DEFUND THE POLICE IS NOT ABOLITION
By Greg Felton, Black Agenda Report.
January 26, 2021 | EDUCATE!
In Practice, Defunding Police Leads To Endless Dickering With Local
Politicians And Allows Reformists To Present Themselves As Abolitionists.
"The only way police will leave Black neighborhoods is because Black people
took community control of public safety and opposed police presence."
The demand to defund the police has become a central narrative responding
to the graphic killing of Black people. Black organizers must now discuss if
this strategy can move us closer to community control of public safety and
unpoliced Black neighborhoods.
The defund demand has a number of important branches but at its root it is
a call to mobilize community energy towards winning votes at local budget
hearings. This effort is not just about the vote but reflects a firm belief
in U.S. democracy which at this exact moment may be the most mistaken
political stance possible. During the Jan. 6th meeting at the U.S. Capitol
we witnessed a show of strength that could not have happened without deep
police collaboration. Misleadingly called an insurrection, this was a public
service announcement of the vertical integration of the police from the
various classes of the right wing grassroots to the very top of the U.S.
government . The police are now part of the formal or informal leadership of
both political parties . We very well may have witnessed the last presidency
of the united states of america because there are guns pointed at the gears
of the U.S. political system. So to get significant Black support, defund
the police campaigns will have to explain why we should fight for votes in a
country that does not have a democracy.
"The police are now part of the formal or informal leadership of both
parties."
What Jan. 6th brings into view is a foundational principle of Black
abolition, rooted in the philosophy of George Jackson, which defines the
U.S. political system as already fascist especially in regards to Black
people. In fact George Jackson argued that ".fascism-corporativism did
indeed emerge, develop and consolidate itself into its most advanced form
here in Amerika." So when defunders define abolition as mobilizing people to
win budget votes they are in opposition to the tradition shaped by George
Jackson as they march us back into the burning house Martin Luther King Jr.
lamented .
The myth of U.S. democracy is even more pronounced at the local and state
level, where defund must win if they are to set the stage for abolition. How
the strongest defund efforts fare in places where they should have a number
of progressive allies and resources, is revealing. In Minneapolis the death
of George Floyd led to a precinct burning down. Then advocates mobilized
the community to win a budget fight. They won the vote to defund the police
in order to "dismantle " the department. This was an incredible victory that
was quickly rolled back by an unelected city commission . To mask the
complete lack of democracy the elected leaders of the city then placated
defunders with an $8 million police cut, while adding $11 million in future
hires . This cut moved already civilian staff to other departments and the
main budget cut really came from police overtime . Minneapolis routinely
surpass their overtime budget and just this summer received 37 times their
overtime budget when they repressed the mobilizing from George Floyd's
death. If this is evidence of things to come the entire defund the police
movement may find even maintaining current police levels as a victory.
"When defunders define abolition as mobilizing people to win budget votes
they are in opposition to the tradition shaped by George Jackson."
In Los Angeles, Peoples Budget LA, a defund campaign led by BLM Los Angeles
managed to cut 8% or $150 million from the LAPD budget. Maintaining this
pace every year would completely defund the infamous LAPD in a little over
12 years. Except that the $150 M cut may not actually come out of the LAPD
budget. And the $97 Million that is supposedly directly cut from the police
budget actually comes from overtime spending, which the LAPD can still get
in the event of an emergency . Given the current state of the country,
emergencies are inevitable. The defund cut itself simply replaced a planned
LAPD budget increase of the same size .
In some cities the system is so undemocratic and corrupt the police don't
bother to hide how they use intimidation to directly control politics. When
Baltimore residents pushed a defund the police effort along with Leaders of
a Beautiful Struggle they were faced with liberal Black leadership. You can
clearly see how even a campaign this strong is frustrated on all sides by
the police union and the undemocratic municipal procedures and committees.
They detail that John Hopkins University is already seeking their own
private maintain a police force. In some cities this dynamic has collapsed
into political theatre . So again and again the strongest defund the police
coalitions are faced with undemocratic, untransparent, complicated political
systems that regional power players manipulate with ease. This is why Black
abolition is a divestment from U.S. democracy and an investment into Black
sovereignty. A key difference between abolition for Black liberation and the
defund demand, is that defund asks for permission and abolition does not.
"Black abolition is a divestment from U.S. democracy and an investment into
Black sovereignty."
The defund argument also assumes that public support for the police is
rational. But the support for police is non-rational. We know this because
police funding increases even when crime goes down . The US has always been
willing to fund the police even as the rest of the public infrastructure
crumbles. This means if all defunders have is data and well researched
talking points it wont be enough. Police are supported whether it makes
budget sense or not because Black people must be watched, and Black revolt
must be kept down. This fundamental role of US police is independent of any
budget. You can defeat it but you can not defund it.
Now in community spaces and corporate media, the call to defund the police
rests on a core contradiction. On the one hand defund is presented as a
demand housing a set of mandatory budget votes leading up to abolition then
at the same time defund the police is the same thing as abolition. Critical
Resistnace and some of the most well thought out defund campaigns argue
that while "a lot of people are trying to say there's a difference between
police reform, defunding the police and abolition. And the call to defund
the police is abolitionist. It's a step towards abolition. It is not a
separate, moderate or watered-down thing." But this contradiction is what
allows reforms and reformists to then present themselves as abolitionists.
So if defund the police was the same thing as abolition there would be no
need to add it to the original call to abolish the police. And by redefining
abolition as winning votes at budget hearings then that means defunders like
Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley are also abolitionists fighting to place the
public safety of Black neighborhoods under the community control of Black
people with no police.
They are not.
Defund democrats are pro-police and gave Trump record-breaking support for
the U.S. global police forces that represss Black uprisings around the world
. This support for defund comes from a belief, that it actually would never
lead to community control of public safety and unpoliced Black
neighborhoods. Besides on the federal level, defunders like the squad may
have already defeated the aspirational budget goals of local defund the
police efforts. Because by getting behind tax cuts, the CARES ACT and the
federal COVID-19 response they have put together a record breaking transfer
of wealth to the same class whose property the police guard .
"If defund the police was the same thing as abolition there would be no need
to add it to the original call to abolish the police."
Right now, U.S. state and local governments spend roughly $115 Billion on
local and state police . If defund campaigns completely won and cut 100% of
police funding tomorrow, Jeff Bezos alone could cover the loss and still be
one of the richest men in the world. The 1% also has direct investment in
the killings we see on the news. Starting as a slave market , Wall Street
now makes money whenever police kill someone . This is dangerous because
even though private funding for local law enforcement is low, if cities were
forced to cut the police's public money stream, municipal governments could
use any number of private financing mechanisms to refill their coffers.
While wholesale financing of local police through private funds may still be
a bridge too far, the police simply have a wealth of resources at the local
level to quietly frustrate defund budget votes. Even within the current
funding guidelines, police foundations can buy time by forcing campaigns to
wade through sophisticated budget manipulations, sapping movement energy.
The 1% already directly support the army who protect their property through
a complicated international network of police associations, drug running
operations , unions, foundations , government agencies, and right wing
formations . This is the police network that was made even stronger with
record level tax cuts and the CARES ACT's huge wealth transfer . The police
can also adjust for losses in man power by continuing the expansion of
fusion centers , a national surveillance system that merges local and
federal law enforcement. After decades of extorting cities the 1% have
developed plenty of local financial instruments to help the police cover
losses, play number games , and frustrate defunders with fake victories
until they finally figure out how to defeat those campaigns.
"If cities were forced to cut the police's public money stream, municipal
governments could use any number of private financing mechanisms to refill
their coffers."
But this summer we saw a shift in national consciousness after decades of
mobilizing around Troy Davis , the state led horror of Hurricane Katrina,
the theft of water in Flint and many other communities , the killing of
Miriam Carey and countless more. For a brief moment this summer most U.S.
citizens supported the burning of a police precinct . So in light of this
history of fascism and our current climate, the belief that the police
answer to the votes of city officials is a faith statement only non-Black
believers in U.S. democracy can really afford. The only way police will
leave Black neighborhoods is because Black people took community control of
public safety and opposed police presence.
Ultimately, what sets the stage for Black liberation isn't policy campaigns
but the grassroots organizing that lives in every Black neighborhood. But
it's natural to look for narratives and defund the police gives us a linear
process that is easy to follow. This approach starts with protests that
force a vote, then the police are defunded, pouring resources into our
communities which over time will create the scenario for Black communities
with no police. But when a critical mass of people are agitating and taking
action, a long reform process is placed in front of the goal of abolition
without an explanation of why this detour into the U.S. political system is
mandatory or even necessary. In this vein, Working Families Party argues
that "the only way to stop police violence is to defund the police and
instead create, uplift and fund the community services that keep Black
people safe, healthy and free."
The vote is not the road to Black liberation. That debate has been repeated
and is settled just by the fact it still needs to be held. To unpolice our
neighborhoods Black people will need to work with each other through
families and neighborhood networks. Now when defund gained mainstream
prominence most of the people who mobilized on the street and in media were
non-Black people. This created a discussion between politicians and non
Black groups that may cloud how we currently understand defund the police.
So as always its important to bring discussions back to the material
conditions of your particular community. Now since Black liberation must be
community driven you may assess that defund the police is a useful tool to
begin community discussions about abolition. Or you may decide defund the
police is a good way to reveal US fascism and the absence of democracy. If
that is the case defund presents key questions for Black organizers.
"To unpolice our neighborhoods Black people will need to work with each
other through families and neighborhood networks."
Black abolition views U.S. democracy as a myth, and U.S. fascism as already
present. The call to defund the police keeps Black politics within the U.S.
political system when Black abolition calls Black people to leave that
behind. You will have to determine how you can divest from the police and
invest into social services that other Black liberation efforts are working
to abolish . As you build, discuss what the role of defund's rational budget
campaign when public support for the police is non-rational. Black
organizers will also need to discuss the contradiction in the popular stance
that defund is the same thing as abolition and also the road to it. After
this you will have to navigate anti-abolition defunders who actually oppose
putting public safety in organized Black hands.
Now since Black abolition holds that fascism is already here and that the
vote is too small of a room for Black politics, where do Black politics
live? While the current defund conversation may currently be between
non-Black people and the state, Black abolition requires faith in organized
Black communities. Whatever your level of participation and reflection, if
you move in that spirit you will be able to find political demands rooted in
that practice. Campaigns focused on abstract policy will only connect to
Black people as characters they write about, history they theorize or
clients their non-profit and contract work services. Black abolition
organizers must put into practice tangible outlines of how you and your
family can be abolitionists amidst the real violence you face. We see this
immediately in community conversations, because Black people routinely shoot
down any abstract discussion of unpoliced neighborhoods. Its not enough to
just describe the problem of violence, prisons and police. We will have to
be disciplined and repeatedly explain abolition in clear creative ways.
Black politics lives within and among Black people in your neighborhoods,
associations, cultural spaces, and families. You wouldn't be here if you
didn't come from something, and you do not come from an incompetent people.
We are entering a war over the terms and conditions of the next era. "At
this stage, how can anyone question the existence of a fascist arrangement?
" What happened at the U.S. capitol was only the beginning of what is
coming. Even with a democracy, the U.S. has no problem maintaining,
"simultaneously a dictatorship over black Americans ." Look within your
immediate family friends and social circles. You will be surprised at the
wisdom you will find there along with first hand accounts of similiar times.
Trust the work of your elders and the previous movements that hidden within
arms reach are all the resources you need to create the cultural practices
and institutions that will nurture and sustain a new Black liberation
movement. Tap into the best of your ancestral traditions and hone a sharp
analysis of the current conditions. Get your team together and get to work.
The only way we can establish Black community control of public safety is by
making community wide moves and building the bricks and mortar of whatever
we need to make abolition a reality on our terms.
Greg Felton is a Bay Area based gig worker.
