Hear from Abdullahi Gurhan, local Somali student, about why Boston Police Department’s participation in a CVE program is so harmful!
The program BPD participates in is called Youth and Police Initiative Plus (YPIP). It targets Somali youth, aged 13-17, treating them as inherently dangerous.
What is YPIP?
Youth and Police Initiative Plus (YPIP) is a CVE program funded by the Department of Homeland Security that targets Somali youth (age 13-17) in Boston, unfairly viewing and treating them as susceptible to “extremism.” Two of YPIP’s stated objectives are to: “Enhance understanding of the violent extremist threat within the Boston Somali community” and “Build resilience in the Boston Somali community, particularly among youth, to recruitment and participation in violent extremism.”
Public records MJL obtained indicate there are plans to seek to pilot the program in schools, as well. We also expect that the organizations behind this will apply for the new CVE funding available from DHS in 2020 – Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention.
YPIP Grant Application
According to their grant application, the majority of the $499,835.38 of the grant goes to staff from the Police Foundation and North American Family Institute as well as one Somali liaison responsible for recruiting youth.
YPIP recruits Somali youth to talk to Boston Police Department officers under the deeply offensive assumption that Somali youth are attracted to violence. The YPIP explains, “A key tenant (sic) of the training is that underneath the antipathy and mistrust youth have for police, there is also a curious attraction to their power and ability to use it. They are enticed by their capacity to carry weapons, their loyalty, and almost gang-like dress code. As they progress through the training, youth make personal connections to participating officers, experiencing the cognitive dissonance that accompanies change.”
The original Somali community liaison for YPIP, the Executive Director of Somali Community & Cultural Association, dropped out of the project after expressing concerns and was replaced by the Executive Director of United Somali Youth, as we learned from emails we obtained from the Boston Police Department, which include the draft surveys mentioned by the original liaison and the final surveys for the project. These additional emails show that the project moved on to a new Somali community liaison within a few weeks of the first liaison expressing her concerns.
See the surveys referenced below.
It is dangerous for youth to have to interact with police officers, especially under the assumption that Somali youth (because they are Muslim, black, and immigrant) are prone to violence. It is clear even from the original draft surveys created for this project that the heads of this project know some officers have anti-Muslim sentiments
YPIP is racist and anti-Muslim. It is another example of how CVE programs rely on the false idea that “extreme” beliefs lead to violence in order to criminalize Muslims. Somali youth in Boston and Muslims across the country deserve access to resources that are not tied to the Department of Homeland Security or other law enforcement.
We have advocated against CVE at Boston City Council hearings and communicated our concerns directly to the Boston Police Department (BPD). Read a joint letter to the BPD here (endorsed by 30 organizations in total) and our most recent letter here.
What can I do about it?
(1) Don’t participate in YPIP or other CVE programs.
(2) Speak out by signing the petition below! You can include comments on why you think YPIP should be stopped and you can sign anonymously if you are concerned about being targeted by law enforcement – we plan on sharing this with the Boston Police Department and potentially City Council and Mayor Walsh.
(3) We canvassed in Roxbury recently, stay tuned (sign up for our email list) for updates if you want to get involved with similar advocacy. Below are some photos from the canvas:
“As a Muslim I feel discriminated enough, I don’t need to go to programs because it makes me feel very different from teens my age and I don’t want to feel that way.
Instead of wasting money policing us Boston could use that money to build more schools, buy more school supplies for those who can’t afford it.”
Maimouna, local Muslim student
