California teens start ‘No Cop Money’ campaign

Latest


 
Editor’s note: Excerpts below are about a ‘No Cop Money’ campaign for politicians to stop taking money from police unions, presented at a South Bay Progressive Alliance webinar in San Jose, CA.
“I am 18 and I live in southern California. After the initial wave of protests, one of my twitter mutuals in New York started a thread of how much [money] New York lawmakers were taking from police unions. That’s how I got the idea for doing this [campaign] for California. It kind of just snowballed into a group of almost entirely young activists who were compiling this data; it started with just one spreadsheet and a twitter thread, and now it’s evolved into a formal website and a social media presence.”
— Daniel McGreevy
“I’m 17, and I started a little bit after Daniel did. Our ultimate goals are accessibility for constituents and accountability for politicians. It’s really convoluted to access that information; police unions go under names that don’t have police or sheriff in them, so it’s very difficult for constituents to track. That’s why on our website we have accurate information and updated spending for politicians in California, all manually compiled, which was a large task. On the other hand there’s accountability, the other part of our campaign. We talk to politicians and ask them to sign our pledge. Alex (Lee), who’s here today, has signed our pledge, and Ash Kalra has donated his police union money back to the community. That’s our ultimate goal, to ask politicians to refuse to take police money going forward, and if they have the capacity to donate back to the community.”
— Priyanka Joshi
“Right now we have $36,000 donated back into the community to groups like Black Lives Matter that were originally police-backed contributions to candidates, so that’s just one way to measure our success. We’re super excited about that. We have two current Los Angeles city council members who have signed the pledge. As you can tell, it’s just being run by a handful of teenagers, and so what we need from you is to go to NoCopMoney.com . . . we have links for you to email or tweet your representatives, and you will have prefilled things that will allow you to contact them and demand that they take this pledge as well.” — Daniel
Other South Bay activists include Tiffanie Huang and Helen Deng.

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Trump’s Immigration Theater Ignores Whose Land ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Is

The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma joined Florida tribes in protesting "Alligator Alcatraz. The tribe says it insults their ancestral homeland and threatens ecosystem.

Nearly 80% of Americans Think Immigration is Good, Gallop Poll Shows

The eight-point increase in support for giving immigrants living in the U.S. illegally the chance to become U.S. citizens reflects increased support from all party groups according to Gallop poll.

Why Did Flash Floods in Texas Bring Such Death & Destruction?

Some lives could have been saved with better local warnings in the recent flood in TX, but federal government cuts to FEMA, National Weather Service and NOAA are leaving communities ill-prepared for disasters.

Farmworker in Critical Condition After Fall During California ICE Raid

A farmworker was critically injured during a California ICE raid after he fell from a greenhouse roof where he was hiding.

Winners and Losers in Trump’s ‘Ugly Bill’

Winners and losers: The greatest upward transfer of wealth in U.S. history cut Medicaid, SNAP, and other necessities to give massive tax breaks to billionaires.

More from the People's Tribune