Call for UC Berkeley to Stand Against Police Violence

We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with protestors all over the country who are mobilizing against the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, David McAtee, and countless others. We recognize that police violence against Black people is not limited to  Minneapolis or Louisville—it happens all over the country, including on the UC Berkeley campus and in our surrounding community. 

Similar instances of police violence have occurred in our UC Berkeley community and in the city of Berkeley. On February 12, 2013, officers from the Berkeley Police Department (“Berkeley PD”) used excessive force against Kayla Moore, suffocating her to death by holding her down on a futon after they were called to a Berkeley apartment for a mental health check. The officers did not remove the restraints they had placed on her until she stopped breathing.[1]

Additionally, in March 2019, two Black students—one from UC Berkeley and one from the

University of San Francisco (“USF”)—were brutalized by the University of California Police Department (“UCPD”) while walking home from campus. The officers forcefully searched both students, throwing the Berkeley student to the ground in the process. They arrested both students and brought them to UCPD for interrogation. Neither student was read her rights when arrested, and the UC Berkeley student was only read hers after she asked during her one-on-one interrogation. The USF student was never read her rights.[2]  

Further, on June 26, 2019, UCPD victimized two Black children at UC Village. The children, sons of UC Berkeley students, called UCPD to report that an unfamiliar woman was taking photos of them at the playground. When UCPD arrived, the woman accused one of the children of taking her purse earlier that morning, despite the fact that her purse had already been located and returned to her. Janet Gilmore, a UC Berkeley spokesperson, admitted after-the-fact that there was “no further need for police action.” However, UCPD handcuffed the 11-year-old boy and detained both children, putting the minors in the back of a police car. Organizers of a community meeting shared that the police used excessive force on the boys, which the organizers have video of, but chose not to share to protect the children’s privacy.[3]  

These are but a few instances of police harassment and violence in our community. By continuing to partner with Berkeley PD and fund UCPD, UC Berkeley plays an active role in this abusive system. Continuing to fund and work with these policing institutions, especially as they become increasingly militarized[4], is an act of violence against Black students who fear every day that we might be murdered or brutalized at the hands of police officers like so many members of our community have been. 

 Police violence is a pandemic in this country and in our community. To that end, we demand that UC Berkeley immediately cut ties with Berkeley PD and defund UCPD. We demand that UCPD be disarmed and that its use-of-force policies be reviewed by the Independent Advisory Board on Police Accountability and Public Safety and the Graduate Assembly’s Policing and Community Safety Workgroup.

 We demand that funds that would otherwise be used on BPD and UCPD instead be diverted to the development of appropriate alternatives to policing, the funding of campus entities focused on public health and safety such as the Basic Needs Fund and the Health Opportunity Fund, and supporting organizations that are working every day to meet the needs of our community, such as East Bay Community Law Center, People’s Breakfast Oakland, the Anti-Police Terror Project (APTP), and Black Out Collective.

 If you truly stand with Black students, and believe that Black lives matter, you will take these steps toward creating real change. Follow the lead of the University of Minnesota, which severed most of its contracts with the Minneapolis PD.[5] We expect nothing less from UC Berkeley. It’s time to stand against police violence. It’s time to put Black lives and student safety first.  

  In solidarity, 

 Law Students of African Descent, 2020-2021

[1] https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/03/27/judge-throws-out-case-of-transgender-womans-in-custody-death/.

[2] Press Advisory from the Black Student Union at the University of California, Berkeley.

[3] https://www.dailycal.org/2019/07/09/uc-police-detain-2-minors-handcuff-11-year-old-at-playground/, https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/07/03/ucpd-handcuffing-of-11-year-old-boy-prompts-criticism-campusresponse. 

[4] https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/15/twisted-thinking-police-militarization-in-berkeley/; https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/07/20/opinion-the-military-like-urban-shield-exercises-are-militarizingberkeley-police.

[5] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/university-of-minnesota-minneapolis-police-georgefloyd_n_5ecf91e3c5b6ce8f6b7c0c58