How Walls of Justice Began
Walls of Justice was formed in Oakland, California after vandalism caused extensive damage to civil rights attorneys Julia Sherwin and Michael Haddad’s law office.
After their office windows and door were smashed and had to be covered with boards, Michael encountered a man painting on the boards. Michael and Julia commissioned him to paint a mural on the boards honoring George Floyd and all people whose lives were cut short by law enforcement, including 35 of Michael and Julia’s clients.
As civil rights lawyers, Michael and Julia specialize in wrongful death and catastrophic injury police misconduct cases. Their civil rights law firm, Haddad & Sherwin LLP, has been located in downtown Oakland since 1998. They handle wrongful death and catastrophic injury police and jail misconduct cases, including several cases for Northern California's own victims of restraint asphyxia like George Floyd.
Throughout downtown Oakland, Julia saw many beautiful murals honoring Mr. Floyd and demanding reform of police and law enforcement practices, and photographed some of these Oakland Walls of Justice. She decided to create this website as a community forum to showcase Walls of Justice everywhere.
Please consider submitting your own photographs of Walls of Justice near you.
After their office windows and door were smashed and had to be covered with boards, Michael encountered a man painting on the boards. Michael and Julia commissioned him to paint a mural on the boards honoring George Floyd and all people whose lives were cut short by law enforcement, including 35 of Michael and Julia’s clients.
As civil rights lawyers, Michael and Julia specialize in wrongful death and catastrophic injury police misconduct cases. Their civil rights law firm, Haddad & Sherwin LLP, has been located in downtown Oakland since 1998. They handle wrongful death and catastrophic injury police and jail misconduct cases, including several cases for Northern California's own victims of restraint asphyxia like George Floyd.
Throughout downtown Oakland, Julia saw many beautiful murals honoring Mr. Floyd and demanding reform of police and law enforcement practices, and photographed some of these Oakland Walls of Justice. She decided to create this website as a community forum to showcase Walls of Justice everywhere.
Please consider submitting your own photographs of Walls of Justice near you.
Submit Your photos
Cities often provided police departments with bloated budgets for law enforcement and skimpy budgets for public services, such as youth engagement, that would reduce crime. You can tell what a city values by where it puts its money.
Here’s how the City of Oakland’s police budget compares to education and other services:
Here’s how the City of Oakland’s police budget compares to education and other services:
Oakland Police Dept Annual Budget
$330M
authorized police officers
792
Oakland Budget per officer
$416,817
School District budget
$590M
Number of students
49,000
oakland budget per student
$12,041
City budget allocation
19.85% police; .07% violence prevention; .05% race & equity; 2.2% Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development
Submit Your Photos
Walls of Justice encourages you to submit photos of art in your community. By submitting your photos, you grant us permission to use the photography on this website and you agree to the Terms of Use and Submission Guidelines.
This site was created, and is maintained by, Walls of Justice LLC.
This site was created, and is maintained by, Walls of Justice LLC.
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