Bay Area activists have long maintained that the annual Urban Shield SWAT training and expo promotes police militarization under the guise of emergency preparedness. Here’s how they shut it down. 

On August 9, 2014 Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot an unarmed Black 18-year-old named Michael Brown. Ashley Yates was on the ground organizing during the uprising that followed. In this Q&A, writer, activist and artist Ashley Yates talks about facing militarized police daily, healing from burnout, and where the movement should go from here.

“All of this is designed to intimidate peaceful demonstrators from engaging in protected First Amendment activity and chill their right to free speech.”