The Black Lives Matter Movement is sweeping the country and as a result, organizing to end the war on Black lives is happening in every city across the country. Keeping true to our history, the Bay Area is a hot bed of this organizing and directly impacting national organizing strategies from the local level.
In order to ensure this moment is sustained into a movement, veteran organizations and organizers must continue to respond in the moment to the on-going war on Black lives, capitalize on the energy of the moment by organizing communities into relevant and longer-term campaigns and identifying and cultivating new Black and POC leadership.
The Anti Police-Terror Project was established to combat police abuses in communities of color by developing replicable and sustainable campaigns and practices that move communities from the defense to the offense while pushing for policies and practices that hold law enforcement agencies publicly accountable for their crimes.
APTP does not work with the police. We pursue radical reform for strategic reasons, but our long term vision which is to replace institutions of policing with community driven alternatives that restore power and security to the people.
APTP is a newly formed organization working on a very "current" and volatile issue. We constantly grapple with - and our organizational health depends on - how we navigate questions of solidarity organizing, "allyship", and representation. Interns will be encouraged to provide constructive critique of existing work while also expected to follow the lead of APTP organizers, and follow APTP security protocols. Most meetings will take place in Oakland. Actions and events may take place in other locations in the Bay Area.
APTP is looking for interns to work closely with Black leadership within APTP from organizations like the ONYX Organizing Committee, Community Ready Corps and Black Power Network. As part of APTP, these organizations are developing spaces to foster new POC leadership, coordinating tactics and strategies with ally organizations, leading community responses to new cases of police violence and launching broader campaigns focused on policy initiatives such as banning military weapon use by law enforcement agencies and redirecting the city budget away from policing and toward real social solutions to crime such as after school programs, co-ops and restorative justice practices.
This intern will work with our first responder committee, who are tasked with responding to the site of any new incident of police violence in the bay area. We respond as soon as possible, and attempt to make contact with family members to offer resources and support. We attempt to interview witnesses, document the scene, and carry out a people's investigation to determine factual information about the incident.
- Work with first responder committee, attend meetings, and events.
- Shadow long-time community organizers in the field.
- Gain insight into and experience with a very different grassroots organization than a traditional non profit.
These interns will work with APTP organizers to help with the buildout of the fundamental infrastructure that powers our organization. We will work together to study and catalogue resources / data that we have collected thus far, organize those resources, and design processes by which they will be able to be used to achieve organizational goals. Interns will gain insight into building a grass roots organization from the bottom up, and learn critical organizing skills from experienced community organizers.
- interface/work on joint projects between APTP and orgs represented in or linked to APTP.
- help coordinate trainings, workshops or other educational events.
- help support APTP before and during protest actions.
These will have the opportunity to ​gain access to vibrant new organizing spaces / develop organizing relationships with other young organizers in the bay area, support the creation of on-going campaigns, while providing strategic support to developing the infrastructure of APTP.
Oakland (primarily), but also around the Bay Area.
The meeting times vary for each position (see: above). In general, meeting times are flexible.