This is a two part JW, the second part of which could be a WTF:
JW what people think about the current "De-fund the police" debate.
At first glance, this would seem extremely divisive and hopelessly radical on its face, however…
One of the first people I ever heard speak on behalf of Black lives matter, back when it was a nascent “organization” still barely deserving of the term, was a young woman (I don’t recall her name) who stepped into the role of a regional organizer and spokeswoman. She spoke, among other things on what at the time was a rumored radical goal of the organization: defunding the police. I was surprised by how focused, persuasive, and above all calm and un-radical she came across (I suspect she has gone far in the years since). The goal as she articulated it was not to punish the police for brutalizing impoverished minority neighborhoods , but rather to point out that the brutalization of such neighborhoods was an inevitable consequence of addressing the symptoms of poverty, including crime and drugs, by increasing resources which led to increased incarceration of community members.
One could argue that, in a time when we seem to be willing to abandon fiscal restraint wholesale (and arguably fiscal sanity itself) in order to protect an economy that seems hell bent on increasing wealth disparity at every turn, we should be able to, if necessary find the resources to do both policing and community development work (libraries, athletic programs, safe spaces for kids, domestic violence shelters, drug and alcohol treatment programs, etc.). However, I was persuaded by this young woman’s presentation of the notion that it is at least possible, that the “pressure” of policing must in fact be reduced in poor and minority communities as a goal in itself.
All this said, I am completely baffled by both the headlines, and everything I have read about the City of Minneapolis plans to “dismantle their police department”. They do not seem to be talking about “remaking”, “disintegrating and re-integrating”, “re-imagining” or “re-constructing” their police department, or re-directing some of it’s funding ,but rather simply “dismantling” it. Can someone explain to me, based on what they have heard, WTF Minneapolis is thinking? The particularly offensive, insulting and hyperbolic (if otherwise typical) charge of mental instability that the LA police union just directed at Mayor Garcetti based on his desire to redirect police funds to community development, would not necessarily seem so outrageous to me had it been directed at the City Council of Minneapolis.
