On Wednesday, July 20, Black Youth Project 100 Detroit chapter and Black Lives Matter Detroit held a blockade at the Detroit Police Central District Station to bring awareness to what would have been the 14th birthday of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a 7-year-old girl who was killed by Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley in 2010 during a police raid that was being filmed for a television show. The activists are calling for the immediate termination of Weekley from the police department, where he now serves as a co-lead of the department’s Committee on Race & Equality, a move that many participating in the action say was disrespectful to Aiyana’s family and residents of the city of Detroit.
Organizers also highlighted the need to divest funds from the police department’s massive $300 million budget and invest in resources and programs that proactively benefit the community such as assistance for utilities, community health, education, and transportation.
In 2015, it was documented that 258 Black people have died at the hands of the police with the vast majority being between the ages of 18 and 29. We are under attack. We are living in a state of emergency and it is imperative that we do not become complacent. Police violence is not random – it is an organized system of control that is well funded, resourced, and backed by institutions that do not have the safety and protection of Black people in their interests. The Department of Justice has allotted a 2017 budget of $4.7 billion towards grants to local police departments when that money would be best used as a reinvestment into education, employment, health, housing, and restorative justice services in Black communities. Stop the cops and #FundBlackFutures!
“We are here today to highlight the violence and trauma that police cause our community day in and day out,” said Sierra Witcher. “Aiyana should still be living today, all mothers should have running water for their families, and no family should be displaced out of their homes. Unfortunately, that’s not the reality in Detroit, the city dedicates hundreds of millions of dollars to the punitive, mass-incarceration of people, but will not dedicate resources to improve, sustain, and protect our lives. We demand that this changes immediately.”
Police violence is not a result of a few bad apples; it is a result of an organized system of controlling people. The Detroit Police Department just recently escaped 13 years of federal oversight for excessive use of force, among other things. Yet, many saw that the department is beyond repair and still causes harm to Detroiters by using petty offenses and infractions to criminalize residents in a city that is already immersed in poverty – creating a vicious cycle of mass incarceration.
Organizers participating in the blockade are demanding a series of actions:
The immediate termination of Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley
The divestment from the Detroit Police Department and all law enforcement agencies present in the city
The investment of those funds to be used to improve the quality of life for Detroiters including but not limited to:
The forgiveness of all delinquent water bills for residents
Investment in public education
Adequate investment in community health services
A quality safety net for the city’s most vulnerable populations
BYP100 is mobilizing in conjunction with the Movement for Black Lives – a coalition between BYP100, Black Lives Matter Network, Project south, Blackout Collective, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, and many other Black radical justice organizations.
BYP100 is a activist member-based organization of Black 18-35 year olds, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do our work through a black queer feminist lens.
Black Lives Matter Detroit uplifts the voices and needs of the Black community in the Metro Detroit area. We are a Black ran organization for Black liberation. Our main goal is to create sustainable change for our community
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