Tulsa, Oklahoma September 17, 2016 – Police shot an unarmed black man, Terence Crutcher, at close range after he walked slowly, with his hands up, to his vehicle. His death is the latest in a series of unjustified police-involved murders, resulting from deep systemic problems that continue to go unaddressed at the peril of black men, women, and even children, across the nation.

Mr. Crutcher, a father of four, was on his way home from attending classes at a local community college when his SUV broke down on the side of the road. Officer Betty Shelby arrived at the scene after police reportedly received reports of an abandoned vehicle blocking a road. Video recorded by a police helicopter and a patrol car’s dashboard camera shows Mr. Crutcher raising his hands and leaning against his car before he was tasered by a second officer, Tyler Turnbough, who had been called onto the scene by Shelby along with two other officers. Shelby then shot Mr. Crutcher, and has since been put on paid administrative leave. It was later reported that Shelby is a trained EMS basic and had a trauma bag issued in her trunk but did not render aid to the wounded victim, who lay bleeding on the ground before her. Mr. Crutcher was eventually taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The footage released exposes how racial bias contributes to systemic flaws in the justice system that put black lives at risk. An officer in the police helicopter is heard saying that Mr. Crutcher “looks like a bad dude” despite having no interaction with the victim.

Terence Crutcher’s death is the latest in almost 400 police murders of black men in the US since the start of 2015. This shooting follows police murders of unarmed black men, women and teenage boys in Ohio, Minnesota and Cleveland.

The Department of Justice will open a civil rights investigation into the shooting, as well as recommendations of whether criminal charges should be filed against the officers. U.S. Attorney Danny C. Williams said the Department of Justice’s inquiry will be separate from the local investigation. “The Justice Department is committed to investigating allegations of force by law enforcement officers and will devote whatever resources are necessary to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are fully and completely investigated,” he said.

Speaking Monday in Tulsa, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said Crutcher committed no crime and gave officers no reason to shoot him.

“When unarmed people of color break down on the side of the road, we’re not treated as citizens needing help. We’re treated as, I guess, criminals — suspects that they fear,” said Crump, who is representing Crutcher’s family just as he did relatives of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, black Florida teenager who was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012.

“So I guess it’s a crime now to be a big black man,” Crump said. “My God, help us.”

SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW stands and kneels with Terence Crutcher’s family at this tragic time and calls for a national referendum on the state of racial equality in our justice system. Preconceived notions rooted in a complex and conflicted racial history continue to affect the daily lives of black and brown people across the nation and it is our responsibility to make a difference. For more inform

ALWAYS.

ation on SPARK and the recent brutal events contact:

Dr. Krystal Redman
Executive Director
SPARK Reproductive Justice Now!
404-331-3250
krystal@sparkrj.org
www.sparkrj.org

The candidate filling this vacancy will serve as a member of the Board of Directors through December 2018. 

Organization:

SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW! (SPARK) is a reproductive justice (RJ) organization based in Atlanta, GA, working to shift policy and culture to protect and expand access to the full range of family planning options, abortion access, and sexual and reproductive health education for Black women, women of color, and LGBTQQ youth of color in the state of Georgia and the South.

Mission Statement:

SPARK’s mission is to build new leadership, change culture and advance knowledge in Georgia and the South to ensure individuals and communities have resources and power to make sustainable and liberatory decisions about our bodies, gender, sexualities and lives.

Vision:

SPARK envisions a world where economic, social and cultural equity, restorative justice, body autonomy and comprehensive reproductive and sexual freedom exists; where all people are empowered, valued, and able to make liberatory decisions about their communities, families and lives.

Value:

SPARK works to ensure the liberation of all people but our analysis is specifically anchored in the historical lasting legacy of the enslavement and exploitation of Black people in the South, this legacy includes economic disenfranchisement, racial inequality and reproductive oppression, who were at the site of labor domination, violence and experimentation. This is why we center Black women, women of color and queer/trans* youth of color.

Core Constituencies:

• Black Women (ages 18-50)
• Women of Color (ages 18-50)
• LGBTQ Youth of Color (ages 18-30)

Job Description:

This is a volunteer position available on the Board of Directors. Board members will attend monthly and quarterly meetings via Skype, telephone or in person, as well as, participate in strategic planning, policy-making and fundraising efforts for the organization. Up to three individuals will be appointed to fill the vacant positions until the December 2018 elections have been held and certified and a newly elected individuals have been sworn-in to fill the remainder of these positions’ term.

Qualifications

Diversity of ethnicity, gender, economic status, and neighborhood location

We are seeking board members who represent different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation and gender, and economic situation.

A commitment to gender justice and racial justice work

Board members will participate in the ongoing work to ensure that all genders – cis-gender, trans-gender, and gender non-conforming individuals – have full access to the health, rights, and justice with respect and dignity, as well as racial justice work rooted in the Black Southern experience to ensure the alignment of all areas of the organization with its stated mission, values and vision, relationships, practices, policies, and programs.

Ability to work with diverse communities

Board members must be able to relate to, communicate with, and respect differences of opinion, embrace all gender identities and sexual orientations, and value hearing new voices as well as lived experiences.

Management or leadership experience

SPARK would be well served to have a few individuals on its board that have experience managing nonprofit or for profit corporations, either as staff, board members, legal counsel, development professionals, accountants, human resources managers, or in other management facets.

Understanding of the role of movement building in social change

Board members values SPARK’s role as a non-profit organization with its own priorities and objectives AND as a movement building organization that contributes to other organizations and movements through analysis, strategic partnerships, and consciousness raising to make social change. We challenge racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, ableism or other forms of oppression; and question mainstream culture and beliefs in an effort to shift culture and improve the lives of the most vulnerable, particularly in the South.

Commitment to innovative fundraising and resource development

Board members willing to fundraise through network of contacts, including individuals, activists and organizations working in this field.

Community Partnership/Collaboration Leadership Skills

Board members commitments to growing SPARK’s diverse network of national allies, community partners, and constituents.

Interested persons must submit a letter expressing interest in the board position and their qualifications for the position to Dr. Krystal Redman, the Executive Director, no later than September 16th, 5:00 p.m. (EST).

Following a review of the submitted materials, the board will schedule interviews with selected candidates. Not all candidates for the board vacancy will be interviewed. If you have any questions concerning the role of the Board of Directors and the responsibilities of a board member, please contact:

Dr. Krystal Redman, Executive Director, at: krystal@sparkrj.org.

We are pleased to welcome Iman Geddy and Taylor Trimble to our team!

Iman will join SPARK in August 2016 as the Digital Communications & Development Coordinator along with Taylor as the Office Administrator. Read up on them below and join us in extending a warm welcome to Iman and Taylor as they help us to build and sustain a powerful reproductive justice movement in Georgia and throughout the South!

Iman Geddy is an African writer and illustrator whose work engages the experiences of the black diaspora as it relates to gender identity. She is currently pursuing a degree in Marketing and Communications at Georgia State University with a self-directed focus on the representation of people of color in the media. As an immigrant and a muslim, Iman is sensitive to LGBTQ rights particularly within marginalized communities and hopes to further explore these intersections in the context of the South’s legacy as the birthplace of America’s civil rights movement.

 

Born and raised in Georgia, Taylor Trimble takes pride in the communities and cultures they inhabit. As co-founder of Southern Fried Queer Pride, they champion the intersections of social justice, the arts, and community building specifically in the queer and trans communities.