On July 21, 2013, over 1,200 people poured onto the lawn of City Hall in Anaheim, Calif., for the first Statewide March to Stop Police Brutality. The mass protest marked the first anniversary of the uprising against police sparked by the racist murder of two men by cops and the brutal attack on bystanders that was featured in the mass media throughout the country. People traveled from Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Diego and many other cities and towns across California to demand an end to police violence and justice for all victims.

The protest was initiated by more than thirty families who have lost loved ones at the hands of the police from around the state who have formed a network that took action as a group for the first time on July 21. The ANSWER Coalition partnered with these families to organize the demonstration and countless organizations mobilized to attend, including Women Organized to Resist and Defend, Justice for Alan Blueford Coalition, KmB -- Pro-people Youth, Justice for Trayvon Martin -- LA, National Brown Berets, Worker-Student Alliance of UCI, ONYX Organizing Committee, Fresno Brown Berets, Todo Poder al Pueblo and many more. The unity of families and grassroots organizations at the demonstration was unprecedented in recent history and showed the great potential for a massive movement against police brutality and other forms of state repression. This potential was further evidenced by the dozens of new families who joined the network and organizations on the day of the march for the first time.