FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2016
Contact:
Collette Flanagan, 214-989-8888,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), at a press conference on Thursday, January 28, 11:30 a.m., at Dallas City Hall 6th Floor Flag Room, will propose 9 action steps to change policing – especially use of excessive and deadly force – to make policing safer, fairer, more proportionate, and more just.
“We began as a protest group,” said Collette Flanagan, who founded MAPB after her son, Clinton Allen, an unarmed 25-year-old African American, was killed by Dallas police in 2013. “But we have always had our eye on actual, tangible changes to the unaccountable use of deadly force by police officers in Dallas and throughout the country.”
Mothers who have lost loved ones at the hands of Dallas police will be at the press conference, with pictures of their children. “We will not forget the victims of official homicide in Dallas,” said Sara Mokuria, co-founder of MAPB, whose father was shot to death by Dallas police officers as she watched as a 10-year-old child.
“We developed our proposals over the past six months,” said John Fullinwider, also a co-founder of MAPB. “These recommendations are grounded in the lived experience of families of victims of police violence, and they are based on our local experience with Dallas officers who kill with impunity. MAPB has outlined these steps in major forums sponsored by the United Nations and by the Organization of American States, and we will be taking them to local, state, and national policy makers throughout 2016.”
Collette and Sara testified before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_ZLnaWeXCk. Their testimony starts at 11:00 minutes in.
MAPB’s Washington adviser, Nicole Lee, represented MAPB at the UN hearing, Confronting the Silence: Perspectives and Dialogue on Structural Racism against People of African Descent Worldwide:
http://webtv.un.org/search/confronting-the-silence-perspectives-and-dialogue-on-structural-racism-against-people-of-african-descent-worldwide/4594719759001?term=confronting%20the%20silence
Her testimony begins at 1 hour 20 minutes in.
Sara presented the 9 Steps in full most recently in Washington, DC, on January 19 at a follow-up meeting of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, where she appeared with representatives of the national ACLU, Center for American Progress, National Council of Churches, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. The UN Working Group is chaired by Ms. Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France, daughter of the legendary author Frantz Fanon; the group has held similar hearings around the world.
The 9 Steps include independent federal prosecutors in police shootings; timely drug testing of officers; psychological and cultural competence of officers; officers involved in shootings to be suspended until all investigations are completed; compensation of victims of official homicide; body cameras for all officers; national standards and approval of deadly force training; changes in criteria for civil rights violations by police; and establishing a federal database of problem officers. The complete text of the 9 Steps is attached.
Click here to read complete 9 steps.
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.