The Peace Economy Project is proud to be a member of the Don’t Shoot Coalition, a group of local organizations in the St. Louis region committed to not only seeking justice for Mike Brown, but to also addressing ongoing issues of systemic racial injustice and police brutality in our community.
The coalition stands united under the following call:
The murder of Michael Brown and its aftermath have exposed the ongoing crisis of police-on-black crime. As we work toward justice for the Brown family, we must also address the ongoing systemic problems of police practices in black, brown and all oppressed communities. We come together as diverse local organizations to speak with one voice, so that the greater St. Louis area can become a model for justice for all across the United States.
Therefore, we call for immediate and long-term change and commit ourselves to achieving:
- A Special Prosecutor to conduct a transparent and independent investigation into Michael Brown’s death, and an expanded Department of Justice investigation into patterns of civil rights violations across North County.
- An end to ongoing racial profiling across North County as documented by annual Missouri statistics.
- Accountability for police practices and policies, including effective civilian review regarding shootings and allegations of police misconduct.
- Ongoing initiatives to ensure that local law enforcement departments represent the communities they serve.
We also commit ourselves to supporting efforts that lift up youth, provide leadership development, and promote the vote, so that our democratic institutions appropriately represent all segments of our communities.
The Peace Economy Project sees our involvement in this coalition as being truly important in our work to halt a dangerously growing military-industrial complex. Weapons of war, including equipment and tactics, have been funneled into our communities and used heavily against black and brown communities and activists. As our military gears up the war machine abroad, our police forces act as though they are at war with our communities.
Achieving the goals set forth by the Don’t Shoot Coalition helps us work towards demilitarizing our police forces and holding them accountable to the communities that they are supposed to serve. Those of us in the peace movement have for years cried out for those whose civil rights were being denied abroad, and we continue that same cry for those in our own communities being just as brutally repressed.
We ask those who support PEP to continue to support our work within the Don’t Shoot Coalition. As we move forward, we will be alerting folks as to how they can get involved for the fight for justice that has sparked the entire St. Louis region. We are committed to this for the long haul for until we can have justice, we can never attain peace.
For more information on the Don’t Shoot Coalition, including a full list of endorsing organizations, please visit their website: dontshootstl.org.
