Over the last two weeks there has been a massive increase in direct actions calling for racial and economic justice, police accountability, and radical changes in our approach to public safety in the United States, and around the world, with actions in over 500 cities in all 50 states. These protests, so deeply rooted in the daily lived experience of police violence in communities of color, have themselves been met with indiscriminate acts of police violence.

Los Angeles has seen some of the most dramatic actions, and some of the most aggressive police responses. We stand with the protestors because we believe that Los Angeles needs #CareNotCops, and we need to #DefundPolice because #BlackLivesMatter.

One of the most important things we need to do now is to collect the stories of people who directly experienced excessive force from police and law enforcement during this rebellion. If you have been participating in the protests, if you are unhoused, or if you were simply a bystander who was caught up in the action, we want to hear from you.

We want to collect these stories for three reasons:

1. For our own story book, so that we can properly document and train those who come after us in this movement, so we can remind ourselves, what we witnessed and experienced in this moment;
2. For our grassroots journalism—our community journalists at KNOCK.LA will be telling our stories publicly, because the broader public needs to know what we know; and
3. For our political leaders—because, as always, they need to be held accountable, and they must create and support policies that are grounded in our realities and experiences, or we need to fire them, too.

If you fill out this form, one of our organizers or reporters will follow-up with you. We are not asking you to submit your story through this form, only to let us know that you have a story to share. We are not creating an online database of stories, and we will not share our archive beyond KNOCK reporters and Ground Game LA organizers without your permission. In the form, you can tell us how you want us to identify you (if at all), and in what ways we can share your stories (with ourselves only, the public through KNOCK, or with elected officials).

As always, you can also share your story directly with KNOCK at pitches@knock.la

Keep fighting, change is coming, and we have only just begun to win!