Shut up and listen 2: Defund the police
When it comes to racism, I’m realizing I don’t know shit. So I’m trying to read and watch and learn.
It’s time for privileged white guys like me to talk less and listen more. Last week, I compiled 20 things that people shared with me that stirred me, made me feel uncomfortable, and made me think.
This week, I’m doing the same, all on the topic of defunding the police.
I confess, the concept was new to me (a true sign of privilege that I’d never even thought about the issue.) The strong reactions to the idea, the language, and the reality of our national priorities has been eye opening.
Here’s some of what was shared:
1. This interview with Alex S. Vitale, author of the 2017 book The End of Policing, is a great introduction to the topic:
2. This is also a good primer on what “defund the police” means:
3. This image series is originally by Luna Syenite (inspired by the work of Mariame Kaba) is a simple illustration of the concept:
4. This Instagram post (using cereal!) makes it even simpler:
5. Another eye-opening way of thinking about the concept came from U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
WHAT DOES AMERICA WITH A DEFUNDED POLICE LOOK LIKE? The good news is that it actually doesn’t take a ton of imagination.
It looks like a suburb. Affluent white communities already live in a world where the choose to fund youth, health, housing etc more than they fund police. These communities have lower crime rates not because they have more police, but bc they have more resources to support healthy society in a way that reduces crime.
When a teenager or preteen does something harmful in a suburb (I say teen bc this is often where lifelong carceral cycles begin for Black and Brown communities), White communities bend over backwards to find alternatives to incarceration for their loved ones to “protect their future,” like community service or rehab or restorative measures. Why don’t we treat Black and Brown people the same way? Why doesn’t the criminal system care about Black teens’ futures the way they care for White teens’ futures? Why doesn’t the news use Black people’s graduation or family photos in stories the way they do when they cover White people (eg Brock Turner) who commit harmful crimes? Affluent White suburbs also design their own lives so that they walk through the world without having much interruption or interaction with police at all aside from community events and speeding tickets (and many of these communities try to reduce those, too!)
Just starting THERE would be a dramatically and radically different world than what we are experiencing now.
5. The “name” debate was also humbling.
Since I work in adverting, many of my colleagues and friends spend their days figuring out how to best “sell” an idea to consumers. In my (mostly white) circle, there was a gut reaction that “we need to rename ‘defund the police’ because Trump is going to weaponize it against the Democrats and that’s not exactly what it means anyway.”
Several have said “it’s a terrible slogan”:
And, it’s true, that early polling on the phrase isn’t good.
So I get it. It’s a “marketing problem” and us ad people do what they’re trained to do: fix the words and solve the marketing problem. We want to help. Our intentions are good.
But was pointed out this week, the “white saviors” need to “rebrand” the movement is, in fact, a microaggression in and of itself. BIPOC leaders must lead on this.
Those who have been in the fight a lot longer had a strong, clear reaction:
It’s worth noting that some leaders in this area don’t think “defund” is even strong enough language. This piece from Mariame Kaba makes that case:
And, regardless of the “slogan,” it’s not like the Republicans aren’t going to make hay no matter what it’s called:
6. Plus, all that aside, it actually MEANS “defund”…so we should use those words:
7. Plus, it’s already WORKING:
8. And why does this need to be done?
Aren’t there “good cops” out there? Of course there are. But the system itself is pretty broken. This first-person account from a former officer is eye-opening:
9. And John Oliver’s look at at the how we got here is a must-watch gut punch:
Of particular note in that Oliver segment is this quote at 10:18. The former Dallas police chief makes the case: police are asked to solve all of societies problems. (A public school teacher friend of mine made a similar case this week; cops and teachers are asked to handle way more than their paid to do.)
It’s too much. It’s not fair to the community or the cops. Why not spread the money around to others and share the load?
So, yes. The idea of “defunding the police” sounds extreme and scary. It may not “poll” great right now.
But maybe we need to shut up and listen. Open our minds to a new possibility. And think about how reallocating our city dollars could work better for us. For ALL of us.
John Kovacevich is a writer and creative director in San Francisco. He’s grateful to his friends for sharing most of the links above over the last week. If you have more you’d like to share on this topic, please add it in the comments below or email it to me directly. I’d love to read it.
