Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), a Black-led, multi-racial, intergenerational coalition that seeks to build a replicable and sustainable model to eradicate police terror in communities of color, will be the guest speaker at the next Conversations on Race and Policing.

Brooks will present “The Anti Police-Terror Project: A Dialogue with Cat Brooks” beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 21, on Zoom. It can be accessed from a PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android at https://csusb.zoom.us/j/97960458784.  

Begun as a project of the ONYX Organizing Committee, the APTP supports families surviving excessive policing in their fight for justice, documenting police abuses, and connecting impacted families and community members with resources, legal referrals and opportunities for healing.

Brooks, an actor, writer, producer, director and playwright, who, inspired by her own lived experience, has spent her life organizing to bring an end to unjust systems that were built to sustain the privileges of the status quo.  

She currently serves as executive director of the Justice Teams Network, an alliance of grassroots activists providing rapid response and healing justice in response to all forms of state violence across California. In addition, she is touring her one-woman show, “Tasha,” about the in-custody death of Natasha McKenna in the Fairfax County, Va., Jail. And, in late 2018, Brooks was the runner up in the Oakland mayoral race. 

Conversations on Race and Policing began in the aftermath of the May 25 death of George Floyd while in the custody of four Minneapolis, Minn., police officers. A video of the incident posted on social media has led to widespread protests, the firing of four police officers, the arrest of one officer on a second-degree murder charge, the other three on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder – and a spotlight worldwide on race and policing.

Previous forums also are posted online (more recordings will soon be available for viewing) on the CSUSB History Club Lecture Series YouTube channel.

The series is organized by CSUSB student Marlo Brooks and university faculty members Mary Texeira (sociology) and Jeremy Murray (history), Robie Madrigal, public affairs/communication specialist for the CSUSB John M. Pfau Library, and community member Stan Futch, president of the Westside Action Group.  

For more information, contact Robie Madrigal at rmadriga@csusb.edu or Jeremy Murray at jmurray@csusb.edu.