Defund the Police

Last week thousands of New Yorkers rose up to protest police oppression. We made our voices, our anger, and our demands heard.

Last week thousands of New Yorkers rose up to protest police oppression. We made our voices, our anger, and our demands heard. The NYPD and the leaders who support them showed us how they felt about that — officers beat protestors, rammed us with cars, and attacked us with pepper spray.

New Yorkers are all too familiar with violent and oppressive policing. Broken windows policing was popularized here. Stop and frisk has been used for decades here to target black and brown people. The NYPD is armed and funded like a military — in fact, if New York City was a country, we would rank 36th in military spending.

And now, the NYPD is trying to beat us down again as we fight to show that Black Lives Matter. They matter when black and brown communities experience cycles of divestment and displacement that forces us from our homes. They matter when COVID-19 kills more black and brown people while the government does nothing to address the disparity. And they matter when police murder us.

We are fighting not just to demand justice for Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but for all oppressed people.

I’m tired of marching. And I know many of you are too. But we must continue our fight. When we stop demanding our voices be heard, when we stop pushing for systemic change, our oppressors win.

So what do we do now?

1. Keep marching. Don’t stop marching. Remember protection equipment, like a face mask, supplies, like water and snacks, and to stay alert.
2. If you can’t march — donate to support organizations and people that do. We recommend the National Bail Fund Network!
3. Push our elected officials, particularly Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, to defund the NYPD. The City Council is voting on a city budget on June 5, and we must force them to substantially reduce police funding.
4. Finally, volunteer. Helping out campaigns like ours is only one part of this. But the police are powerful because politicians defend them. We can elect a whole slate of socialist politicians who will always be on the side of the people, not the police, but we can’t do it without your help.

I’m angry, I’m tired, and I’m sick of being treated as if our lives don’t matter. Black lives DO matter and I’m tired of saying it nicely. We are at a tipping point. We must keep pushing.

We can defund the police. We can get socialists to Albany. We can build a more just and equitable society.

But only if we fight together.

In solidarity,

Jabari