10 demands from Charlottesville! Community rises up, takes over City Council
The people of Charlottesville took over last night’s city council meeting, Monday August 21. We were led by the women and femmes of color who for years have been at the helm of local community defense and anti-racist organizing. Community members took the mic to share grief, trauma, outrage. We held each other with fierce love. We held the city council accountable for its contributions to white supremacy.
We demanded answers, apologies, and action — speaking out for over four hours.
Solidarity Cville presented the following demands, which were originally presented to the city of Charlottesville at the July 8 protest of the KKK. At the time, the first demand was to ***revoke the permit*** for the August 12 Unite the Right March on Charlottesville. We were right about the threat of racist violence. City Council, we warned you. We told you they wanted blood. Now there is blood on your hands.
And we are right about these demands, too. Trust activists. Listen to the people most targeted by state violence and domestic terrorism. Take action to meet these demands now:
1. Drop all charges against Veronica Fitzhugh.
2. Drop all charges against the 22 people arrested protesting the KKK on July 8, and drop the charges against the 3 people dragged out of the August 21 city council as the community took over.
3. Initiate immediate development of affordable housing for extremely low income people, and fulfill the “Positive Vision of Resident Directed Redevelopment” from the Charlottesville Public Housing Association of Residents.
4. Apologize publicly for police negligence to the families of Sage Smith, Faye Tinsley, and Quinn Woodfolk, and commit to an expansion of the investigations of Faye’s murder and Sage’s disappearance.
5. Cease the targeting of Black families by social services to send children into foster care.
6. End militarized police units like JADE (Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement) and its successors.
7. Stop discriminatory stop-and-frisk.
8. End money bail, and release people being held without bond before their trial.
9. Remove all confederate monuments.
10. Mike Signer must resign, because there is blood on your hands.
(reposted from Solidarity Cville’s blog at The Daily Kos)
