defund the police
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Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Alicia Garza on How to Organize and Stay Inspired During a Crisis
Doing “the work” is an oft-used phrase in social justice circles, arguably overused to the point that it can include everything from reading a poem to starting a movement. Alicia Garza knows what “the work” is. A co-founder of Black Lives Matter, the writer and activist now works as the Special Projects Director for the…
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How Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams Envisions the Future of Policing in New York City
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is not, by any means, a prison or police abolitionist. But you may be forgiven for thinking so if you listen to some of the language he uses to describe his vision of what the future of public safety could look like. “Hopefully one day we can evolve to the…
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For Years, ‘Qualified Immunity’ Protected Violent Cops. Could a New Court Decision Mark a Shift?
On Tuesday, a federal court went against more than a decade of decisions in denying qualified immunity to a cop who shot a black man 22 times. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel concerns the case of Wayne Jones, who was shot and killed in West Virginia in 2013 by five cops, who fired…
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Joe Biden Just Wrote That He Wants to Give Police More Money, and He Totally Needs to STFU
I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but Joe Biden needs to only be rolled out to the American public three times: Once to say that he’s picked a black woman to be his vice president, another time so he can say “Black Lives Matter” and the last time to say…
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What 'Defund' in 'Defund the Police' Actually Means, Explained
What a year, huh? Yeah, 2020 has been a monster. Forget 2020. I mean just from Sunday to Wednesday. You’re right. Each week has been a year. Each month a decade. The Popeyes chicken sandwich craze feels like it happened when I was 4 years old. So one recurring theme of the uprising is a…
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The Police Would Rather Kill White People Than Stop Killing Black People
I was reminded last week, while watching the clip of 75-year-old Martin Gugino getting pushed by Buffalo police officers and cracking his head open, of a Twitter thread a few years ago by Gene Demby. I cannot find the actual thread right now (perhaps someone can help me and I’ll add a link to it)…
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Minneapolis City Council Vows It Will Dismantle Police Department: 'Our Efforts at Incremental Reform Have Failed. Period.'
Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council—enough to constitute a veto-proof supermajority—pledged to disband the Minneapolis police department on Sunday, as the city approached nearly two weeks of daily anti-police brutality protests following the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd at the hands of MPD officers. The announcement was made at a community rally on Sunday.…