Photo: Colin Boyle / Block Club Chicago
This movement in response to the abhorrent in-your-face videos of cops killing unarmed black people has changed the discourse from reform to abolition, a society without imprisonment and policing, on the back of a decades-long movement. The following are quotes from some activists in the struggles to defund, demilitarize and abolish the police today. Also see the links to more stories below. — The Editors
“What have the police been good for? …Crime rose, crime fell. …the prison population massively expanded.” — Samantha Master, organizer, BLM
“If people keep seeing these images of their babies, their relatives, of black people being killed; if they keep dealing with financial inequality and inequity, and it reaches a point of frustration, people will lash out. … most ‘crimes’ are committed because people are desperately poor. We need to look at crime as a public health crisis.” — Hawk Newsome, BLM, greater New York, Fox News interview.
“Police officers do not protect and serve people, they protect and serve the status quo, ‘polite society,’ and private property. Using the incremental mechanisms of the status quo will never reform the police because the status quo relies on police violence to exist. Capitalism requires a permanent underclass to exploit for cheap labor and it requires the cops to bring that underclass to heel.” — Officer A. Cab, Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop, (Medium.com)
Madison schools recently voted to sever ties with the police, as have other cities. Minneapolis passed a resolution to disband their police department and create a new model of public safety. Chicago activists have advocated for defunding and abolishing police and to divert funding to schools and community health for years.
Mahnker Dahnweigh of Freedom-Inc.org in Madison, WI, in an interview with Real News Network, said, “Putting people in cages doesn’t help; permission to use deadly force against children or adding more guns to the equation doesn’t help. Invest in food, transportation, housing, and healthcare for black people. Not cages. All of us will have to come together and use our collective imaginations to rethink what community safety is.”
Defund, demilitarize, abolish the police: Activists state their views
