Black Lives Matter DCMPD 1st District Protest FullHD 60p

Video of Speakers at the April 4 Protest in front of the 1st District DCMPD headquarters YouTube Link

From the Press release:

On Saturday March 30, 2019 multiple DC police officers stopped and detained three Black children, all under 11 years old, near 5th and H St NE  for four hours. At least one was handcuffed and temporarily taken into custody. This is just the most  recent in a string of  incidents involving young Black children. In late December MPD officers were caught on video stopping and frisking three young Black boys and youth were stopped and detained at the Georgia Ave. metro station shortly after.  MPD continues to portray these as isolated incidents to minimize public outcry. WE KNOW THIS IS NOT TRUE. WHY WE ARE PROTESTING Incidents like these happen everyday in DC communities and have become so normalized videos are rarely widely shared. Policed by a department with little oversight or accountability Black and brown people including children, Black Trans women, returning citizens, sex workers, immigrants, queer, differently abled, non-binary and gender non-conforming folks are constantly being criminalized, almost always in the name of public safety. Too often, conversations about public safety revolve around policing and punishment. Safety doesn’t begin with police; safety begins with healthy communities. We can create healthy communities by prioritizing investment in affordable places to live, education, living-wage jobs, healthy food, and healthcare, etc. Despite drastically increasing police presence, hiring more police officers, and continuing to empower the violent and racist Gun Recovery unit, the homicide rate remains unchanged. However, police use of force complaints have doubled. In 2018, the Office of Police Complaints found that the number of MPD officers that used force increased 18% and 90% the total number of reported use of force incidents were Black.

Sorry for the back-focus issue