Purpose: This page has been set up as a tool by Sunrise Movement Sacramento to encourage civic participation and make the public comment process in local government more accessible. Too often these processes leave people out and the public never actually hears about what decisions are being made. This is an attempt to increase transparency and bring people into the process by demystifying the ways people can engage and sharing eComment links more widely.

• See our public comment guide for the City of Sacramento.

• If you don't want to create an account for the City's eComment portal, use this tool to send an email directly to PublicComment@cityofsacramento.org

Sac City Council Meeting, Tuesday January 19, 5pm

Click here to watch live

See public eComment page for full Agenda

Context: Mayor Steinberg has been publicly calling for the need to have a discussion about the Proud Boy and other white supremacist violence that has been taking place in Sacramento. On Item 16 of tonight's agenda, the Sacramento Police Department will be giving a "presentation on protest activity".

Please click here and join us in making a comment on Item 16 of today's agenda

We are calling on the City Council to have a real conversation with the community, not just listen to SacPD, about the City of Sacramento Police Department's response to the weekly gatherings of Proud Boys and other White Supremacists we have seen take place for months in Sacramento.

Feel free to include some of the following talking points, or reflect on how the gatherings of Proud Boys and other white supremacists have affected you.

• The City of Sacramento Police Department has been complicit in allowing Proud Boys and other White Supremacists (PB&WS) to threaten the safety of our community. There needs to be an independent investigation into SacPD, and what capacity it might be working with, enabling, infiltrated by, and/or helping PB&WS. SacPD has done little to prevent the harm that PB&WS have caused our community, often standing by while PB&WS make clear threats of violence. In instances of violence, arrests have focused on those targeted by the violence PB&WS commit rather than the PB&WS themselves. There is footage of a Sac PD officer telling a Proud Boy: "We got your back". Concerningly, Sac PD officers have been documented harassing, unjustly threatening with arrest, and assaulting press, legal observers, and other community advocates both at these weekly events at the Capitol and throughout the City in general in recent months.

• PB&WS have been gathering and rallying at the Capitol nearly every weekend since Joe Biden was elected President. Their presence has and continues to threaten the safety of Sacramentans. They are a group whose ideology is fundamentally harmful, racist, and bigoted, and they threaten and harass anyone who doesn't appear to agree with them.

• PB&WS have been regularly violent in Sacramento. Many of their actions have been documented in livestreams, witnessed by legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild Sacramento chapter, and have taken place in clear sight, if not right in front of Sac PD officers. They have been regularly:
  -verbally threatening violence
  -intimidating, harassing, and following members of our community
  -brandishing knives and guns
  -unleashing chemical agents such as bear mace
  -throwing rocks at people
  -assaulting people
  -destroying property

• These events, and the threats and incidents of violence caused by PB&WS, continue to regularly make downtown and the central city unsafe for many people. This is especially the case for communities that PB&WS have been targeting: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, femmes or people who present as women, people who present as queer, and unhoused people.

• Most recently, you can see an example of the damage and harm that PB&WS create in the actions of the mob at the US Capitol in DC. It has been confirmed that some of the PB&WS who have been at the State Capitol in Sacramento were also among those in DC on January 6th. Sacramento County Sheriff Department deputies have been confirmed as having attended the January 6th event at DC. Did any SacPD officers also participate? PB&WS are not only gathering and often refusing to wear masks, but they are also actively recruiting white supremacists who are willing to fight alongside them. Their groups have been openly calling for armed rallies at all 50 State Capitols according to an FBI bulletin obtained by ABC.

Sac City Council Meeting, Tuesday January 12, 2pm

See public eComment page for full Agenda

Context: Mayor Steinberg has been publicly calling for the need to have a discussion about the Proud Boy and other white supremacist violence that has been taking place in Sacramento, but he has yet to propose it as an agenda item for a City Council meeting.

Please click here and join us in making an off-agenda public comment on today's agenda

We are calling on the City Council to hold a special meeting dedicated to the City of Sacramento Police Department's response to the weekly gatherings of Proud Boys and other White Supremacists (PB&WS) we have seen take place for months in Sacramento.

Our main ask is stated above. Feel free to include some of the following talking points as well, or reflect on how the gatherings of Proud Boys and other white supremacists have affected you.

• Proud Boys and other White Supremacists (PB&WS) have been gathering and rallying at the Capitol nearly every weekend since Joe Biden was elected President. Their presence has and continues to threaten the safety of Sacramentans. They are a group whose ideology is fundamentally harmful, racist, and bigoted, and they threaten and harass anyone who doesn't appear to agree with them.

• PB&WS have been regularly violent in Sacramento. Many of their actions have been documented in livestreams, witnessed by legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild Sacramento chapter, and have taken place in clear sight, if not right in front of Sac PD officers. They have been regularly:
  -verbally threatening violence
  -intimidating, harassing, and following members of our community
  -brandishing knives and guns
  -unleashing chemical agents such as bear mace
  -throwing rocks at people
  -assaulting people
  -destroying property

• These events, and the threats and incidents of violence caused by PB&WS, continue to regularly make downtown and the central city unsafe for many people. This is especially the case for communities that PB&WS have been targeting: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, femmes or people who present as women, people who present as queer, and unhoused people.

• Most recently, you can see an example of the damage and harm that PB&WS create in the actions of the mob at the US Capitol in DC. It has been confirmed that some of the PB&WS who have been at the State Capitol in Sacramento were also among those in DC on January 6. PB&WS are not only gathering and often refusing to wear masks, but they are also actively recruiting white supremacists who are willing to fight alongside them. Their groups have been openly calling for armed rallies at all 50 State Capitols according to an FBI bulletin obtained by ABC.

• The City of Sacramento Police Department has been complicit in allowing PB&WS to threaten the safety of our community. There needs to be an independent investigation into SacPD, and what capacity it might be working with, enabling, infiltrated by, and/or helping PB&WS. SacPD has done little to prevent the harm that PB&WS have caused our community, often standing by while PB&WS make clear threats of violence. In instances of violence, arrests have focused on those targeted by the violence PB&WS commit rather than the PB&WS themselves. There is footage of a Sac PD officer telling a Proud Boy: "We got your back". Concerningly, Sac PD officers have been documented harassing, unjustly threatening with arrest, and assaulting press, legal observers, and other community advocates both at these weekly events at the Capitol and throughout the City in general in recent months.