Muslim Justice League has worked with Families for Justice as Healing, ACLU of MA, Young Abolitionists, Digital Fourth, CAIR MA, JVP Boston, and Boston Police Camera Action Team on a questionnaire and toolkit covering a range of local policing and surveillance issues. At a time when all marginalized communities are under increased attacks from the current federal administration, it is critical that we understand how our local policing practices exacerbate these issues and what our elected officials will do to ensure the safety of communities of color, including immigrants and Muslims.

The questionnaires were sent on September 27, 2017 to all Boston mayoral and city council candidates, with responses due on October 11. We will publish the responses we get, but in the meantime we are releasing a corresponding toolkit for residents.

The toolkit provides background information and statistics for local policing issues that disproportionately harm people of color, along with potential policy solutions, and sample questions that residents can use to engage candidates. We think it’s important to remind voters, the press, and especially candidates for local office that the Mayor and City Council have policing oversight responsibilities. Residents of Boston deserve to hear how their Mayor and City Council will use their power to ensure all of us are treated with respect, dignity, and fairness.

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Check out the full toolkit here — https://tinyurl.com/boscops, which will be updated with events where you can engage candidates in person and there’s a response form to let us know what you hear back. Please share widely!