Black Lives Matter: Planned Parenthood PA Advocates Demands Justice for Walter Wallace Jr.

In response to recent updates and statements by Philadelphia’s elected officials and Police Commissioner regarding the murder of Walter Wallace Jr. by police officers, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates continues to stand with the Movement for Black Lives’ call to defund the police.

The police officers responsible for taking the life of a young man who was experiencing a mental health crisis must be held accountable. We support the demands of the Amistad Law Project, Reclaim Philadelphia, Philly We Rise, and Movement Alliance Project and echo their calls to demand that the officers who killed Walter Wallace be fired immediately. We join in the demand that Philadelphia allocate no additional funding for failed police reforms and that the city ban police from all mental health crisis calls.

We believe in investing in community-based solutions like education and health care, not in militarizing police forces. Instead of funding systems that continue to brutalize Black communities, we demand that Philadelphia’s elected officials prioritize public-health approaches that strengthen Black communities.

Racism in our country is a public health crisis, and there can be no reproductive freedom when mothers are made to watch as their children are murdered in front of them. For many people policing does not equal safety, and instead we repeatedly witness the state-sanctioned murder of Black people in our communities. This must end.

Join us in signing the petition to demand justice for Walter Wallace Jr.