Though many Americans are just beginning to recognize the overt racism upon which our criminal justice system is built, Black organizers and activists have been fighting for police abolition and reform for decades. We are told that the police exist to protect us, yet we know that policing has its root in slave patrols, designed to crush rebellions and uprisings led by enslaved people. As we’ve been so painfully reminded by the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Elijah McClain, Antwon Rose II, and so many others, the racist roots of American policing have not changed with time.

For far too long, police in the United States have been allowed to perpetrate violence against the Black community with total impunity. As a nation, we continue to watch, horrified, as police officers beat, tear gas, and shoot at Black Lives Matter protesters, often unprovoked. It is clear that the time for dismantling the police state is now. That’s why we’re calling on elected officials and candidates for elected office to sign the No Cop Money Pennsylvania Pledge.

In the face of a so-called justice system that so clearly and outrageously fails its citizens, elected officials and candidates for elected office must commit to standing in solidarity with Black communities by refusing to accept donations and/or endorsements from police unions. Thus, the young organizers of No Cop Money PA call on our elected officials and candidates for elected office to reject campaign contributions and endorsements from police unions and to donate the money they have already accepted to community organizations that benefit Black communities.

By completing this form, I hereby pledge to not accept campaign contributions or endorsements from police unions or their political action committees, and instead prioritize the protection of Black lives and our communities over the existence of the police state.