I write this on a Saturday night on which there has been yet another senseless killing of an African-American male by police offices who used deadly force in a situation that did not call for it. This time, it took place in Atlanta, yet another large American city with a history of distrust and fear on the part of its citizens of color toward the men and women who are sworn to protect everyone, yet seem fundamentally unable to do so.
This has to end. It should have ended a long time ago. But how?
One answer might lie in the slogan that, in the wake of the George Floyd tragedy, has emerged as a rhetorical companion to the phrase "Black Lives Matter": "Defund The Police." Taken in its most literal sense, that would mean eliminating all law enforcement agencies, so that citizens would have no protection at all against career criminals, to say nothing of natural and human-made disasters in which everyone looks to police office to help, at the very least, maintain some semblance of order.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of media mouthpieces on the right-wing side of the political divide are using the popularity of the slogan to "prove" that all "liberals" and their constituencies are total anarchists, solely interested in destroying all law and order for the sake of achieving total political dominance and power for their own ends. Sorry, ladies and gents but, if that's what you think when you look at us, find your local mirror. You're more likely to find what you're looking for there.
I don't think, in any case, that people who are using "Defund The Police" as a kind of mantra for this moment literally mean that. As I've followed the political discussion over the past week, it seems that the real request being made here is to stop trying to use police departments to address problems that are better left to different types of professionals, social workers and doctors for example. In my own work as a domestic relations attorney, I can relate to this desire in a very powerful way. How many times have I been involved in a case where one spouse alleges domestic abuse against the other, the police are called, the officers arrive on the scene with no witnesses or other evidence to help them put the pieces together, and they leave without making an arrest or filing charges? More than I can think of at the moment.
And in that conundrum, and similar ones throughout society all across the country, lies a part of the answer behind the present crisis. The systemic racism that pervades more police departments than we care to admit is, ultimately, the same systemic racism that pervades the attitude of most Americans--or, at least, far too many of them--and influences their preferences on how their tax dollars are spent. For almost 40 years, we have systematically cut spending on social welfare programs that are able to provide resources to successfully address problems like domestic violence, drug abuse, vocational training (and re-training). We've allegedly done all of this in the name of fiscal prudence, even as we blow holes in public budgets with bribes that we call tax incentives, and wars fought in the name of democracy but actually prosecuted in the name of profits.
But I'll let you in on a little secret, even though I think that many of you know it already. Racism is the overarching motivation for cutting social spending. White taxpayers perceive most of money going to folks that, in the taxpayers' opinion, don't deserve it because they allegedly don't do enough to make it worth anyone's while. Never mind that the actual experiences of these taxpayers play no role in supporting or even shaping those opinions; for the most part, none of them have ever spent enough time in urban neighborhoods or poor rural areas to have any sense of what is actually going on. They're far too busy making sure that they're being misinformed by Rush Limbaugh, by Fox News, or whatever other media outlet they've pre-selected to grease their prejudices.
But that's not to say that we haven't been increasing spending in some areas. In fact, for the past 30 years, and especially in the post-9/11 era, spending on police departments and other law enforcement agencies have gone through the proverbial roof. And it's not just the amount of money being given out; it's also what it gets spent on. Not just rubber bullets and tear gas, but heavy artillery, including tanks. Tanks! Would someone explain to me why police departments need that level of firepower? Do people with dark-colored skin really frighten racists that much?
I think that, right there, we have the beginning of the solution It doesn't involve raising anyone's taxes It doesn't involve even an increase in overall spending levels. Take the money that's currently being used to outfit the nation's police departments at the level of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, and use it to beef up spending on the social ills that we long ago decided to abandon. Use it on the problems police are so often called upon to solve, but without the training or other resources needed to solve them.
And, while you're at it, take some of the money that you save demilitarizing the police and put it into better recruiting programs, ones that are designed to screen out the types of people who are prone to use a badge and a baton to express their hatred of people who are "not like them."
And, one more thing.
End private prisons in this country, once and for all. They literally do nothing but create a market for prisoners. They allow private corporates to create a workforce of slave laborers, circumventing the purposes of the Thirteenth Amendment right under our noses. They are the primary reason why a ridiculously high percentage of our population is behind bars, often for offenses that could be addressed in a less punitive manner, with better results for everyone.
Just a few ideas, for starters. No, don't eliminate the police. But their funding definitely needs to be reduced. For the sake of all of us.
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