Activism

Black Mental Health Part 9 – The Anti Police-Terror Project

APTP saw their desire for change come to fruition when Oakland adopted the MACRO program. The Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO) program handles non-emergency and non-violent 911 calls. APTP trains MACRO participants and pushed to establish a community advisory board. They work with Elliott Jones, director of MACRO, to replace services the police once provided. The MACRO model is grounded in empathetic service to the community while reducing responses by police.

Published

3 years ago

July 31, 2022

Oakland Post

Cat Brooks seen at a recent rally.

By Tanya Dennis

The Anti Police-Terror Project was formed by a hodge-podge of organizations led by community activist Tur-Ha Ak; nurse, Asantewaa Boykin; poet, Michael Walker, Tha Ghetto Prophet; and performer, organizer and activist Cat Brooks.

They were in the streets between Los Angeles and Oakland in 2010 training organizers on how to respond to police-resident encounters to ensure that the killing people of color ceased. Instead, they witnessed an increase.

According to Brooks, “We questioned what communities would look like if we did not call the police, and what we learned in the data was the only way to decrease the number of killings was to decrease police presence in our communities.”

Brooks said that the community’s demand for change stemmed from numerous atrocities perpetrated by the Oakland Police Department (OPD) where 11 Black men were killed in one year, and Celeste Guap reported in 2016 that she had been raped and trafficked by 14 law enforcement officers including OPD.

Brooks added, “. . .and there was a definite shift against the police after they gunned down Yuvette Henderson in 2015 for shoplifting. I believe that was part of what gave birth to the ‘Say Her Name’ movement.”

APTP, recognizing the need to create alternative responses, birthed their “Defund the Police” movement. “Even though our Defund the Police campaign drew a lot of negative responses, it was important for people to get together and say their names, to express their rage and talk about, not just the physical impact these killings were having on our emotional health, but the impact of them killing us one after another, and our lack of power to do anything about it.”

Redefining what public safety looked like, APTP engaged Oakland and Sacramento communities with de-escalation training, developing a mental health model that did not involve the police.

“We developed Mental Health First, a First Responders Program, Rapid Response Program, and a Jail Support Program. Our Mental Health First program is an assembly of doctors, nurses and people affected. As people learned about our services our phone began ringing off the hook, from people grateful to have a number to call other than 911.

“The problem is that there’s no place a Black person can go to get long-term care for mental issues. We’re building a clinic where we can hold people for longer than 24 hours. Sometimes a person just needs a warm blanket, some food and to be heard.”

About 40% of the City of Oakland’s general funds go to the police. APTP proposes that the police budget be cut in half and funds instead go to the community and provide 24/7 mental health services in Oakland.

APTP trains MACRO participants and pushed to establish a community advisory board. They work with Elliott Jones, director of MACRO, to replace services the police once provided. The MACRO model is grounded in empathetic service to the community while reducing responses by police.

APTP is continuing to build infrastructure and is looking to hire a statewide advocate to create policy to decriminalize people with mental health disabilities. APTP accepts no government money and is supported by the Akonodi and Rosenberg Foundations, California Endowment, and Lateefah Simon, a BART Board Director, among others.

The MH First hotline number in Oakland, 510-999-9MH1, is operational between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

3 hours ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.