Defund police and ACAB are generalizations that just help extremist and criminal thinking growing, including those who are already inside politics and authority key points giving them more pretexts for "anti-establishment" propaganda with that (even more) distorted idea of public order that we are trying to avoid. I didn't see much signs or heard many speeches, if not in a weak form, explicitly say "responsabilize law forces" or "throw out the corrupt and violent cops" yet.
Alright, looks like we’re getting into this. For starters, we need to take a look at the Police Institution as a whole. The sad truth is that not only is it currently a system of racist and classist oppression, it always has been. From persecuting the Irish (see ‘Paddy Wagon’) to the Jewish, to Asian and Hispanic, a primary purpose of the Police Force was to enforce the will of the upper class and maintain White Supremacy. If you find that statement shocking to hear, I would like to ask you to check your privilege and research the subject with an open mind.
After the abolishment of Slavery, African Americans quickly became the #1 target of police brutality. See 'Segregation’ and 'Lynching’ if you would like to know more. If you think this problem was strictly relegated to the South or that all the problems just went away after Desegregation, you’re being naive and I would request you again check the privilege. You need only look at the current statistics to see just how broken the system is.
African Americans only make up 18% of the population and yet they comprise nearly half of the prison population. Charges against Black people are routinely inflated to ridiculous levels, landing them decades behind bars for minor offenses while white criminals get months for the same offense. 1/1000 African Americans will be killed in a police altercation and time and time again, police are FILMED brutalizing and murdering Black people and suffer no long-term consequences.
There have been reforms. There have been new laws and pledges to improve from the Police but nothing has changed. How could it when Qualified Immunity has made every officer completely protected from consequences? Cops will still choke and beat and kill because they have a system where they cannot be stopped and any threat to put them in place results in the entire Police Union coming down on local government.
People call these officers Bad Apples but One Bad Apple spoils the bunch. The bunch has been spoiled. It’s been spoiled for a LONG TIME and we’re sick of it. Asking for reform or regulation is naive. It won’t fix the problem. The Police system was bad from the start and protesters from all over the globe agree. Spending over 80% of the city budget on beating and imprisoning citizens will never fix the problem.
Defund the Police! Put that money in programs that fix the problem instead of punishing the symptom! Build Community Outreach programs that make better homeless services! Create Housing and Job Training Programs to help the poor! Invest in Infrastructure to create a better city for all and create jobs for the working class! Instead of sending officers with less 10 hours of sensitivity training to respond to disturbance calls, send mental health professionals! We don’t need dozens of officers patrolling low-income areas armed to teeth with military-grade equipment but that’s where all that money is going. It’s time to break that cycle and there’s simply no way forward as long as the Old Guard still hold the keys. So kindly get out of here with your “responsiblize law forces” talk. They had over 100 years take responsibility and they blew it. We will dismantle the system and build a new one. All the “good cops” are free to submit their applications once we’re done.
-TB
