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Oakland’s Anti Police-Terror Project has been organizing Martin Luther King Day events in Oakland for several years now. This year, their Reclaim MLK Day event featured both a march and a “day of action,” which included not only speeches and small-group assemblies, but also a “village” of anti-racist progressive projects.  I was there not just because I believe in APTP and support them, but also as a representative of Public Bank East Bay, where I do most of my current political work.

Here is the group’s list of demands:

• Justice for ALL victims of police terror and their families
• Housing as a human right: truly affordable housing for all in need, immediate shelter for our unhoused neighbors, and public land for public good.
• A just economy that works for everyone, puts people over profits, provides living wage jobs with dignity for all, requires corporations to pay their fair share to do business in our cities, and ensures that any development benefits the community.
• Community-based public safety: Invest in prevention, not criminalization; make all police use of force transparent and accountable.
• Quality education for all: Fair pay for teachers. No cuts, no closures, no more charters.
• Real sanctuary for all: Abolish ICE, end criminalization of our most marginalized, and guarantee the safety of all queer, Black, Brown and Indigenous communities.
• Environmental justice: clean, air, water, and safe food supplies for all.
• Indigenous sovereignty and respect for sacred sites.

It’s a community and a set of goals I’m proud to be connected with.