Nothing About Us Without Us Is For Us
` Nothing about us without us is for us. While the Chattanooga City Council is asking voters to cast their ballot for a policing reform that the Council has already implemented and put into practice, the Community Control Now coalition is continuing with our grassroots campaign for independent civilian oversight of the Chattanooga police department, by and for the people. Whether the City Council’s reform, known as the Police Administrative Review Committee (PARC), gets enough votes or not, the Community Control Now coalition is prepared to advance our legislation by collecting petition signatures to place true independent civilian oversight of the CPD on the ballot for March 2021. Once voted in, the Community Control Now legislation will amend the Chattanooga Code of Ordinances and replace the PARC with Community Control.
Why would the City Council put their PARC reform on the ballot after they’ve gone ahead and begun implementing the legislation already? If their reform gets voted down, would the Council put an end to their reform? If PARC members receive their training from the Chief of Police, isn’t that an inherent conflict of interest? These are just a few of the questions that have been raised by community members in our meetings. The PARC is designed to present the appearance of accountability, without addressing the structural contradictions of a police accountability process which is controlled by the City Council and the Chief of Police.The Police Administrative Review Committee, proposed and enacted by Chattanooga's City Council representatives, allows police to continue policing themselves. Our people deserve better.
The Community Control Now coalition has been approved by the Hamilton County Election Commission as of Tuesday, October 13th 2020 to proceed with our ballot initiative. In only a few days, hundreds have signed on in support of Community Control and have even joined virtual political education discussions on policing in Chattanooga and across the state. This Sunday, October 18th, The Community Control Now coalition will host a Mass Canvass Training for petition signature collectors at the Highland Park Commons, 2000 Union Avenue, starting at 2pm. We only have six weeks to get more than 4,791 petition signatures before our deadline of December 2nd. Accountability matters and we won't give up!
Click here to view the Community Control campaign video:
Signed
The Community Control Now Coalition