In the wake of two back-to-back officer-involved shootings around the country, not to mention an attack last night that killed several police officers in Dallas, Orange County anti-police brutality activists are holding a “healing vigil” tonight at 7 p.m. Titled “Why are You Killing US? Stop Police Brutality” the notice has been spreading on social media.
The group planning the protest is L.E.A.N., which stands for Law Enforcement Accountability Network. “Join our healing vigil for a call to action to end the fear-based killings of black and brown people by law enforcement,” the group’s notice states, inviting attendees to bring candles as well as photographs of victims of officer-involved shootings. On its Facebook page, L.E.A.N. states that it will have unarmed “peacekeepers” present at the vigil to ensure that the protest remains non-violent.
“This is a peaceful non-violent event,” L.E.A.N.’s Facebook post states. “Our goal is to transform a system, not use the same weapons it uses against us to continue the violence.”
For more information, you can contact the vigil’s organizers at (714) 473-4152 or (714) 299-8121.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).