POPI ACTIONS & CAMPAIGNS
We are flexing our community power to get police out of Light Rail! This is a concrete step that we can take to reduce police presence in Phoenix, and invest instead in alternative forms of safety that actually keep us safe! Starting today we will be making calls to two people who have the power to make this change: Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, who also sits on the Valley Metro Board of Directors. We are also targeting Scott Smith, the CEO of Valley Metro.
Find scripts in Spanish & English to call them below.
Find scripts in Spanish & English to call them below.
ENGLISH SCRIPTHi Mayor Gallego, my name is _______ . I’m a Phoenix resident and I am calling because I am deeply concerned about Phoenix PD presence on Valley Metro Light Rail and buses. Phoenix PD is the deadliest police force in the entire country, and they make Light Rail unsafe for people of color and migrants. For minor infractions like not having a ticket, our community members have been harassed, arrested, imprisoned, thrown in ICE detention, and almost deported. And, when we get fined and punished for not being able to afford a ticket, Valley Metro sinks us even further into cycles of poverty. I believe that public transportation is a right, and I invite you to imagine with me a Phoenix where everyone can feel safe on Light Rail. I demand that the Mayor ask Valley Metro to end its security agreements with Phoenix PD, and work with Black and Brown community to create an alternative safety plan. Thank you! ESPAÑOLBuenas tardes, Sra. Alcadesa, mi nombre es _______. Soy residente de Phoenix y estoy llamando porque me preocupa la presencia de la policía de Phoenix en el Tren Ligero y en los autobuses de Valley Metro. La policía de Phoenix es la fuerza policial más mortífera de todo el país, y su presencia hace que el Tren Ligero sea inseguro para la gente de color y los migrantes. Por infracciones menores como no tener un boleto, nuestra comunidad ha sido acosada, arrestada, encarcelada, detenida por ICE y casi deportada. Y, cuando nos multan y castigan por no poder pagar un boleto, Valley Metro nos hunde aún más en la pobreza. Creo que el transporte público es un derecho, y la invito a imaginar un Phoenix donde todos nos sentimos seguros/as en el Tren Ligero. Exijo que haga que Valley Metro elimine sus acuerdos de seguridad con la policía de Phoenix, y que trabaje con la comunidad negra y de color para crear un plan de seguridad alternativo. ¡Gracias! |
english scriptHi Scott, my name is _______ . I’m a Phoenix resident and I am calling because I am deeply concerned about Phoenix PD presence on Valley Metro Light Rail and buses. Phoenix PD is the deadliest police force in the entire country, and their presence makes Light Rail unsafe for people of color and migrants. For minor infractions like not having a ticket, our community members have been harassed, arrested, imprisoned, thrown in ICE detention, and almost deported. And, when we get fined and punished for not being able to afford a ticket, Valley Metro sinks us even further into cycles of poverty. I believe that public transportation is a right, and I invite you to imagine with me a Phoenix where everyone can feel safe on Light Rail. I demand that Valley Metro end its security agreements with Phoenix PD, and work with Black and Brown community to create an alternative safety plan. Thank you! ESPAÑOL
Buenas tardes, Scott, mi nombre es _______. Soy residente de Phoenix y estoy llamando porque me preocupa la presencia de la policía de Phoenix en el Tren Ligero y en los autobuses de Valley Metro. La policía de Phoenix es la fuerza policial más mortífera de todo el país, y su presencia hace que el Tren Ligero sea inseguro para la gente de color y los migrantes. Por infracciones menores como no tener un boleto, nuestra comunidad ha sido acosada, arrestada, encarcelada, detenida por ICE y casi deportada. Y, cuando nos multan y castigan por no poder pagar un boleto, Valley Metro nos hunde aún más en la pobreza. Creo que el transporte público es un derecho, y te invito a imaginar un Phoenix donde todos nos sentimos seguros/as en el Tren Ligero. Exijo que Valley Metro elimine sus acuerdos de seguridad con la policía de Phoenix, y que trabaje con la comunidad negra y de color para crear un plan de seguridad alternativo. ¡Gracias! |
why we oppose CPLC
Since February 2020, Chicanos Por La Causa has refused to meaningfully engage the community, and at the May Village Planning Committee meeting, CPLC refused an invitation by local Black led organizing efforts for additional engagement on these issues. This refusal is an act of racial violence and anti-Blackness that will no longer be accepted as standard ways of engaging the South Mountain Village. |
We center Black Liberation and make visible the way Racism operates in the development process. In solidarity, we hold a commitment to name Anti-Black violence and move towards dismantling the beliefs behind it (racial, economic, and gender-based) When Chicanos Por La Causa is proposing a project in a neighborhood with a 25% Black population, in the middle of a million dollar block (a city block where the state is spending in excess of a million dollars a year to incarcerate the residents), with an 81% recidivism rate, but refuses to engage local Black leadership on issues of housing accessibility for people formerly incarcerated; that developer is anti-Black and should be denied. When 20% of the surrounding communities households are in mobile home parks and have been identified by the city as “high risk for displacement,” even noting the increased ‘exposure’ to undocumented renters in the community (Center for Neighborhood Technologies Central ETOD report), but the Chicanos Por La Causa new development project refuses to engage this local need; that project is disconnected and anti-immigrant and should be denied. Every ‘People’ centered developer should be committed to engaging in the deep racial history and trauma formerly segregated communities like South Phoenix hold, especially while under the pressure of Re-Segregation. There is wisdom in the experience of those directly impacted by racial trauma, which is why it has become a clear expectation by the South Mountain Village Planning Committee that every developer engages on the issue of the formerly incarcerated experience. Chicanos Por La Causa Refused to do this type of engagement. . |