Defund the Police?

Should the police be defunded? Yes. I know, I know. Queue the intro to Dead Prez’s Police State.

You have the emergence in human society of this thing that's called the State. What is the State? The State is this organized bureaucracy: it is the police department. It is the Army, the Navy. It is the prison system, the courts, and what have you. This is the State; it is a repressive organization. But the state and gee well, you know, you've got to have the police because if there were no police, look at what you'd be doing to yourselves -- you'd be killing each other if there were no police! But the reality is the police become necessary in human society only at that juncture in human society where it is split between those who have and those who ain't got.”—Chairman Omali Yeshitela

The police are funded through our tax dollars, but their major purpose is to harass Black men and tax us a second time. So yes, I think they should be defunded across the board. And the reason why this is necessary would be to create the space to reimagine both society and policing. More on that later. I heard a YouTuber talk about the Daunte Wright killing and he said, and I’m paraphrasing, that Daunte was stupid and contributed to his own death. He went on to say that he believes the police should essentially box in "n!ggas" i.e. poor Black people and let them fend for themselves. Yes, he(Daunte) was stupid. In fact, he was stupid several times. It was stupid to resist arrest and it was stupid to drive off after being shot. Granted, the police are not required to render aid to the people they shoot, but driving away just puts others in danger and increases the amount of time it will take for anyone to see you. And as we can see, he wasted time he didn’t have to waste. So yes, he was stupid. The problem with this analysis is that it focuses on just a tiny aspect of the problem.

Let’s zoom out, shall we?

He was stupid. But who raised him? His mother. Notice there isn't even a mention of his father in the reporting. Why is it that we have so many single mothers who incorrectly believe they can raise Black or even Blackish boys to successfully navigate this world? It's because of the State that rewards women for being reproductively irresponsible and makes them think they can do it on their own. The State can then harvest their dumb-ass sons like Daunte as debt repayment. See the game?

And now, let’s zoom out even further.

Why can’t the State simply quarantine Black people and let them “kill themselves?” Is it because it’s morally wrong? Are you kidding me? When have issues of morality ever stopped the State and its enforcers from harming Black people? Maybe it’s because such a course of action would be unconstitutional. Again, are you kidding me? Since when have Black people ever had any constitutional right Whites respected? Notice that no matter how many White cops end up on that Summer Jam screen, so to speak, the threats you hear from a portion of them that being held accountable will incentivize them to refuse to help really just means exactly more of the same harassment and taxing they’ve always been doing. Threatening to withhold aid or help doesn't mean much if you've never been helpful in the first place.

The State and their enforcement arm won’t leave Blacks alone because they can’t leave Blacks alone. Do the math. Let’s say you could erect a force field around Detroit, Baltimore, D.C., Chicago, and any other place you find Black people in large concentrations. What would happen next? Well, you have about 700K full-time officers. They don’t aggressively target and harass any other group of people so what would they be doing? The answer is nothing. You don’t need as many police. You could try to aggressively Whites, but you would likely now have to target your own friends and neighbors. Your police chief and the mayor would likely have to answer for that. You simply would not be needed in such large numbers. I would estimate the numbers of police would likely be cut in half (as they probably should be). What’s so bad about that? Well, the 350K unemployed people is really just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to that, you would need fewer judges, lawyers, and administrative personnel (like the ones who allegedly sent Daunte Wright's summons to the wrong address). You would need fewer jails and correctional officers. You would need fewer ancillary services. All those so-called good, upstanding, White folk will be out of a job and quickly end up on the gov't dole.

But it gets worse.

Without your police fleecing its most vulnerable citizens out of every god d@mn dime, without your jackboots grabbing poor Black people by the ankles and shaking every penny out of their pockets, what do you think happens to the county coffers? Yep, all those cities that are already bankrupt in all but name can no longer avoid the title. And tell me, what do you think happens to a state where many of its major cities go bankrupt? See how the dominoes continue to fall once started? So no, they can’t just leave us alone. They never could. This country doesn’t stand unless it’s on the bodies of dead Black men. So when I say defund the police, understand I am calling for the end of America. There is no other way. Out of the rubble, I do think a new system of policing can and should emerge.

What should actual policing look like?

Well, I posted on Facebook that standard training for officers is to have their Glock on their dominant side and their Taser on their non-dominant side. This is standard training. Why? Because officers are trained to shoot to kill so it would make sense that their murder weapon is on their dominant side. A second or two could make all the difference between life and death for the officer, right? The problem with this philosophy is that it is antithetical to the notion of protecting and serving the public. It should actually be just the opposite. Yes, policing is a dangerous job. Many other jobs are dangerous too. But police are given the power to determine if someone lives or dies Having the murder weapon on the non-dominant side might force the officer to at least take an extra half a second to think about what he or she is doing? Isn’t that worth it to potentially save lives if we are to believe so many of them can’t tell the difference between a Glock and a Taser or what apartment they are in?

But that is just a minor point.

In the main, I believe every officer should have a mandatory ham cam that works automatically and can’t be disabled. Furthermore, it should record sound at the same time that video starts recording. We have the technology to do this. These should be made available to the public unedited upon request unless the citizen in the video or the family of the deceased decides against it. In general, police should be stationed in their precinct and only come when called. They should not be revenue generators. Are you starting to see the problem here? How do you fleece the public in this new paradigm? More toll roads and traffic cams? Higher taxes? The answer is yes, yes, and yes. And now you are starting to see the bigger picture and why things are the way they are. This country literally cannot get better. Like I said about the Lieutenant who was harassed by police and said, “I'm actively serving this country and this is how you're going to treat me?” You being treated that way IS how you serve your country. And this is why I say, "Defund the police." You reach a point where you would rather see them die well than for you to continue to live (and die) poorly.