Letter to House Committee on Appropriations: Cut UASI funding!

**MEDIA ADVISORY HERE**

Below is a letter to the House Committee on Appropriations as they debate the new budget– including a proposed cut by President Obama. Today, WRL is joined by thirty-three other civil liberties, religious, and peace and social justice groups called on the House Appropriations Committee to maintain the President’s cut to Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) funding as a “step in the right direction.”

What is the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)?

Click here!

Representative John Carter, Chairman

Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, Vice Chairman

House Committee on Appropriations

June 7, 2016

Dear Congressmen Carter and Frelinghuysen:

We represent civil liberties, humanitarian and religious organizations concerned about federal funding of militarized and racially prejudicial policing.

Proposed funding for Fiscal Year 2017 includes significant spending cuts – from $600 million to $330 million – in the Department of Homeland Security grant program known as the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI). This is a step in the right direction, and the cuts should go much further. UASI money has accelerated police militarization and lack of accountability in our communities.

By requiring training supported by these federal funds to contain a “nexus to terrorism,” UASI serves to fuel the dangerous culture of aggression so rampant in U.S. police departments. UASI also creates a structural bond between militarized law enforcement and vital emergency response resources and workers.

In practice, UASI grants are often awarded to cities based solely on enhancing their core anti-terrorism programs, and not for wider emergency preparedness. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement in July 2014, for example, discussed “an additional $18 million [to] be allocated to the City of New York from the State’s portion of FY2014 UASI grant, in recognition of the City’s unique position in terms of potential threats from terrorist-related activities” (1). (emphasis added)

This militarization is best exemplified by Urban Shield, the UASI-funded training exercises and arms trade show held annually since 2007 in Alameda County, California. Urban Shield is a carnival of militarization that features Islamophobic ‘disaster’ scenarios, major arms dealers hawking their wares to cops, as well as shocking racialized merchandise. The program’s rewards for SWAT teams promote a “shoot first, ask questions later” ethic.

Such an ethic is reflected in racialized SWAT deployments that are disproportionately targeted on Black families. The American Civil Liberties Union found that more than half of all people impacted by SWAT deployments were Black or Latino, and two of every three SWAT raids were drug search warrants (2). There are also many examples of botched SWAT team raids. It was these effects of militarized SWAT team training that drove vibrant and ongoing cross-community protests and concern that compelled the City of Oakland to cease hosting Urban Shield in 2014, though it continues to be held in a nearby suburb.

These trainings – which occur in 29 high-density urban areas across the country – feed directly into the more than 100 SWAT raids that occur daily in the United States – in mostly Black and Latino communities.

Thirteen-year old Maria Calvillo burst into tears as she told the story of the day in 2014 when Oakland SWAT team officers barged into her family’s home, pointed a rifle at her, and searched her family, including her three-month-old sister who was wrapped in a baby blanket. “The police had a tank in front of our house, an actual tank. I thought I was in a movie … It made me angry that they were searching my baby sister,” said Calvillo. The Oakland SWAT team has participated in every Urban Shield competition since they began in 2007.

As this testimony makes clear, monies that contribute to this phenomenon, instead of serving to counter “terror,” have served as a blank check for fueling fear and violence. Money should be funneled into emergency preparedness for first responders, not through the Department of Homeland Security and militarized policies.

Police departments continue to obtain more armored vehicles, new surveillance equipment, and SWAT training. The federal government should instead support programs for education, housing, job training, mental health, and other resources that address the needs of our communities. We urge you to support the Administration’s proposed cuts to UASI, and move these counter-terrorism funds into demilitarized emergency preparedness programs that meet critical community, medical, fire, and mental health needs.

Sincerely,

American Friends Service Committee

War Resisters League

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Fellowship of Reconciliation

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Showing Up for Racial Justice

Media Alliance

Center for Constitutional Rights

Moana Nui Action and Alliance

Environmentalists Against War

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Eastside Arts Alliance

Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice

Catalyst Project

Arab Resource Organizing Center

National Lawyers Guild

Oakland Privacy Working Group

Xicana Moratorium Project

Berkeley Copwatch

Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America

Codepink Women for Peace

World Beyond War

Anti Police Terror Project

Bayan USA

Civilian Soldier Alliance

Black Lives Matter – Chicago

Arab American Action Network

Black and Pink

Black Youth Project 100

Evanston Neighbors for Peace

US Palestinian Community Network

Palestinian Youth Movement

CAAMI: Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration

Letter in PDF fom here.

War Resister’s League just published this letter to HIllary Clinton on her support of UASI on citylimits.org.