FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2016
Contact:
Collette Flanagan,collette@mapbdallas.com
Sara Mokuria, 214-454-3980,sara.mokuria@gmail.com
John Fullinwider, 214-683-2493,jhfullinwider@gmail.com
Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB), presents the 1st Annual Clinton R. Allen Youth Speak Out on March 19. 2016 from10am-4pm at the South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 S. Fitzhugh Ave. Dallas, TX 75210 to provide a platform to Dallas area youth and their families to voice their stories of police harassment and brutality. The Speak Out is in honor of Clinton R. Allen. Clinton, a 25-year-old African American, was unarmed on March 10, 2013, when he was shot to death 7 times – once at close range in the back – by Dallas police officer Clark Staller (who is still employed with the Dallas Police Department).
According to the “Black Millennials in America” report , 54.4 percent of black youth know someone, including themselves, who has been harassed by the police. Sara Mokuria, co-founder of MAPB says, “We live in segregated neighborhoods, our children attend segregated schools and our communities are policed differently. Racial profiling and police harassment is sadly expected and accepted as normal in the Southern sector.”
Radio stations-K104.5, 97.9FM and SoMetro Radio will live broadcast on site as youth and their family members share their stories through testimonies and creative expressions. From the most egregious instances of abuse to the everyday interactions with law enforcement the lives of Dallas area youth are impacted. The systemic lack of accountability and unequal treatment leaves youth feeling angry, fearful and frustrated. . MAPB is dedicated to creating platforms like this speak out for the silenced voices in the Dallas area to express how their lives are affected by encounters with law enforcement. For more information, visit Mothers Against Police Brutality on Facebook, or at: www.mothersagainstpolicebrutality.org
Click here to read MAPB’s Plan to End Police Brutality.
About Mothers Against Police Brutality
Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB)
Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB) is an emerging, Dallas-based multi-generational, multi-racial, and multi-ethnic coalition uniting people nationally, from all walks of life, to hold law enforcement agencies more accountable. Collette Flanagan founded MAPB in 2013 after her son, Clinton Allen, an unarmed young man in custody, was shot to death by a Dallas police officer. MAPB works for an immediate end to the use of deadly force against unarmed persons; for changes in the overall use of excessive and deadly force to stop unnecessary injury and death; for changes in the treatment of mentally ill persons by police; for assistance to the families of the victims of police violence; for transparency and objectivity in the investigations of police misconduct; and for other changes in police policies and procedures to protect the lives of civilians, with a particular focus on protecting the lives of African American and Latino youth. Transforming grief into determination, Flanagan and MAPB are leading the charge to change deadly force policy in Dallas and throughout the U.S., to support families who have lost loved ones to police violence, and to help restore trust between the police and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect.