大象传媒

I am the daughter o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f a retired law en/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/forcement o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/ficer o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f 35 years. My /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/father, along with some cops, have worked hard to help keep America sa/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fe. Unlike most law en/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/forcement, my dad has a degree in psychology and criminology. This, my /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/father tells me, is what separates him /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/from most cops-- and the /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fact that he used his experience in law en/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/forcement to recognize his own racial bias. He has lived through and seen police brutality against A/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/frican Americans throughout his career; we are both /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fed up.

Now this isn't a recent problem. Talk about police brutality can be traced all the way back to 1963, when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech at the March on Washington. But, only recently do we have reliable data on police killings. Since 2013, 1,944 Black Americans have been killed by the police. Practically none o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f these killings have seen justice, with under 1% o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f them reaching a conviction.

We continue to see the consequences o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f systemic racism today in our society: the still lasting e/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fects o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f redlining 50 years a/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fter its illegalization, Black people being disproportionately arrested, surveilled, and jailed, and studies showing that the exact same resumes will get twice as many callbacks i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f the name is White-sounding versus i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f it is Black-sounding. Not only is this damaging in ways we can see, but ways we can鈥檛 see as well. Physical violence is just as harm/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/ful as psychological violence; the mental health o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f Americans cannot be ignored any longer. Combatting and reversing the damage systemic racism does to our society can鈥檛 happen overnight. But, I suggest we start by de/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/funding the police. Let me explain what I mean by that.

My /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/father and I /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/frequently discuss matters o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f the police and o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f course the most recent topic o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f de/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/funding them. 鈥淒e/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fund the police鈥� is a terribly misleading phrase; it does not mean to dismantle the police. I o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fer you a better phrase: reassess policing supplementations. What this means is that we need to re-evaluate the extra /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/funding that state, local agencies, and the /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/federal government administer to the police departments, and redistribute them to much needed non-policing social services like mental health/healthcare, adequate public housing, and education.

For those who think that we shouldn鈥檛 de/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fund the police, and we should just re/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/form them instead, let's look at the history o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f the police. The police were /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/first /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/formed in the early 1800鈥檚 to control the slave population. In the South, the police were known as the 鈥淪lave Patrol鈥� and in the North the police were primarily used /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/for immigration and to control the Indigenous population. From its beginnings, the police department was a racist establishment designed to control people o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f color using violence. So, the re/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/form o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f the police department is unlikely. You cannot remove racism /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/from an establishment that was /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/founded on it.

We never talk about what kind o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fear/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fulness this may incite within communities o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f color. Every time someone o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f color is pulled over, approached, or even passes by a cop car, they may be /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/feeling a pang o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f terror. Or wondering i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f they鈥檒l get killed /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/for running around with their water gun like 12 year old Tamir Rice. Or like Atatiana Je/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/ferson, /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/for simply being in her home. Black people are not sa/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fe in this country. Frequently on TV I see 鈥渦narmed Black person shot and killed by the police.鈥� I /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fear /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/for my Black /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/friends who live in this country.

Yes, black lives do matter! All lives can't matter until black lives do. I also acknowledge the irony o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f my white skin trying to explain BLM, but I am simply using my privileged voice /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/for those who you re/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fuse to listen to.听

The United States spends around 100 billion dollars on the police each year; which explains why police departments have riot gear at a moment鈥檚 notice yet hospitals barely have the basic necessities during a global pandemic. Yet, instead o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f curtailing the money we allocate /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/for the police department and putting it into other areas o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f need like mental health, drug addiction, and grossly under/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/funded schools, we expect the police department to handle all o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f these problems. We simply ask police departments to do things they are not trained to do. This is why 1 in 4 deaths during police shootings are those with mental health problems.

For example, let's talk about Daniel Prude. He was 41 years old at the time he was killed. He died /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/from asphyxia complications a/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fter he was pinned to the ground by police o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/ficers. His brother called to get him help; he was su/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fering with mental health problems. I would argue that those police o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/ficers should not be responding to mental-health related 911 phone calls because this can be the result. They are not trained mental-health pro/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fessionals-- i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f you want them responding to such calls, train them as such. Require them to have degrees in psychology or criminal justice and to obtain mental health licenses as we do /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/for mental health providers. Or, i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f the police must be sent, send mental health pro/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fessionals along on such calls.

We can li/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/ft those up who are su/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fering. The police should not be given tasks they are not trained to do. I hope we choose to spend some o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/f this money elsewhere, in places that will bene/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/injustice/fit our society, particularly those who are most vulnerable in it. Let鈥檚 break the cycle. The violence needs to end now. Caring, compassion, and community needs to take its place.