August 6, 2018

50 Years After the First Memo Leak of the FBI’s Cointelpro, the Question Stands: Are We Free?

In March of 1968, a memo by the FBI was addressed to 14 field offices. In it contained instructions on how to create fictitious decoys for the Black Panther Party (BPP). It mapped out an official war strategy against the advocacy group. In a calculated and egregious effort, the agency forged letters containing death threats to different Black organizing groups, causing deep tensions and sometimes deadly disputes amongst them. President Edgar Hoover labeled the Black Panther Party a “hate group” and publicly demonized the organization as “the greatest threat to internal security”. This was the same group that orchestrated a children’s breakfast program when the government failed to provide children with their necessary needs for survival. The Black Panther Party was fully committed to ensuring that children learn and grow in a healthy and affirming environment. The free breakfast program of today was inspired by the Black Panther Party’s program. At its highest popularity, it fed thousands of children with more than 40 programs around the nation. But, despite its impact Hoover went after the program,” Consequently, the BCP (Breakfast for Children Program) represents the best and most influential activity going for the BPP and, as such, is potentially the greatest threat to efforts by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy what it stands for.” Hoover, was on to something. The community-based programming served to exposes the power in unity that was being formed by the Black Panther Party and the ways the government misguided their attention away from adequately serving communities. 50 years later, the Black Lives Matter rallying cry turned into a movement to end systematic violence against Black communities represents a similar threat to the FBI today. In 2017, a leaked FBI report revealed that BLM was a domestic terror group labeled as “Black identity extremists”. Activists across the country have experienced monitoring through phone disruptions. It’s a tactic, that seeks to interfere with one activist’s biggest tools by causing interference to organizing and recording the police. In some instances, reports of law enforcement disguising as protesters has served as a way to cause paranoia or initiate conflicts and have even lead to arrests at peaceful protests. This reaction by authorities in response to Black groups organizing for better treatment is a chapter of our histories ugly past that has resurfaced in an attempt to silence and divide political power among black communities seeking change. It’s the same demonization that would serve to dismantle the Black Panther Party. The only threat present was and still is the threat to white supremacy. In the spirit of turning L’s of 1968 into lessons. We must continue to be both aware and vigilant in the fight for justice, dignity, life and humanity.

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Police Accountability Advocates Form Coalition to Demand Justice from Detroit Police, Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office January 30, 2020

DETROIT — Today, Michigan Liberation, Color Of Change, Advancement Project National Office, The Mass Liberation Project, BYP100 Detroit, We the People – MI, and Detroit Action announced the creation of a joint coalition to demand accountability and transparency from Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and the Detroit Police Department. The coalition was formed in response to the Detroit Police Department’s internal investigation into its own narcotics unit, which uncovered widespread corruption including planting evidence, lying to prosecutors, robbery, and embezzlement. “We are calling for a full, independent investigation into the Detroit Police Department’s narcotics unit. We are also demanding the…

Five Years after the Killing of Mike Brown, the Ferguson Uprising, a New Report Highlights a Group of Ferguson, MO, Activists Successfully Working Since 2014 to Change Policing Practices and Rise to Positions of Authority August 8, 2019

FERGUSON, MO – As the nation marks five years since the police killing of teenager Mike Brown and the series of protests known as the Ferguson Uprising, a report released today by Advancement Project National Office points to how a hyperlocal group of Ferguson activists have been changing the City’s unconstitutional policing and criminal legal system practices. This group of residents and allies, now known as the Ferguson Collaborative, have spent the past five years putting the pressure on local and federal policymakers and courts, ousting a court-appointed official, rallying for the dismissal of thousands of municipal court cases and…

Advancement Project Turns 20 July 26, 2019

6–10 p.m. EST* THIS IS NOT A GALA—It’s a movement! We put together the racial justice event of the year! Advancement Project National Office celebrated 20 years of progressive racial justice movement work with an event beyond any gala. Hundreds came out and joined our attorneys, organizers, grassroots partners and influencers in racial justice sports, culture, arts, and entertainment as we celebrated with great food, performances, and more. This was for the people! If you missed it, or just want to relive the night’s moments, check out the gallery below. *By taking part in this event you grant the event organizers full…

We’re fighting a racist, predatory system; and we’re winning: a look at the numbers June 27, 2019

Did you know St. Louis jails Black people eight times more than white people in a city that is only 47 percent Black?

Celebrating Black Women’s Resistance on Juneteenth June 19, 2019

On the 154th anniversary of Juneteenth, a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives will hold the first hearing on the topic of reparations for slavery since 2007. The hearing, which is the second in history, will focus in part on H.R. 40. H.R. 40, a piece of legislation that would employ a commission to study the legacy of slavery and consider reparations proposals.[1] While the fight for reparations gained prominence in recent years, the issue has been waged for centuries, championed by Black women.[2] However, media surrounding the upcoming hearing largely erases this history…

Federal Judge: Cash Bail in St. Louis is Unconstitutional June 11, 2019

The ruling of a federal judge in St. Louis confirms that the City has violated the rights of hundreds of people, who have been detained before trial at one of the City’s two jails--the Justice Center and the Medium Security Institution, also known as the Workhouse--solely because they are unable to pay money bail.

Event: In Conversation: The Politics of Abolition Friday, May 31, 2019 in Washington, DC May 29, 2019

JP Morgan Chase Takes Stand on Banking Private Prisons March 5, 2019

On JP Morgan Chase’s decision to no longer finance private prison giants GEO Group and Core Civic, Advancement Project National Office released the following statement: “Advancement Project National Office would like to thank those who have been relentless in their activism to hold corporate America accountable, explaining the harm these companies are causing individuals, families and generations – particularly immigrants of color and people of color who are disproportionately incarcerated in private prisons. We hope to see a wave of more corporations divesting from companies that are making money off us human bodies. It’s time that the U.S. notice the…

Close the Workhouse Campaign Holds Rally to Demand Release of Men Trapped in the Workhouse February 5, 2019

Following reports of extreme cold and continued inhumane conditions at St. Louis City’s jail, the Workhouse, advocates gather to demand the release of David Dixon and Jeffrey Rozelle

Close the Workhouse January 29, 2019

Kicking off the national movement to end pre-trial detention and end the country’s reliance on incarceration starts on a local, grassroots level.