Tell Your Senators To Approve George Floyd Bill

4 March 2021, Washington DC – The House passed a bill that may prevent deaths such as that which George Floyd suffered at the hands of police.

The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing.

As NBC reports, “The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, H.R. 1280, passed 220-212.

“A version of the bill passed last year but stalled in the Senate, which was then under Republican control. The House bill passed Wednesday night still has to go to the Senate, where it will need at least 10 Republican votes for passage.

“The bill is named after Floyd, the Black man who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for minutes.

“The officer, Derek Chauvin, was fired, and he faces charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

“His trial and jury selection are scheduled to begin Monday.

“The bill, among other things, would ban neck restraints and “no knock” warrants in drug cases at the federal level. It would also reform qualified immunity, which is a doctrine that makes it difficult to sue officers.

“Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., who introduced the bill, said she is confident that House members will be able to work with the Senate to get it passed. She said that after the last bill passed, “many of our Republican colleagues said they thought they could get to yes on this, but they had some difficulties.”

ACTION

Please tell your senators you want this bill passed!

Please contact your senators through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

I urge you to support the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in every way possible.  There is urgent need to reform the nation’s police forces. 

Naturally there will be opposition to this bill:  opponents want the status quo.  We cannot afford to allow innocent people, whether suspected of a crime or not, to continue to be fatally shot, suffocated,  injured.  I call on you to address the gun culture, violence, racial prejudice that is accepted by far too many police forces. No reasonable person can object to this bill, and I will be watching to see how you help it along and that you approve it.  If you do not intend to support it, I want to hear from you urgently with your reasoning. 

I am a member of gun law reform group One Pulse for America, and I will not tolerate the status quo.  There must never be another death like George Floyd’s or Breonna Taylor’s.  I am convinced the bill’s changes to the use of lethal force, no-knock raids, and mandatory bodycam use will absolutely save lives.  As the police are so keen to say when it suits them ‘if you aren’t doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear’:  a good police officer should welcome, not fear, the act.

 

Phone:   (202) 224-3121

Use this link to find your senators:  https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

Breonna’s Law: Support KY Rep Attica Scott’s proposal

They arrested her and her friends who were caught in a police net during a peaceful protest and charged them with vandalism and felony rioting charges.

The arresting officer made her stop filming events ‘or her phone would be broken’.

They waited ages until the hard evidence and public outcry made them drop the trumped-up charges.

They let ridiculous felony charges hang over her head for weeks.

 

Still, she persists.

Please click here for details and to sign Kentucky Representative Attica Scott’s call for Breonna’s Law, which would see the end of deadly ‘no knock’ raids and increase police accountability.

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

SUCCESS! Charges Dropped Demand Trumped-up charges against Rep Scott are dropped

UPDATE 6 October 2020 – we are delighted to report all charges have been dropped. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to act.

The Louisville prosecutorial forces shockingly found nothing wrong with the actions of police who killed Breonna Taylor and shot her partner in a bungled raid.

They have however shockingly decided  to charge elected Representative Attica Scott with regard to rioting:  for trying to get to a church before curfew as police blocked her route.

Quoting news outlet WFPL:

“Scott is the only Black woman in the Kentucky legislature and is the sponsor of Breonna’s Law For Kentucky, a bill that seeks to ban no-knock warrants, create penalties for officers who don’t turn on their body cameras and require drug testing of officers involved in shootings.

“She also previously served on Louisville Metro Council.

“Scott said her arrest is another instance of Louisville police responding poorly during the protests.

“’They’ve used these militarized assault weapons against us, weapons of chemical warfare. And this week has been no different,” Scott said. “It’s as if they want war, they want battle with the people they are paid to protect and serve.’

“Scott recorded the event in a video on Instagram, which begins nearly eight minutes before her arrest. The video shows Scott and a group of people walking to a Unitarian church that was providing shelter for protesters, but at several points police block their way.”

County Attorney Mike O’Connell has refused to comment.

There will be a Rally + Press conference :  organisers said “on our court date 10/6 1pm. Please join us as we speak on Breonna’s law & our false arrest and how we go forward from here.”

ACTION:

Please contact Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

I write to demand you drop any and all charges against Representative Attica Scott and those arrested with her.

The world has had a chance to see her video of the minutes leading to the arrest.  You have no evidence linking her to vandalism or any crime.  Zero.

Ms Scott is a peaceful, legally-elected representative of the people.  The only evidence shows people were prevented by police from getting to a church in time for curfew and that an officer threatened to break her mobile phone.  Even the library you allege without proof she had a hand in vandalizing wrote a statement supporting her:  what are you doing??

I expect to have a reply from your department immediately – you surely know you are doing the wrong thing here.

 or this tweet

@JeffCoAttyKY Drop trumped-up charges against Rep Attica Scott: You can’t be seriously trying to press charges re rioting – we’ve seen the video:- police corralled her and her small peaceful group and police threatened to break her phone. She’s an elected rep- you’ve gone 2 far.

Phone:  (502) 574-6336

Email: (form) https://louisvilleky.wufoo.com/forms/contact-the-jefferson-county-attorney/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jcamikeoconnell 

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JeffCoAttyKY

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

 

 

Sign letter on Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Finding

Louisville – a grand jury that met in secret decided to hold  NO ONE accountable for the shooting death of Breonna Taylor.

We agree with her family and their lawyer who called this a sham.

We will publish the letter below, and send copies to relevant law enforcement agencies, to Ms Taylor’s family’s attorney, to local media, to relevant elected officials.

Please also share it on social media.

To have your name added as a signatory, please add your name, town and state in the comments on the One Pulse post.

We the undersigned members of One Pulse for America are appalled and angry that a Kentucky Grand Jury ruled no one is guilty for the death of Breonna Taylor, shot multiple times in her own home during a late-night raid which should never have been authorized in the first place.

One Pulse for America is an 81,000-strong gun law reform group formed by actor and activist George Takei following the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub.

We agree with Ms Taylor’s family that these were ‘sham proceedings’.

We agree with lawyer Ben Crump who said “nothing seems to say Breonna mattered,” adding that the Kentucky grand jury carried-out a “sham proceeding that did nothing to give Breonna Taylor a voice.”

We understand FBI findings as to her death were disregarded.  We welcome the FBI’s findings and will be watching closely.

We demand that the officers and those who planned this raid be charged appropriately; this has not happened.

We demand that recruitment and training be immediately upgraded.

We demand law enforcement agencies actively seek out and expel anyone who espouses racist, bigoted views:  they cannot ‘protect and serve’.

We demand an immediate end to ‘no knock’ and ‘dawn’ raids as they cannot be conducted without innocent people being hurt or killed as we have seen before now.

Finally, we express our sincere sympathy to all of Breonna’s family, friends, colleagues – and to all those who are suffering because of her death.

We reaffirm our call to reform America’s gun laws.

Breonna Taylor 5 Months on: Many excuses, Zero arrests

Kentucky 13 August 2020 – Five months ago a young woman was shot while sleeping at her home during a no-knock police raid that should never have happened. They shot her – and left her with not even an attempt at medical intervention for twenty minutes while they went outside to deal with an injured member of the raiding party.  Many feel arrests should have taken place immediately on this one point alone.

We are mean to wait patiently for Attorney  General to investigate.

No one in power is explaining why they have not arrested her killers for shooting her.

As things stand, any Kentucky policeman knows they are free to go into a home, shoot someone dead, and that nothing will happen.

As expected, Senator Mitch McConnell, darling of the NRA, has done nothing to call for charges.  His making feeble comments such as ‘my guess is this investigation is more complicated than it appears‘ throws an unacceptable, biased shade on  the ongoing, lumbering investigation.  Where do we get five month-long investigations over a shooting death without arrest when it is a member of the public who has pulled the trigger?  Never.  Police were quick enough to arrest Mr Walker, who had no idea the non-uniformed people breaking into his home in the middle of the night were police  – he had a  license and under state law was protecting his life (charges were rightly dropped).  There were at least 25 shots fired and at least 8 of those hit Ms Taylor.  And no one has been arrested for this crime,

Oprah Winfrey has arranged for some powerful billboards to be placed, people are calling for action, and we will join them.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron offered condolences to the family during their recent meeting, the first time he’s spoken with the family. He told them he didn’t reach out previously because he feared it could interfere with his investigation. His office is waiting on ballistics reports from the FBI and additional interviews before any decisions are made, Baker added.

There were only five people in the home.  One of them cannot speak.  There should be no need to widen out this investigation before arresting the clearly trigger-happy, unprofessional officers with charges relating to the incident.

ACTION:

Please take one or both of these actions:

  1.  Take or re-take this action alert we did earlier – just follow this link, take the action, and please fill in the boxes at the end to show you have done it https://www.onepulseforamerica.com/action-alert/breonna-taylor-demand-arrest-charges-for-her-killers/
  2. Share this image on your own social media and/or please share it on the social media of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and or AG Tom Wine.  Click on the picture and you can save it to your computer, and be able to share it,

Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine
Jefferson County, KY
Phone: (502) 595-2300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louisvilleprosecutor/

Mitch McConnell
Phone:  (270) 781-1673
Email:  (form) https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactform
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mitchmcconnell/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/senatemajldr

 

 

Breonna Taylor: Demand arrest, charges for her killers

This Action Alert is taken with permission from a Facebook post by Ladd Everitt:  “Hey folks, I wanted to re-up this contact info because there are still no charges in the murder of Breonna Taylor!”  he wrote; it is inconceivable that those involved are not yet facing charges

ACTION:

If you want to see the officers who killed Taylor charged, call commonwealth’s attorney Tom Wine in Jefferson County, Kentucky and give him the following message:

Tom, I am absolutely furious you have not filed charges against plainclothes officers Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, Detective Brett Hankison and Detective Myles Cosgrove for the murder of Breonna Taylor during a no-knock raid on March 13.  They shot Breonna 8 times, killing her, despite the fact she had absolutely nothing to do with the criminal investigation in question.

I am watching this case very closely and if you don’t act I am going to make it my personal mission in life to ensure (peacefully) you never see elected or appointed office again. If you don’t have the character to hold out-of-control officers in your county accountable and bring justice for Breonna and her family, we will replace you with someone who does. Count on it.

You’ll hear from me again soon.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine
Jefferson County, KY
Phone: (502) 595-2300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louisvilleprosecutor/
Twitter:

General information about the case can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Breonna_Taylor

Show the press you support and value them

June 2020 – peaceful protests called in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have experienced attempts to hijack them by a number of extremists, racists, and police.  Over 100 members of the press have been attacked by police wholly against Constitutional rights:  journalists have been arrested, beaten, even shot with rubber/plastic bullets – designed not to kill but to inflict serious injury.  Several peaceful protesters have been assaulted by police; several have been shot.  These peoples’ constitutional rights have been unduly taken from them.  The reason we know about these grave assaults on people and on all of our liberties is because of journalists and the media.

It is not so long ago that crowds of anti-lockdown protestors, in many cases heavily-armed men in quasi-military garb held aggressive protests and  stormed a state capital.  They screamed at people trying to perform their jobs; they endangered public safety because they refuse to believe in the Covid-19 virus, and threatened violence if their rights were ‘removed’- which was only ever a temporary measure for the good of public health.  The vast majority of these people were never met with police brutality or arrests.

This is the most crucial turning point in our country’s and our society’s future many of us will ever see.  In order to stay informed, receive facts and avoid propaganda, we 100% need a free, unhampered press – as the Constitution guarantees.

There are those who have distorted the Second Amendment past all reason, morality and logic.  A ‘well-regulated militia’ for some means any disgruntled person can get a deadly, rapid-fire weapon – and kill innocent adults and children.  Yet the same people who will not brook any criticism of their interpretation of the 2nd Amendment do not remotely want to see other amendments upheld when these rights pertain to freedom of the press or indeed the basic human rights of equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

While a nation mourns George Floyd and the many victims who have gone before him, for instance two innocent black people who were shot to death, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor (it is her birthday; she should be blowing out 27 candles as I write), we have a White House hostile to black people, women, ethnic minorities, LGBT people, veterans and asylum seekers.  The horrors this administration has created include caging asylum-seekers and taking their children, hampering LGBT people who had careers in the military, removing womens’ rights, the creation of ICE, and more.  These injustices are brought to our attention by a free press – and that is why, using language of dictators past, Donald Trump calls the press ‘the enemy of the people.’

We need every citizen to vote, however hard those opposed to this try to disenfranchise voters; votes should be informed with access to accurate, full, timely news reporting.

We need everyone to uphold the rights of the press – and by the press we mean those news outlets large and little that are looking to report and record the truth of what is going on so we may make informed choices: not those who bombard us with lies to support tyranny and their owners’ self-interests.

ACTION:

You can add your name, town and state to the post this Action Alert appears in, and your name will be added to our One Pulse letter which will be sent to various news outlets.  You can also contact one of the major news networks (I have only chosen a few – please find your own favourites)  and/or your regional news sources through one of the channels below  and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

I am a member of One Pulse for America, a gun-law reform group started by George Takei.  I wanted to let you know that I greatly appreciate the news you bring us and the sacrifices and dangers your news crews increasingly face to bring us accurate reporting.  Only a dictator would call the responsible press ‘enemies of the people’; only a coward with much to hide would try to villify the press, and I am not buying it. 

I want to see any police officer who impedes the constitutionally-protected rights you have to report brought to justice.  No reporter should be arrested, threatened – let alone assaulted or shot. 

My respect to all who bring us the truth, and my contempt to those who want to stop you, or those who want to deliver propaganda as news.  Thank you.

MSNBC
Email:
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/msnbc/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MSNBC

ABC
Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/ABCNews/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ABC

CBS
Facebook:
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CBSNews

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

Sleeping while black: demand justice for Breonna Taylor

Grieving parents of Breonna Taylor are suing police.  She was shot in a bungled raid on the wrong address – as police searched for a man they already had in custody.

As AOL News reports “Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT worker in Louisville, Ky., was shot in her bed after midnight on March 13 by three police officers serving a “no-knock warrant,” becoming another statistic in the long list of African-Americans killed at the hands of police. What makes the case unusual is that Taylor was a woman.  And, of course, she was asleep.”

“The incident is still being investigated and Taylor’s family is suing Louisville Metro Police Department Officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankinson and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly alleging wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence. According to the suit, the police fired more than 20 rounds in the apartment. Taylor was hit eight times and pronounced dead at the scene.”

“The officers were looking for a drug suspect who lived 10 miles away and was already in police custody, according to the Courier-Journal. Police said the suspect had used the address where Taylor lived with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, to receive packages in the mail.

“No drugs were found in the apartment, and neither Taylor nor Walker has an arrest record.”

Mr Walker, thinking he was being raided and robbed, opened fire during the no-knock raid.  Police are attempting to use this as a feeble excuse for their ineptitude and shooting.

ACTION:

We will write to Governor Andy Beshear to demand the officers and those who ordered this raid be brought swiftly to trial, are immediately thrown off the force, their past use of firearms is examined, and their backgrounds investigated for any links to far right/racist groups.  We will demand the end of such raids;  Ms Taylor is the latest victim in a’ war on drugs’ that no one is winning.

Please contact Governor Andy Beshear through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

The reasons for Breonna Taylor’s death include negligence, bungling, gun culture in the police, the ‘war on drugs’ – and quite possibly institutionalized racism:  it’s up to you to ensure these angles are all investigated.  You need to end ‘no-knock’ raids, and armed raids on homes before more innocent people are hurt or killed.

The police involved were apparently looking for drugs – with fatal force:  and looking for a man already in custody.  No-knock raids combined with existing gun laws are a recipe for death.  People are allowed to arm themselves to protect their property – and yet armed police can storm into such property and shoot at will, killing people like Ms Taylor:  this makes no sense at all.  What would have happened if officers checked records and custody records?  She would be alive.  What would happen if police did not swarm into her home in the dead of night, making householders fear for their lives as if they were living in a third world country warzone?  She would still be alive.  What if police waited until a person exited a  house, checked their description to the wanted suspect and then calmly arrested them – only if warranted?  She would still be alive.  Is a drugs arrest worth rights violations and death?  NEVER.

Things as they stand are rancid.  We need an investigation into the background of those involved:  are they competent? Racist?  Linked to racist organisations?  Have they killed before?  We need to get them off the force now – before they kill again.

I expect a reply from you and I expect a swift removal of everyone involved in this deadly raid.

or for Twitter: Governor:  Breonna Taylor’s death cannot go unanswered – remove all involved from the force today, have them investigated thoroughly – and put an end to deadly no-knock raids.  She’s dead – and the suspect was already in custody:  it is an outrage.

 

 

Phone: (502) 564-2611

Email (form):  https://governor.ky.gov/contact/contact-us 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AndyBeshearKY/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AndyBeshearKY

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!