Concerned Citizens for Justice

CONCERNED CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE (CCJ): Educating, Agitating, Motivating, and Organizing for Social Justice in Chattanooga!

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

“I can’t breathe, the pepper spray is hurting me.” These are the words spoken by Tauris Sledge, a highschool student attending Hamilton County Public school in the Chattanooga area. The police do not provide safety in our schools, they are a ticking time bomb of anti-Black racism, brutality, and violence against young people and children. Tyler McRae’s abusive behavior against young Black people is a systemic issue, and it’s not just a case of a bad apple; having police in schools is rotten to the core.

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The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office has a history of violent offenses against community members, particularly Black people, in the Chattanooga area. School should be a learning environment and not a place of brutal punishment. Children and young people should be able to learn from their mistakes at school, or take a break from class when they’re not feeling themself, not face humiliation and police brutality for minor misbehavior or taking rest. School should not be modeled after the systems of brutality that impact our daily lives. This was an instance of kids being kids, and cops being cops.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, and the Hamilton County Department of Education, both need to be held accountable for allowing Tyler McRae to be around children and work as a School Police Officer. The family of Tauris Sledge, his classmates, the students at East Ridge High school, the Chattanooga community, and Tarius himself deserve justice. The SRO contract with Hamilton County Schools states that “SRO’s are not to be used as disciplinarians”, and yet Tyler McRae was allowed to act as the School Police disciplinarian.

(Swipe right to view full statement or visit https://bit.ly/StopTheViolence-Schools)

#nocopsinschools #accountabilitymatters #communitycontrolnow #JusticeforTauris

image: Zoe Berg

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

The surge of anti-Black rhetoric following the multiple shootings in Chattanooga over the last three weeks ignores the oppressive conditions that have plagued poor and Black communities in the South for decades. These continuous narratives and tactics used by local elected officials, media, and the Chattanooga Police Department isolate and diminish the progress of self determination in Black communities, and undermine the root causes of violence in our city.

When crime is discussed as it relates to Black and impoverished communities it is often used to further isolate people from each other and promote fear in order to increase policing and incarceration. When responding to the recent shootings, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly claims that he wants to treat “gun violence like the crisis that it is”. Rather than seeing gun violence as a crisis, Mayor Kelly should recognize that violence in the Black community is a symptom of a much deeper crisis that requires consideration of the conditions at play.

Chattanooga’s low wage economy, under-performing schools, lack of low-income housing, displacement through gentrification, poverty, anti-Black racism, and the systematic disinvestment in Black communities are all root causes of community violence in our city. The police cannot continue to be used by Chattanooga officials as the “silver bullet” for all social issues, especially when elected officials disregard the overwhelming state violence from the Chattanooga Police Department and city officials.

The tragedy of community violence cannot be stopped by blaming individuals, shutting down Black owned business, increasing policing, incarceration, surveillance, or even by merely amending gun laws. The prioritization of investing in community-based services and programs that address poverty and mental health should be the first steps in addressing this harm with long-term solutions. However, the city of Chattanooga continues to prioritize an ever-increasing police presence and incarceration rate. The effects of the criminalization of poverty continues to take its toll on the city’s most vulnerable communities.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT:

bit.ly/Uproot-Community-Violence

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Check out last night's recording from The Unity Group of Chattanooga 52nd Annual MLK week of Celebration program on "Riots are the Voices of the Unheard" with guest speaker: Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin

Hosted by Eastdale Community Village UMC

Purchase Lorenzo's book: Anarchism and the Black Revolution at plutobooks.com

To learn more about the herstory and current work of CCJ visit concernedcitizensforjustice.org

Full Video:

https://youtu.be/CmNg6y-bjRg

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Today’s Bans off our Bodies Rally and March in Chattanooga, brought out community members, organizers, and families joining together to protest the abortion bans that are sweeping the country. While politicians are trying to control our bodies and our choices, we know that we must protect safe and legal abortions for everyone!

Follow @ppact and connect with local organizers for ways to get involved and plug into action steps.

#BansOffOurBodies #NoBODYIsFreeUntilEveryBODYIsFree #EducateAgitateOrganize

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Feed the Community is a program to meet an immediate need of our people while also highlighting the food apartheid of Black communities in Chattanooga. Mutual aid and Black liberation organizations are joining together and continuing to serve our communities with free produce and dry goods.

CCJ and partner organizations have been holding down free food distribution on the Westside, and across Chattanooga, since 2014. Volunteers are always needed and welcome to join.

#LetMyPeopleEat #EducateAgitateOrganize

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

There isn’t anything “innovative” about increasing the police budget and cop salaries in Chattanooga. The city has spent $717 million of our tax dollars on the CPD over the last ten years, and it hasn’t made Chattanooga any safer. The people want alternatives to the police; mental health response teams, social workers trained in deescalation and crisis response, not more militarized police prowling our streets. Chattanooga City Council will hold a public input session on August 31st. Save the date.

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Today, Mayor Tim’s Kelly’s administration will present on the budget to the Chattanooga City Council, after delaying the city’s budget process for several months.

Hamilton County and the local Chattanooga Police Department are not exempt from terrorizing marginalized communities with brutality and murder. We reject the theory that there are only a few bad police on the force, because we know that the CPD, Hamilton County Sheriff's Department and local law enforcement cover-up, lie and avoid accountability in every way possible.

Over seventy community members of the Chattanooga and Hamilton County Metro Area have died at the hands of local law enforcement. It’s beyond time to #defundpolice , we can no longer accept reforms, “diversity trainings” and other tired old attempts to avoid addressing Police violence in our city.

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Last month, CCJ hosted a fundraiser to retain legal defense for protestors facing trumped up charges in defense of Black lives here in Chattanooga.

Community donations have allowed us to reach our goal! Thank you to everyone who has donated and/or shared the fundraiser online.

CCJ’s Participatory Defense program aims to defend communities against criminalization and police violence by providing community support, legal defense, and ways to organize in solidarity with one another as we face oppressive systems of injustice together.

If you would like to continue to support protestors and CCJ’s legal defense work join us for our bi weekly calls on Tuesdays at 8pm EST (starting August 3rd, 2021)

Register at tiny.cc/CCJDefense

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office is investigating the in-custody death of 74-year-old Charles Arron Butler, even though, the HCSO is overseeing the Silverdale detention center themselves.

Our people deserve better!

#FreeEmAll #StopTheExpansionOfSilverdale

https://newschannel9.com/news/local/hcso-silverdale-inmate-dies-after-medical-emergency

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Last month over a dozen volunteers gathered to package and distribute over 5,000 pounds of free food to 600 families impacted by Chattanooga's food apartheid!

Mutual aid efforts like free food drives are a way to address an immediate need while educating, agitating, and organizing toward uprooting the causes of food apartheid in our city.

Join our volunteer team for today’s food drive @ tinyurl.com/tnufood21

Volunteers can help pack food from 1:30-3:30 at 500 Rossville Blvd or stop by one of the sites starting at 3:30 to support food distribution.

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

This time last year, our people were rising up in the streets, turning up at city council meetings and elected officials’ homes, and demanding that the city of Chattanooga defund the police. As CCJ reflects and strategies on where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we’re going, we invite folks to check out the 2020 State of the South Report which features Chattanooga and offers a regional analysis of last year’s uprising.

The State of the South Report 2020 is the SMA’s ( @southernpeoplespower) assessment on the state of justice struggles across various frontlines of the U.S. South. Offered from the perspective of leaders and organizations leading both the sustained resistance and creative solutions to injustices, this report is shaped by the work, experiences, thinking, analysis, strategies, relationships and vision of the hundreds of people who have been part of the Southern Movement Assembly over the last decade. In particular, it brings forward the voices and work of the 700+ frontline organizers from across the region making offerings in any of three People’s Movement Assemblies during the summer of 2020. It captures the struggles that communities on the Southern frontlines experience daily and the conditions that shape those struggles. This report highlights the experiences from the frontlines with a goal of informing the shifts needed to achieve real and lasting change.

Check out the full report at https://www.southtosouth.org/resources/2020-state-of-the-south-report

#SouthernPeoplesPower #EducateAgitateOrganize #BestTownForWho #DefundThePolice

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

CCJ has been Educating, Agitating, and Organizing to dismantle White Supremacy and State Violence for over 35 years.

Join us to discuss what’s happening on the ground in Chattanooga and what steps we can take towards police abolition and Black Liberation.

What: CCJ General Membership Meeting

When: Tuesday, June 8th

Time: 6:00 pm EST

Register: tiny.cc/CCJMembership2021

Learn more about how to plug in and join the struggle to build a transformative movement in our city!

#EducateAgitateOrganize #SouthernPeoplesPower

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Breonna Taylor should be celebrating her 28th birthday today with family and friends.

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Violence against Black women at the hands of the police has continued despite the massive uprisings and demands to hold police accountable.

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Last year, in Chattanooga and across the country, our people showed tremendous power and solidarity in defense of Black lives.

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We must continue to organize toward total abolition of the police and all institutions that kill and harm our people. We do this for Breonna Taylor, Ma’Khia Bryant, Rosalyn Bradford, Armetta Foster, and all lives lost at the hands of the police.

Footage: @friendfilmstheworld

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

CCJ is a fighting grassroots organization of community members, rooted in the Black Radical Tradition of Chattanooga and the South. We are multiracial and multi-generational, but we prioritize the leadership of poor and working class Black people, especially women, trans, and queer folk.

We are organizing people who are most directly impacted by state violence and white supremacy in Chattanooga: incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, survivors and loved ones of people impacted by police violence, and anyone experiencing discrimination, displacement, or that has a desire to bring radical change to our material conditions.

Join CCJ for our virtual general membership meeting happening on Tuesday, June 8th at 6:00pm

Register today at tiny.cc/CCJMembership2021

#EducateAgitateOrganize

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Video: @sunrisemvmt @adalahjusticeproject

“Our spirit for freedom and justice overpowers the fear and hate of our oppressors. That’s why we know our fight for collective liberation will succeed.

The struggles we face in the US are deeply connected to the fight for justice everywhere. We need to rise in solidarity and fight for collective liberation for us all, or we will never be truly free.”

On Sunday night, Israeli police have arrested nearly 1,550 people since May 9th in a campaign called “operation law and order”. This campaign is a “continuation” that aims to “prosecute” demonstrators who have over the past two weeks taken to the streets in demonstrations against settler violence, the Israeli forces’ crackdown on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and the military’s 11-day bombardment campaign of Gaza, which killed 248 people.

Read full article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/24/a-war-declaration-palestinians-in-israel-decry-mass-arrests

The U.S. has been spending billions of our tax dollars funding the colonization & genocide of Palestinian people. The Israeli defense force trains the same pigs that brutalize, harass, and arrest our folks in the U.S. We need to continue to demand an end to the apartheid. An end to the Occupation. And an end to the mass arrest of protestors fighting for the liberation of Palestine! Call your representatives today!

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Join CCJ and the Southern Movement Assembly this Wednesday, May 26th as we define racial capitalism and explore how this system functions to perpetuate racial inequality and violence for the concentration of wealth and the benefit of the few.

DATE: Wednesday, May 26

TIME: 6pm EST / 5pm CT

REGISTER at: bit.ly/MonthlyCall-May26

#SouthernPeoplesPower #EducateAgitateOrganize

[concernedcitizensforjustice]

Yesterday community members, organizers, and faith leaders gathered to rally in solidarity with the fight to #FreePalestine🇵🇸

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Through speeches, poems, and storytelling, Palestinian speakers shared and educated the community about their direct experience of the Israeli apartheid.

“It’s horrible, I mean it’s horrible. I mean, you are tempted to say, ‘I give up, I give up. I just can’t go on’. But, I’m 78 years old. I should be enjoying my retirement, but you can’t, you can’t. You know something happens and you have to act. You have to do something. It’s criminal not to act or not to speak out, you know.”- lifelong activist and former UTC political science professor Fouad Moughrabi

We heard from organizers across Chattanooga who came to show solidarity across frontlines.

“We are inspired by the people of Palestine who are rising up against Israel’s continued apartheid. Black movement is rooted in a tradition of radical love and resistance. It is that same love that calls us to rise in solidarity with oppressed people everywhere. That includes our Palestinian family. We’re calling on people of conscience everywhere to do the same. Call, email, write, tweet your elected officials and tell them to cut our military spending supporting the harm of Palestinian people. The world is watching.” - Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson (Movement for Black Lives)

The fight to end the occupation and apartheid does not stop here! We must continue to keep up the pressure to end the decades long genocide of Palestinian people! Join us in taking action today! (Last slide)

Thank you to everyone who came out to show solidarity, to our wonderful speakers, the safety team, and anyone who played a role in making this possible.

#SaveSheikhJarrah #EducateAgitateOrganize #SaveGaza