Commissioner John Harrington and Interfaith Action invite interfaith leaders statewide to join in conversations about forging a better system of public safety and policing in Minnesota. Clergy and congregations are asked to outline how they think public safety officers should respond in various scenarios. Then engage with sacred texts addressing similar scenarios. Then, respond again. Responses will be gathered by an expert team into a report of Minnesota's faith communities' input on how public safety should be shaped.
Visit the website to learn more and register your congregation to participate.
Tyler Merritt's Before You Call the Cops is powerful watching. Get to know him!
Dr. Gary Green of United Theological Seminary moderated this important conversation in the Plymouth Congregational Church series: Disrupting White Supremacy: Reimagining Public Safety: Confronting the Problem of Policing, featuring Jaylani Hussein ( CAIR-MN), Rev. Nekima Levy-Armstrong, JD (lawyer and activist), and Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis (lead minister of Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis).
NPR's throughline presents American Police
African American Policy Forum short film: The Unequal Opportunity Race
Award winning film by Ava DuVernay; focuses on the history of racism in America and the rise of the prison industrial complex
This documentary follows the police of Oakland, California, as they reform and face the challenges of corruption, commitment and cataclysmic change.
An award-winning, timely profile of WeCopwatch, an organization that seeks to disrupt the ever-present challenge of police violence by filming the police as a non-violent form of protest.
Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising.
Neighbor's Table is a training designed to create a transformative experience through liminal learning space.
They want to engage the societal issue of mass incarceration and those whom it effects, biblically & theologically; while also learning the social, psychological and historical implications of this brokenness. We believe that an action oriented engagement will start with emulating the one whom we follow, Jesus, and trusting Him for a day when the criminal justice system looks & feels more like God's Kingdom on earth.
From divestment in cities and policing policies to the everyday violence of imprisonment and its attempts to obliterate personhood in favor of obedience, the letters of In Spite of the Consequences offer an incisive critique of our criminal justice system. Hamilton's deep generosity of spirit as he counsels others affected by this terrible system and lauds the work of those working on the outside for reform offers something unexpected and profound: hope for a reimagining of our systems--a humanity-affirming model of justice.
Dive deeper with the In Spite of the Consequences discussion guide—perfect for book clubs or individual study.
BUILDING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY PUBLIC SAFETY PROJECT
Commissioner John Harrington and Interfaith Action invite interfaith leaders statewide to join in conversations about forging a better system of public safety and policing in Minnesota.
Visit the website to learn more and register your congregation to participate.
MennoMedia's Defund the Police? An Abolition Curriculum
Lights On! An innovative program that replaces tickets with repair vouchers.
Learn how everyone benefits!
Michelle S. Phelps' extensive research on policing in Minneapolis is informative and potentially transformative.
The Movement for a Future without Policing & Prisons
Kaepernick Publishing & LEVEL publish 30 stories that point to a future that puts the needs of the community first
Reimagining Safety and Liberation Without Police
'For those of us who aspire to an equitably shared multiracial democracy, freedom and safety require, at minimum, dominion over your own body and responsibility for the well-being of the larger community, including those with less power and fewer resources.'
Abolition Through the Ages: Reform Versus Transformation, Then and Now
Just as slavery couldn’t be reformed and had to be ended, policing can’t be reformed and has to be abolished, say leaders of modern-day abolitionist movements.
Demonstrators from the Black Lives Matter movement march.
Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images
MAY 25, 2021
Demonstrators link arms during a protest on April 23, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Activists with the group Freedom Fighters D.C. gathered on Friday for the first of three days of rallies calling to abolish the police.
What happened when the city of Rochester, NY, defunded the police? See The Independent article here.
Signed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries and The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church & Society
The U of M's Center for Urban & Regional Affairs offers researched insight in Over-Policed and Under-Protected: Public Safety in North Minneapolis (11.17.20)
Call To Mind: Spotlight On Black Trauma And Policing (MPR) - with Angela Davis hosting Spotlight on Black Trauma and Policing, a live virtual community conversation including Resmaa Menakem and Justin Terrell.
In Front of Our Eyes & 74 Seconds: Podcasts from Minnesota Public Radio, available on all major podcasts apps.
Derek Chauvin has been found guilty, but there is much work still to be done including sentencing and additional trials of other officers. “In Front of Our Eyes” followed the trial providing weekly updates on this monumental case, and the consequences it holds for the city and country.
“74 Seconds” followed the story of another black man shot and killed by police. In July 2016, the world watched a man die, live on their phones, after a traffic stop in suburban Minnesota. This is the story of that man, Philando Castile, and the officer, Jeronimo Yanez, who is about to go on trial in his death. It sits at the intersection of race, policing, justice and safety in America. A lot can happen in 74 seconds.
The Movement for a Future without Policing & Prisons
Kaepernick Publishing & LEVEL publish 30 stories that point to a future that puts the needs of the community first
Scroll through the blog for a four-part series on Policing and the Church.
Enough is Enough!
The Kaleo Center blog included a link to Uprising Minnesota, “A regularly updated site on how to support Black organizing in the Twin Cities”; Jae Hyun Shim’s excellent article about how we came to this moment in Minneapolis; and Mariame Kaba’s NY Times article, Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police.
