Thread by @Cajsa

Advocates for white candidates who push the Kamala is a cop narrative are seriously the most dangerously racist "bros" of this election cycle. Consider what they are really saying. Any person who seeks higher office is irredeemably tainted by being a cop, a prosecutor, a judge

But wait? Is it anybody? Where's the Amy Klobuchar is a cop hashtags? I see. Only brown and black people get this treatment. So is the argument that the criminal justice system is racist so black & brown people must stay out of criminal justice jobs or be ruined politically?

We know the criminal justice system is racist. Though to be fair every structured system in our country is racist. The healthcare system is racist. The education system is racist. Does that mean no doctors or educators shoud run for office?

So, if you know the system is racist, what do you do? You can march and protest and advocate for better, less racist cops, prosecutors, and judges. But where will they come from if you consider them tainted by association if they participate?

Kamala Harris knew the system was racist when she joined it. What did she do? She started a racial bias training for police officers and promoted diversion programs. She refused to pursue the death penalty, even against a man who killed a cop (under tremendous pressure, she held)

Her "Back on Track" helped first time drug offenders get a diploma and find a job rather than go to jail. This was in 2005 when "zero tolerance" was super popular. She was pushing reforms against a mood of retribution

Three-strikes was the law in CA, but in San Francisco, she said they could only charge a third strike if it were a violent crime so they didn't send folks to life for shoplifting. But this was before the era of progressive prosecutors, so she was swimming against the tide

Then there is the attack on her truancy policy and though Harris regrets it was misused to jail parents, its intent was to help ensure kids get educated. Under her direction, not one person was jailed but parents were helped to get the resources they needed to keep kids in school

But someone else did a complete and thorough discussion of this so I will just send you to her thread.

https://twitter.com/blackwomenviews/status/1111264956400521216

But underlying all these "Kamala Is a Cop" arguments is this incredibly racist assumption that Black people do not want order on their streets, kids in school, and less crime in their neighborhoods. I know Bernie thinks all drug dealers are Black but seriously, folks...

Why is it that 90% of white progressives and liberals think racial justice is about criminals going free? Black people care about criminal justice on more than one level. They know that Black people are harassed by police, over-policed, and punished longer for the same crime

They also are the victims of crime, particularly when white flight carries with it the factories and industries that provide jobs, leaving neighborhoods without stable employment. If you control for employment level, there is no difference in crime between white and black areas

but Black neighborhoods have been stripped of industry and employment so yes, crime is a problem. Black people don't want to be mugged or burgled. They want police, police who are fair, part of the community they police. They want not to be killed for breathing white Black

The entire "Kamala Is a Cop" is based on the racist assumption that there is rampant criminality in the Black community and they just want to be left alone to do their criminal thing. It's based on the assumption that Black families don't value education

Can you think of anything more racist than attacking programs to keep Black kids in school, to find resources to help families support their kids in school?

Nah, these "Kamala Is a Cop" people don't care about Black people. They just want to discredit a Black candidate.

And not to discredit any Black folks for being a cop or anything, but I do think this critique is rich when it comes from Nina Turner whose husband and son are cops.

Seriously?

Her husband and son deserve credit for working, I hope, to reform a racist system from within, but Nina deserves an Ignobel for hypocrisy.

p.s. None of this is new. Black people have been saying this for months on twitter, so if it's new to you, follow more Black people.
@BravelyWriting @SER1897 @notcapnamerica @1StrongBlack1 @eclecticbrotha to name just a few. Seriously, follow more Black people

@BravelyWriting @SER1897 @notcapnamerica @1StrongBlack1 @eclecticbrotha Also @EdieS, @T_FisherKing @admiralmpj @blackwomenviews @BlueSteelDC
I don't want to create one of those threads with 50 recipients who can never escape, so follow who follows these fine folks. You can't go wrong