The night of Friday, August 5, 2016, would be a very busy one for members of our group. There was a buzz in the air. A sense of anticipation, some nervousness, even. We had been preparing for this night for weeks and now it was finally here. Ready, set, go! And no, we were not taking part in the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. We were not going to go up against Usain Bolt. Ours was a fight to affirm that Black Lives Matter and that our police can and should do better. And so, on the very night of the Opening Ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, we held our first CussAThon on Twitter. Well-known heavy-hitters from Dkos and the Twittersphere responded to our invitation and joined the fray.
We learned a lot. We fine-tuned our processes, ironed out the kinks, and now we are ready for Round Two.
In the run-up to our inaugural CussAThon, one Kossack chose to wag his finger in our collective face. Said he, “Profanity is for those who lack the creativity and intelligence to otherwise express themselves.” (or something to that effect.) His words may well be true, but they don’t apply to us and I’ll show you why.
Creativity and Intelligence:
- We crowdsourced the MBOPRA
- We are currently fighting for the California Ballot Initiative
- We wrote the Law Enforcement Documentation Act of 2016 (cops must write out their statement immediately after a use of force)
- We wrote the Good Samaritan Law of 2016 (cops must render first aid)
- We waged a campaign against the murderous actions of Republican Governors with our FOIA campaign which was designed to force them to account for the thousands of lives that would be needlessly lost because of their refusal to accept the Medicaid Expansion program under the Affordable Care Act.
But even more impressive, check this out! One of our members (2thanks) came across this article dated Feb. 11, 2016 and written by two law professors entitled, From Selma to Ferguson: The Voting Rights Act as a Blueprint for Police Reform.
[...] Federal efforts to cure the problem through litigation against individual police departments have failed to produce widespread reform. This Article applies the lessons of the Voting Rights Act in proposing the use of a coverage formula to identify and regulate local police departments engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional misconduct. While this proposal would significantly enhance federal power over police departments, such a change is both necessary to curb police misconduct and constitutionally permissible.
From our diary introducing our MBOPRA dated
"ABOUT THE OVER-POLICED RIGHTS ACT
It would be like the Voting Rights Act except that it would apply to police jurisdictions that have a long-standing pattern of discrimination based upon race. Any citizen or resident alien, through an attorney, could ask the Federal Court in that jurisdiction to determine whether that pattern exists."
It seems that concerned minds do think alike. Esteemed law professors thinking along the same lines as members of our group is way cool. We don’t care who first said it or who gets the credit. Our only wish is that our proposal — or something like it — gets signed into law. We are prepared to throw our support behind any person or organization that can take our campaign to the next level.
The point is, our well-meaning critic may have had a valid argument if #CussAThon were our only project. It’s not; it’s one of many. A more useful quote would be that from writer Mark Twain:
“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
Why we Cuss
Our CussAThon is a plea for sanity. A howl of pain. A campaign designed to draw attention to the urgent need to police the police. A recognition that the status quo is unsustainable. Consider that year-to-date, the total for people killed by police now stands at 700. Seven hundred people killed by law-enforcement agents and hundreds more shot or beaten up. Black, White, Native American, Latinx, old, young, mentally challenged, deaf, men, women, children, surrendering or combative, standing still or running away. We simply can no longer tolerate members of our police force killing first and asking questions later. Cops who commit unlawful acts must be held accountable.
CURSE-A-THON GOALS STATEMENT
Support the Dream Defenders wants to allow people to grieve. To rant. To rave. To curse. We need to do all of the above for the unnecessary loss of life that we have seen. We've all watched the videos, and we want to cry out. Let us, together, bring as much attention to this problem as we can, even if it requires cursing on the internet. We also want to implement The Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, which would grant individuals the power to become a one-woman or one-man Department of Justice, allowing them to sue an entire police jurisdiction. We also want to promote any good ideas that may aid us in stopping the violence, which is just the ugly tip of a very nasty iceberg for POC. We want to see the MBOPRA placed on the ballot in California, signed into law by the President of the United States and adopted as a resolution by the NAACP. And you can help us by cursing on the internet! It's that simple.
Check out some of what you missed from our first round:
Please join us this Friday at 7:30 PM EDT
Join us for Round 2 of the StDD #CussAThon for police reform and for justice. Help us get the hastag “CussAThon” trending on twitter tonight.