Sign Now: Soda City Justice
Columbia SC City Council
Over Memorial Day weekend, thousands of people marched into the streets to protest the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others. Most of the protesters were peaceful, but the Mayor and the City Council unanimously declared a curfew on Sunday May 31, leading to the violent arrest of dozens of our neighbors, and the violent abuse of power by the police and Richland Sheriff's department. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers at the Soda City Bail fund, most of our friends and neighbors have since been released. But the accountability rests with our elected leaders: the City Council, Mayor Steve Benjamin and elected Sheriff Leon Lott. Tell them to Drop all charges against peaceful protesters, #DefundPolice, and listen to the demands of our movement.
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
Columbia SC City Council
From:
[Your Name]
We Demand that you
1) Drop all charges against peaceful protesters arrested in the last week, and refund their bail or re-invest it in community building, not more police;
2) Defund the Police, and immediately move to fire all officers found to have engaged in illegal chokeholds, pointing weapons at civilians, unnecessarily arresting civilians, or otherwise threatening peaceful protest; https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article243456126.html
3) Ban the use of teargas and other weapons of war on civilian populations; https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/10/protester-i-was-teargassed-lawmaker-im-working-end-its-use/
4) Apologize to the people of Columbia and the Midlands for the ill-advised curfew, and pledge to make amends by considering carefully the demands of protest movements calling for the preservation of black lives, including but not limited to:
4.a) The local South Carolina "I can't breathe" movement: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article243315576.html;
4.b) The 8 Can't Wait reforms for police: https://8cantwait.org/;
4.c) The Movement for Black Lives, especially the demand to #DefundPolice and abolitionist policies, as differentiated from reformist policies: https://m4bl.org/defund-the-police/