The notion that "ignorance" is what fuels state-sanctioned violence is a dangerous misnomer. It encourages oppressed communities to "work with" law enforcement, rather than understanding law enforcement as the root of the violence itself. #AbolitionNow out.com/news/2019/5/08…
This narrative upholds the notion that individuals are the source of transphobic, racist, and sexist violence, ignoring the systems--like police and prisons--that empower and encourage individuals to commit that violence. #AbolitionNow
A close trans friend of mine used to lead trans competency trainings for police departments. She stopped doing it when she realized police were using the trainings to better target trans ppl, not protect them. #AbolitionNow
Police who took her workshop were intentionally misgendering trans suspects, misnaming them, and using other forms of manipulation to escalate trans ppl into committing arrestable acts, all based on things they'd been taught under the guise of "better training" #AbolitionNow
The take away: An institution designed at its foundation to target, harass, and harm oppressed ppl can't be salvaged through training--a solution designed to restore faith in that same institution, and increase investment in it, financially and philosophically #AbolitionNow
Abolishing police is the only way to protect trans ppl, Black ppl, sex workers, undocumented ppl, poor ppl, disabled ppl, women, and on. Calls for "more training" only serve to obscure what the goal of policing actually is--to neutralize the oppressed #AbolitionNow
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