Since the founding of the United States, racism and state-sanctioned violence against Black people has been the norm. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many more have been brutally murdered by this racist police system. Meanwhile, the officers perpetuating this systemic racism and police brutality are given unjustifiable immunity by the state. As a result of this ongoing injustice, massive protests have spread to over 140 U.S. cities and all 50 states. In response, the state and its police forces have responded with more violence.
As a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending systems that oppress immigrants, refugees, and migrant defenders and creating new systems that value humanity, dignity, and justice, we recognize that the tactics used by ICE and CBP to dehumanize, incarcerate, deport, and kill are bound to the tactics used by police departments across the United States to oppress Black, Indigenous, poor, and undocumented communities. The calls to defund and abolish CBP and ICE are likewise bound to the calls to defund police departments, or abolish them entirely.
We are committed to defending Black life and those standing up against police brutality and racial injustice. Innovation Law Lab commits to:
- Follow the lead of Black-led organizations, struggle alongside community leaders calling for defunding of state violence and oppression, and support those working to end anti-Black racism and to build lasting freedom and dignity for communities of color.
- Do our research. We will use this historical moment to consider how the deportation and detention apparatus we continue to fight is intertwined with the state-sanctioned criminalization, incarceration, and killing of black people in the United States.
We encourage our supporters to call local and state representatives and make sure they know that you support the demands of the Movement for Black Lives:
- Demand The Rights of Protestors Be Respected.
- Demand a Divestment from the Police and Investment In Black Communities.
- Demand Immediate Relief for Black Communities.
- Demand Community Control.
- Demand an End to the War Against Black People
- Demand an end to the criminalization, incarceration, and killing of Black community members.
We encourage our supporters to donate to groups like BYP100, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Black Alliance For Just Immigration, M4BL, NAACP, Black Visions Collective, Coalition of Communities of Color, Assata’s Daughters and other organizations working to end police brutality and racial injustice.
