We are tired. We are hurting. We are enraged that little meaningful change has been made in the last 50 years. But we are not going to go away or give up, because that leaves us trapped in this nightmare. We are committed to a vision of the future without white supremacy, where all of our loved ones are liberated from racialized capitalism, prisons, and the profit-driven housing system in Rhode Island and across the globe.

---

DARE, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, was founded over 30 years ago in response to the structural racism that so profoundly impacts our community. Our elder members have fought for their whole lives against police brutality, housing discrimination, discrimination in the schools, and the criminalization and incarceration of our neighbors and family members. We have younger members who have grown up impacted by the profound disparities in our city. 

We mourn, again, with all those whose loved ones have been murdered by the police. We stand with them and all who have been abused in huge and small ways by the institutions and systems that protect white power, property, and privilege. This struggle has been going on for hundreds of years and will go on for many more years as we dismantle white supremacy and its many many incarnations. 

We are tired. We are hurting. We are enraged that little meaningful change has been made in the last 50 years. But we are not going to go away or give up, because that leaves us trapped in this nightmare. We are committed to a vision of the future without white supremacy, where all of our loved ones are liberated from racialized capitalism, prisons, and the profit-driven housing system in Rhode Island and across the globe. 

In light of the current climate, we are reissuing demands that we have been making for years: 

• The Community Safety Act be fully funded and implemented, including the full compliance of the Providence Police Department (PPD) with processes and recommendations of the Providence External Review Authority (PERA); 
• The gang database maintained by PPD be dismantled and decommissioned; 
• The Providence Public School District remove all School Resource Officers from our public schools, invest in counselors and support staff, and implement student protections outlined by the Providence Student Union; 
• Investment in affordable quality daycare for all children so that parents can work with peace of mind and children receive the enriched early childhood care they deserve; 
• In this upcoming and future state and city budgets, we demand the defunding of policing and prisons and the reallocation of those funds towards communities of color, through significant investments in low-income and public housing, education, supports and resources for formerly incarcerated individuals, and public transportation; 
• The City stop supporting projects that gentrify our neighborhoods and force us out of our homes, invest in housing people who are homeless, adopt rent control policies that will stabilize the housing market, and end city TSAs (Tax Stabilization Agreements) and state tax breaks and public subsidies for any housing or commercial projects that seek to serve residents making 50% of Area Median Income or more; 
• The State prevent banks from forcing mass eviction following the COVID Crisis, and direct the Department of Business Regulation (DBR) to establish directives with enforcement to prevent banks operating in the state from processing foreclosures for lack of payment due to the pandemic, as well as mandatory direction of their investments, including business and personal loans and mortgages to people and neighborhoods of color in a percentage equal to the percentage of people of color in the state’s population. Also, establishing a resident-led body, made up entirely of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Southeast Asian, and other non-white residents, to direct local banks on their investments in communities of color; 
• The city actively enforces the First Source ordinance, enabling more people from our community to obtain jobs that pay a living wage; 
• Equitable health care available equally to all people. This includes access to quality mental health care and substance abuse recovery. 

We mourn the deaths of all people of color at the hands of the police and stand in solidarity with those who rise up to say ENOUGH. 

WE WILL NOT GO AWAY. We will not stop organizing and agitating for these policies and more that will begin to remove the knee from our collective necks. We are done with commissions and nice words. We know what needs to happen and, together, a change will come. We CAN build a community/state that enables all of the people who live here to thrive.