Friend--
We are hearing from our friends in New Haven and Hamden communities that law enforcement officials are feeling our the intensity of our calls for justice.
We are demanding an immediate fair, moral, and transparent independent investigation that holds all officers involved in the shooting of Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon accountable.
Thank you.
Liz Havstad
Executive Director
Hip Hop Caucus
Executive Director
Hip Hop Caucus
-- PREVIOUS EMAIL --
Tell the Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney:
"Provide the people with an immediate fair, moral, and transparent independent investigation into Connecticut law enforcement officials reported shooting against Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon that holds all officers involved accountable."
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Dear Friend,
Two weeks ago police officers in Connecticut opened fire on a car at a gas station in a neighborhood near Yale University. Inside the vehicle were two unarmed people of color, Stephanie Washington, 22, and Paul Witherspoon III, 21. They were listening to music, singing love songs to each other.
Stephanie was hit in the face and torso, and taken to the hospital. Paul was not physically harmed but was arrested and later released with no charges. Paul was lucky not to be hit by the 15 shots fired by police, and Stephanie is fortunately still alive. But this violence is all too common for black and brown people in Connecticut and across our country.
Police say that Paul and Stephanie’s vehicle was associated with an alleged attempted armed robbery. Prior to being shot at by the police, Paul reportedly had a heated exchange at the gas station, but there were neither any physical altercation nor any robbery attempts. This is not the first time law enforcement officials in Connecticut have harmed people of color under highly questionable circumstances. Enough is enough.
No family should ever have to suffer from senseless police violence. We send our love and support to families of Stephanie and Paul and to countless other families of people of color who have been killed and assaulted by police. Meanwhile the officials in Connecticut must hold the alleged assailants fully accountable.
Currently the police department of Hamden – the neighborhood town of New Haven, Connecticut – is holding an internal investigation. Black and brown residents are terrorized daily in this area, with triple police occupation from New Haven Police Department, Yale Police Department, and Hamden Police Department. Because the officers involved in this shooting represented both Hamden and Yale PDs, a state-level investigation is paramount.
We need Connecticut’s Chief State attorney to ensure that the state will see that justice is done as local authorities are highly compromised by a history of racial profiling and police overreach.
Since 2001, there have been approximately 70 reported incidents of use of deadly force by police throughout Connecticut, and in the majority of the cases, the outcome has been the same: Minority residents have lost their lives under questionable circumstances and the officer, and or officers are exonerated.
That’s why we are joining today with Hamden and New Haven community members, activists, organizations, as well as Yale University students have joined together to fight to demand #JusticeForStephanie and #JusticeForPaul. Sign our petition today so that those communities know that people across the country have their backs.
Decades of entrenched police violence and racial profiling policies targeting black and brown youth on the basis of dehumanizing stereotypes keep hurting our brothers and sisters in our local communities.
Too often, people in our communities are paralyzed by fear -- and injured or killed -- because of police brutality. I know this because years ago I too suffered the pain from police brutality. I was peacefully protesting the war in Iraq when officers in Washington DC's Capitol Hill singled me out, assaulted me, and tore my achilles tendon.
We cannot be paralyzed by fear and will not stand for police violence. Join me today in demanding Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney to launch an immediate fair, moral, and transparent independent investigation into attacks against Stephanie and Paul that holds all officers involved accountable.
For future generations,
Rev Yearwood
President & CEO
Hip Hop Caucus
President & CEO
Hip Hop Caucus
Hip Hop Caucus1638 R Street, NW #120, Washington, DC 20009
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