"The Black Response Statement: Justice for Arif Sayed Faisal

Dear Community,

It is with heavy hearts that we write to you today. Arif Sayed Faisal, a 20 year student and Cambridge Community member, was murdered by the Cambridge Police Department while experiencing a mental health crisis. The police were reportedly called to protect this man from harming himself, yet they ended up killing him. Being in crisis should not be a death sentence.

Everyone deserves to live a long and fulfilling life. No community should have to lose any member in such a violent way and certainly never someone so young. Our thoughts are with the family, the Bangla community, the larger Muslim community, individuals who have experienced crises, and the larger Cambridge community who feel sadness and disappointment tonight.

The Black Response stands in solidarity with the Bangladesh Association of New England (BANE) who are organizing a protest against police brutality. We offer our resources and services to them in this effort. We wholeheartedly support and endorse this event. We encourage everyone to stand as a unified community at City Hall at 3:30pm on Monday, January 9th.

The Black Response is an advocacy organization that has been advocating for the City of Cambridge to create an alternative public safety program for over three years. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and many others also continue to advocate for systemic change in the way we respond to crisis calls. Clearly, we need another form of community safety altogether–one that focuses on taking care of each other and providing a loving response to people in crisis. The police should not be involved in crisis response. If you see someone in crisis, please DO NOT call the police; call 988, or any of the resources listed below.

We want to thank Cambridge HEART as well as the countless other organizations, including the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB/ ISBCC), the Muslim Justice League, the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), and others who are working to comfort the community during this time of fear and grief.

No one, especially not a person in crisis, should have to fear for their lives in this time of need when they are most vulnerable. There is no justification for the murder of Arif Sayed Faisal. There is no narrative that can justify this violence. It was the police who brought guns, not Faisal. It was the police who committed harm to the community, not Faisal. He needed help while in crisis; we should be able to provide that help with and through services.

We demand justice for Arif Sayed Faisal! We encourage community members who witnessed what happened on Wednesday, January 4 to publicly post video footage, photos and share their accounts; the police cannot investigate themselves for the profound harm they have caused. We want peace for our community. We need services for people in need. We will work with renewed vigor and urgency to assure that we have access to a community safety infrastructure that meets the needs and prevents further tragedies like this from occurring.

In mourning and in struggle,

The Black Response Cambridge

Resources Don’t call the police, call these organizations instead: Dial 988 988 is the easy-to-remember number that reaches what is commonly referred to as the Lifeline—a network of more than 200 state and local call centers.

Cambridge HEART (info@cambridge-heart.org) It is an alternative public safety program. Centering marginalized people, Cambridge HEART builds local capacity to disrupt cycles of harm by responding to crises, conducting research, and facilitating community cohesion. Although Cambridge HEART is not yet accepting emergency crisis calls, they are responding to non-emergency calls and performing aftercare. HEART intends to ramp up its capacity to respond to emergency crisis calls this year. https://www.cambridge-heart.org/

Black Line: 1 (800) 604-5841 “BlackLine® provides a space for peer support, counseling, witnessing and affirming the lived experiences to folxs who are most impacted by systematic oppression with an LGBTQ+ Black Femme Lens. Call BlackLine® prioritizes BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color). By us for us.” More information here: https://www.callblackline.com/

Wildflower Alliance: 888.407.4515 “Our peer support line is answered by a trained peer supporter who has their own first-hand experience with psychiatric diagnosis, trauma, addiction, and/or other interrupting challenges. This line does not collect personal information, perform assessment, or call crises. By phone every day: 7pm to 9pm Monday through Thursday; 7pm-10pm Friday through Sunday.” More information here: https://wildfloweralliance.org/peer-support-line/

Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860 “Trans Lifeline’s Hotline is a peer support service run by trans people, for trans and questioning callers. Our operators are located all over the U.S. and Canada, and are all trans-identified. If you are in crisis or just need someone to talk to, even if it’s just about whether or not you’re trans, please call us. ” More information here: https://www.translifeline.org/hotline

The Network/La Red Hotline: 617-742-4911 (voice) • 800-832-1901 (Toll-Free) “The Network/La Red’s 24-hour hotline provides confidential emotional support, information, referrals, safety planning, and crisis intervention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and/or transgender (LGBQ/T) folks, as well as folks in SM/kink and polyamorous communities who are being abused or have been abused by a partner. We also offer information and support to friends, family, or co-workers on the issue of domestic violence in LGBQ/T communities. More information here: http://tnlr.org/en/24-hour-hotline/"

It's a broken system that needs massive reform. This guy needed help, not bullets.

Someone is dead at the hands of police--it's a failure of the system.