Defunding the Police 101: Finding Your Role as a White Person in the Movement

Tuesday, June 22, 2021• 5-7PM
“We can create safer communities if we are willing to have an openness to imagine and the financial investment to match. Let us come with open hearts, eyes, and ears and with an orientation towards openness and possibility. Let us invest as aggressively in proven, community-based alternatives as we have in punitive and violent policing and incarceration.” --The Defund Police Coalition Report v. 2.0’
Join the SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) community as we take a deep dive into the Defund movement and the continuing work to redefine community safety. Take collective action, reflect personally and, in community, learn more! This session is one installation in a series SURJ will offer this Summer to invite more white people into the movement to Defund police. Communities of color in the Bay Area and across the country are making clear asks for white folks to show up and speak out against the violence of policing and to support alternatives to policing rooted in care, resources, and racial justice. . Whether you’re brand new to what “Defund the Police” means or looking to deepen your involvement, please join us to support each other so we can all better show up for racial justice in this moment.

Whether you connect to the language of “Defund the Police”, The Movement for Black Lives’ framing of Invest/Divest, and re-imagining public safety, or if these are new or uncertain ideas for you, this workshop is for you!  
Organizers of color have been in this work for decades. We invite and encourage white people to join us and to bring along friends, family and neighbors into this ongoing work; personal, communal and political. Join us to learn more about how to be in active solidarity with SURJ Bay Area’s local Black, Indigenous and People of Color-led partner organizations, the Movement for Black Lives, and nation-wide organizing to defund the police.
​Preregistration is required and we ask that attendees commit to staying for the whole time.
Access Considerations:

• Event will take place via Zoom, using visual and auditory cues. There will be chances to share via chat and in small breakout groups.
• Closed captioning is available. This workshop will be offered only in English, and we have not yet built capacity for translation to other languages.
• Please contact us at basebuilding@surjbayarea.org if your access needs are not met by this container. We welcome your feedback and requests. As always, we are in ongoing learning to align with our commitment to disability justice. We may or may not be able to meet all needs at this time, and want to be in communication with you.