For years we have tried all types of reform with the promise of finally ending police brutality. It has failed.
The mandate is clear : reducing the scope of policing. Demand Congress acts now.
Dear friend,
Following weeks of national protests calling for police reform, political leaders in Washington are finally taking steps to address the crisis of policing. Last week, Trump signed an executive order that he claims addresses the problem of police violence.1 However, the executive order does not do much to actually hold police accountable. Instead, the President has given us disingenuous band-aid solutions that do not even address his own administration's moves to undermine police accountability.
Senate Republicans also announced a legislative package called the “Justice Act on Policing” that would do nothing but maintain the status quo -- they are determined to make police reform almost meaningless as they do the bidding of police officers. To make matters worse, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has been pressuring Senate Democrats to team up with Republicans and approve this watered-down and piecemeal police reform.2
This is why I need your help, dear friend. Senate Democrats must oppose this bill and commit to ending the transfer of federal money as well as military equipment to local police completely. Our communities need resources, not more police.
For years, public officials have been significantly underfunding the social safety net in Black and brown communities resulting in mass unemployment, homelessness, and mental health crises as well as poor quality education for our children. Yet, police budgets have only ballooned over the years. More importantly, police are not trained to deal with these societal issues with compassion or care but rather encouraged to use lethal force. Overinvestment in police and underinvestment in public services lead to more criminalization of Black and Brown communities.
Simply put, we cannot keep doing this. Police do not keep our communities safe, they are dangerous and have demonstrated over and over again an unwillingness to be held accountable. We have to try new strategies that will cultivate stability and foster trust in our communities. And it starts with reducing federal funding to police. Our lives literally depend on it.
The federal government provides hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and military-style equipment to local police every year. We've just seen police all over the country responding to peaceful protests with violent military equipment and tactics. Anything short of ending the militarization of police completely is not good enough.
The federal government has also given billions of dollars to police around the country. This year alone, the Department of Justice awarded over $400 million dollars to local police departments for hiring, and training purposes. DOJ also administers federal grants through the Edward Byrne Memorial Assistance program, totaling $264 million for the 2019 fiscal year. And the Department of Homeland Security doles out $1.8 billion to cities for emergency preparedness but requires 25 percent of that funding to go to law enforcement. Quite literally, we have a system that uses billions of public dollars to pay police officers to target, harass, arrest, and kill Black people and brown people with impunity.
Thankfully, cities across the country are beginning to see the contradiction of investing millions of dollars into violent policing while also slashing funding for resources that actually keep our communities stable and safe like affordable housing, jobs, accessible healthcare, and quality education. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti publicly committed to moving $150 million from the LAPD budget and to jobs for young people, health initiatives, and community centers dedicated to healing emotional and mental trauma. In Portland, city officials are planning to cut $15 million from the police budget. Most notably, in New York, city officials announced a plan that would cut New York police's budget by $1 billion dollars, effectively shrinking the NYPD budget by nearly 20 percent. It's time for Congress to follow suit and do their part on a national level.
But we don't' have much time left. The Senate votes on this bill on Wednesday. We must act quickly.
Five years ago, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, our communities were desperate for change and politicians offered minor changes that we supposed to keep us safe -- from body cameras to implicit bias training. Now our movement is much smarter and much more politically mature. We understand that in order to really create change, we must get at the root of a problem. And we must be courageous. To be quite frank, there is absolutely nothing courageous about giving more money to the police -- the very opposite is needed.
Dear friend, we have to be honest. For decades, our communities have tried all types of reform with the promise of finally ending police violence but none of them have worked. The mandate is clear : we must reduce the size and scope of policing in this country and reinvest in our communities.
Until justice is real,
Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Erika, Malachi, Marybeth, Leonard, Madison, Ernie, McKayla and the rest of the Color Of Change team.
References :
- "Trump signs executive order on policing amid mount pressure over lethal incidents." NBC News, 16 June 2020.
- McConnell sets initial police reform vote on Wednesday. The Hill, 22, June 2020.
ColorOfChange is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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