180 – FreeMyonBurrell.com



You need to care about the wrongly accused. We need to pressure County Attorney Michael Freeman, his colleagues and other elected officials to vacate Myon’s conviction and create a Conviction Integrity Unit to overturn more wrongful convictions. Myon has spent more than 17 years fighting for his freedom, and he is still fighting.

Make Calls

Sign a Petition

Visit FreeMyonBurrell.com right now for more details.

2020 Martin Luther King Days

3000 show up at Spokane Convention Center LINK TO MORE PHOTOS
2020 HOLY TEMPLE Commemorative Celebration LINK TO MORE PHOTOS

This year we gathered as usual Sunday January 19 at Holy Temple Church of God in Christ for the Commemorative Celebration. Monday January 20 we gathered at the Spokane Convention Center for a video presentation about the MLK East Central Community Center, inspirational speeches, Max Daniels of House of Soul gave his rendition of A Change Is Gonna Come with a slide presentation that illustrated previous MLK rallies and CLICK: Those Who Showed Up during the year to speak to power, marched around several blocks downtown, and returned to the Exhibit Hall where Michael Moon Bear youth drummers entertained.

But there were only two action steps suggested.

One was that we spread the love and brotherhood of Dr. King’s teachings and the other was that we show up February 3 at City Hall to ask the City Council to rename the East Central Community Center as the Martin Luther King Community Center.

People leave these rallies without knowing what they can do. What will you do between now and when we gather again in January 2021 for the MLK rally and march? In the next few weeks there are the impeachment proceedings followed by the campaigns for the presidential and other elections in November. We need to get busy.

100 Discussion to Action Groups

If you believe in CLICK: These Principles we need you to go to your local coffee house and form a discussion group with five to ten individuals to discuss issues, plan strategies and take actions. Begin building the community you want to live in. We want to build 100 of these discussion groups. If we have 100 discussion groups we will be able to turn out 500 to a 1000 people to demonstrate, to knock on doors, to participate in social justice activities. Regardless of whomever is elected we will have built the movement we need to support the human rights and social justice changes that Sam Cooke wrote about in one of the greatest songs of all time A Change is Gonna Come.

If you want to join us TEXT (509) 934-3933 with your name, email address and zip code. We will let you know about discussion groups in your area.

Here are some things that you can do immediately:

Read 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action. Click: https://4comculture.com/archives/14129

Read about the 12 things needed for a movement. Click: Where Do You Want to Start?

Listen to Shaun King’s podcast and take his action steps. Click: The Breakdown

Coffee and Discussion Groups

First Thursday Coffee and Discussion

We have all been to many meetings and rallies at the end of which no one knows what they can do.  If you participate in demonstrations, rallies and social media you need to go to your local coffee house and have a discussion with five to ten individuals about what you can do about racial and social justice and community development. Begin building the community you want to live in. We want to build 100 of these coffee discussion groups. You may want to come to one of these listed below. Or start your own and let us know. Be sure to invite someone from the affected classes.

There are now several First Thursday* Coffee and Discussion groups:

  • First Thursday Coffee & Discussion East Central Community Center 10 am (Resumes March 4, 2020) 500 S Stone
  • First Thursday Original Coffee & Discussion 10:00 am Clark’s Fork (meets 2nd & 4th Thursdays) 1028 N Hamilton St #100, Spokane, WA
  • First Thursday Evening Discussion 6 – 8 pm Location varies. TEXT (509) 934-3933 and ask for location.
  • African American Men’s Discussion TEXT (509) 934-3933 and ask for date, time, location.

*These groups originally started out on the First Thursday of each month. Now they meet on the dates and times established by each group.

Call to Participation

Those interested in racial and social justice
Those interested in community development
5-10 people meeting regularly for deep discussion
Willing to meet regularly to plan strategies and take actions

Contact TEXT (509) 934-3933 for more information.

Spokane People of Color Legislative Conference

People of Color Legislative Conference
Areas of Focus Discussion for Spokane Region

Saturday, October 12th, 2019

The summit has three main goals: 1) to stimulate dialogue between diverse POC organizations, community leaders, and state legislators of color to build statewide solidarity, unity and mobilizing capacity on the most important issues to our collective communities of color; 2) to organize a platform for community leaders of color to develop a Legislative Agenda of top priorities for the Senate and House Members of Color Caucus (MOCC) to push forward; and 3) to come out with a working list of who’s working on what issue in what region, so that organizations across the state can build on momentum made at the summit. This is not meant to pre-empt any individual community’s legislative priorities, only build a resource for connecting people and organizations with shared issues.

Racial Justice Community Leaders

“Racial Justice Community Leaders” were invited to the summit and asked to bring their organization’s legislative priorities and were “welcome to invite POC community leaders you know to register for the event.”

Community Leaders of Color

The purpose of the summit was to hear from and connect people of color community leaders and legislators of color to build solidarity and mobilizing capacity across the state for issues that are of highest priority to our collective communities of color.

Below are Spokane’s top 10 priorities for each of the categories discussed.

Racial and Criminal Justice

  • End cash bail
  • Decriminalize driving with 3rd degree suspend license
  • Decriminalize poverty
  • I-1000 (pro) affirmative action (ref. 88 on ballot)
  • Expedition of voting rights restoration of people with felonies
  • HB 1517: Risk assessment, etc. for DV and IPV (need racial equity lens plus broader rep from impacted population)
  • Rights and education for women who enter prison while pregnant
  • True blood legislation

Housing, Homelessness, Displacement, & Human Services

  • Statewide rent control
  • Just cause eviction statewide
  • Fair chance housing
  • Enhance reentry housing
  • More $ for permanent affordable housing
  • Rental inspection
  • Landlord registry
  • Civil-legal aid/right to council for eviction court
  • Build in rent grace period or remove 3 notice protection revocation
  • Decriminalizing public camping
  • Data privacy

Education

  • Loan forgiveness
  • Universal voluntary access to ECAP
  • Full day kindergarten, Headstart
  • Raise ECAP poverty threshold so more people qualify
  • Cultural competence for Pre-K teachers
  • Increase support for teachers plus families for accessing development resources
  • Fund to provide disciplinary diversion to keep kids in classroom
  • More teachers/authority figures of color
  • Race pay equity-equal pay

Other

  • Racial health equity (tied for first priority)
  • Consideration of voting rights/participation in underrepresented communities (tied for first priority)
  • Ask for expulsion of Matt Shea (tied for second priority)
  • More $ resources towards impact of nuclear industry on communities of color (tied for second priority)

If you want to know what organizations and individuals registered for the event and represented people of color in our Spokane community, contact Terri Anderson and Jac Archer, the facilitators of the Spokane summit.

If you would like to see the entire list of issues suggested for consideration click here.

Can they do it FOR us?…

Without Us? I Don’t Think So!What Do You Think?

The deadline for registration has been extended to Tuesday, October 8th for the 2nd Washington State People of Color Legislative Summit (POCLS)

Community leaders of color across Washington are cordially invited to join us on Saturday, October 12th, 10am-4pm at one of nine locations. The purpose of the summit is to hear from and connect POC communities leaders and legislators of color to build solidarity and mobilizing capacity across the state for issues that are of highest priority to our collective communities of color. Further updates:

  • Spokane location: Spokane Falls Community College Buyilding 30 room 212 3410 W Fort George Wright Dr. Spokane WA 99224
  • You can watch a live stream of the Opening and Full Plenaries  here:  https://www.tvw.org/watch/?eventID=2019101012 . You cannot engage over live stream.

You are welcome to invite POC community leaders you know to register for this event. Snacks and refreshments will be provided at each location. All locations have parking and are ADA accessible. This statewide summit will have separate meeting rooms sited at college campuses around the state, virtually joined together using “Zoom” video conferencing. Each site will have a lead facilitator and staff to provide support and ensure a productive conference. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the project manager at jenny.chang@leg.wa.gov


Below are photos from the People of Color Coalition Candidates Forum Sept 28 at East Central Community Center. Photographs By Robert Lloyd

No New Jail

Gallery

This gallery contains 42 photos.

Here Is something you and others can do. Ask your friends to copy, fill out and send the form below to Spokane County Commissioners: 500 N Cedar St Spokane WA 99201

Black Prisoner’s Caucus Family & Community Summit

Duaa-Rahemaal Williams

Duaa Williams organized this summit held at The Carl Maxey Center on September 28 2019 to bring the formerly incarcerated together with the communities they are still a part of. The goal is to bring “humanizing and fellowshiping” into the incarceration system, as NAACP President Kurtis Robinson said in an interview on KYRS radio: