Letter to Oakland Unified School District: #PoliceFreeSchools Necessary to Protect Black and Brown Children

We write on behalf of Advancement Project National Office and the Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) to fully and enthusiastically support the elimination of Oakland Schools Police Department and the removal of all police from schools.[1] If we have learned anything from this historic moment spurred by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, it is that police cannot be trusted to keep us safe. Years of OUSD data reflecting a relentless school to prison pipeline indicate disparate criminalization of students of color by the police. OUSD has a duty to protect students from a police department whose culture allows for the brutal and violent use of force against students. Officers that roam school hallways are no different from the officers on the streets of Oakland and thus, a new vision for safety must emerge from this crisis. The Minneapolis Public School Board and Denver Public Schools Board’s historic, unanimous vote on June 2, 2020 to remove police from schools demonstrates that a police free schools future is both possible and necessary to protect the safety and humanity of Black and Brown children.