Racial Justice Coalition Platform Promotes Equality

The New Britain Racial Justice Coalition has announced its Platform and Program, laying out a vision for ending racism and ensuring economic and political equity.

The Coalition says that it, “has been working to ensure the organization is open, transparent and accountable to the community,” saying that it is publishing its vision, mission and platform and will soon announce more about its board of directors.

The Coalition announced that its vision is to, “To eradicate racism in the New Britain Area and beyond,” and that its mission, “To empower people in the New Britain Area to challenge racism through political education, coalition-building, electoral engagement, policy advocacy, mutual aid and direct action.”

The Coalition’s Program and Platform, its says, “was directly inspired the Black Panthers 10-point platform & program.” The Platform proposes a broad progressive policy agenda including policies against systematic racism and for health care, education, housing and other policies directed at economic and political equality.

The Platform first says what the Coalition believes, saying that,

• “We believe in the dignity of every person.”
• “We believe in a broad definition of community that includes community members who are houseless, incarcerated and/or undocumented. When we say ‘our Community’ we are referring to New Britain and the surrounding towns, loosely defined.”
• “We believe in prioritizing care for the most marginalized members of our community. We believe in the equitable distribution of resources to this end.”
• “We believe that decision-making should not be concentrated in the hands of a few. People in positions of power should be actively engaging with community members and ensuring the decision-making process is accessible to all community members.”
• “We believe education in our community goes both ways. Community members must educate and listen to one another.”
• “We believe in holding community members who cause harm to others accountable for their actions.”
• “We believe that white supremacy and systemic racism are deeply imbricated in almost every local, state and federal institution.”
• “We believe that you cannot separate racism from classism and sexism. We believe that eradicating racism also requires us to eradicate sexism, classism, transphobia, homophobia and all other forms of oppression.”
• “We believe that poverty is not a crime or an individual failure. It is the intentional outcome of a system that prioritizes money and profit over human beings.”
• “We believe that the institution of policing in this country is fundamentally flawed, predicated on violence and systemically targets poor people of color regardless of the attitudes or racial backgrounds of individual officers. This includes local/state police departments as well as federal agencies such as the FBI and ICE.”

The Platform and Program then goes on to lay out policy proposals, saying,

• “We want the immediate end to all forms of oppression.
• “We want access to safe housing, healthy food, quality education, reliable childcare and full-coverage healthcare for all.”
• “We want an affordable and reliable public transportation system.”
• “We want the decriminalization of all non-violent crimes. We want all non-violent offenders freed and their records expunged.”
• “We want the desegregation of all Connecticut cities and towns. Every city & town in Connecticut should have affordable housing.”
• “We want the equitable distribution of education funds to ensure access to a quality, public education for all children. Education funding should not be based on local property taxes.”
• “We want a wealth tax that prevents the wealthy from hoarding money that our communities need.”
• “We want community-based transformative justice that provides victims with the support they need and holds the perpetrator of harm accountable.”
• “We want police departments defunded and their resources allocated towards strengthening social infrastructure and empowering marginalized community members.”
• “We want an immediate end to the political disenfranchisement of the poor, especially poor people-of-color. All political structures, representatives and institutions should be fully accessible and accountable to everyone.”

“The platform was written by our board with community input,” the organizations said. “In the next few weeks we look forward to sharing more about our Board of Directors, our decision-making process and our accountability process.”

The New Britain Racial Justice Coalition emerged from the protests and activism against systemic racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

The killing of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, other African Americans and, most recently, the shooting of Jacob Blake, have sparked vigorous protests against ongoing racism in the nation.

“Thank you to the community for continuing to support our work!” the Coalition said.