THE ORIGIN OF 'PROTECT YOUR PEOPLE'
2015 was when De-Bug first met Laurie Valdez, whose partner Antonio was killed by San Jose State University Police Department. We at De-Bug had been supporting her and her family seek justice for Antonio through rallies, meetings with decision-makers, and pushing for accountability for Antonio.
At the same time, as part of De-Bug's participatory defense work, De-Bug was also supporting Lamar Noble, a 45 year old Black father who was assaulted by Santa Clara County sheriffs during a traffic stop and then was charged with resisting arrest. We were supporting Lamar, his mother Gail, and the family to drop the charges on Lamar.
In late 2015, SJPD Officer Phillip White tweeted a statement disrespecting the life of Eric Garner who was killed by New York police. He disrespected Eric's last words of "I Can't Breathe" and disrespected the Black Lives Matter movement.
These three moments came to a head for us - and our phrase "Protect Your People" was born. It was born out of the lack of will of our elected officials to hold law enforcement accountable -- while at the same time bearing down to assault and incarcerate our Black, Brown and poor communities. It came out of an awareness that it is up to our community to protect ourselves from the violence of the system. We saw that every week at De-Bug when families came to us for support on their loved ones' cases - either the attacks from police weaponry, or the carceral actions states use of incarceration and deportation. "Protect Your People" was born as a call for our own communities to protect each other because we know we are stronger together than alone. And our people, collectively, are more powerful than these entrenched racist institutions.
In December 2015, under the banner "Protect Your People" we held a rally in front of the DA's office and the San Jose Police Department - bringing these three moments together to hold all systems accountable for our loved ones lost to police violence as well as loved ones being fed into the incarceration system.
Since then, families who lost loved ones to police violence have been meeting at De-Bug. We are a family that sees each other through the highs and lows. We are a movement upon which any change we seek comes from the transformation of pain to power.

