Thread by @sunny_hundal

"Abolish the Police" - I want to talk about this rallying cry many on social media are making.

1) This is the exact opposite of what we mean / need.
2) It illustrates how many put passion/anger over strategy.
3) This doesn't really help minorities in long term.
[thread]

In practical terms, 'abolish the police' generally means two things, as far as I can make out:

1) deep reform, as laid out by a long-time advocate on this informative podcast vox.com/today-explained

2) move to a 'community based' system (which IMO isn't viable in large cities)

There's one common claim in this:

'The police should comes from and represent the areas it is meant to protect'

- We can all agree on this, right? Police who don't know / care for people they are meant to protect won't do their job well. We need professionals, but locals too.

THAT undeniably means any form of a policing system needs more minorities to join it. Or it won't be representative.

Representative policing won't eradicate all problems but it is a *necessary* precursor to systematic change.

That means minorities have to sign up.

You might say: "No, the system is corrupt to the core so burn it down first."

But this attitude doesn't work in practical terms. And many African Americans know this.

During the civil rights era, black Americans didn't say: "We don't want to vote, tear the system down first"

They recognised changing the system was necessary, so they fought for recognition and power. They fought with their lives to enter that racist system and win power.

At its core, racism is also an expression of power. Black people are treated badly *across the world* (not just in the US) - because they don't have enough economic and political power.
(not saying this is the only reason for racism).

That power comes from voting, esp in U.S.

African Americans fought for and exercise their hard-won power (especially locally) to raise themselves.

And this is why President Obama maintains so much support among African Americans - he was the living epitome of Black Power (a point many lefties don't get).

Our approach to the justice system has to be the same.

A system that was created and serves to terrorise black Americans can only be changed by black Americans exercising power in that system.

Killer Mike makes that exact point in this key speech
edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2020…

The police has to represent and reflect the people it serves.

To change the police, African Americans will need to exercise power within the system - its not going to come from well-meaning white guys.

And that goes for any system: politics, the media, the justice system.

But our movements have becomes infected with this utopian anarchist thinking that dreams of tearing down the whole system.

Who is going to vote for these fringe dreams? Answer me that first. No one.

That's why MLK Jr worked to change the system not wait till it started afresh.

This is a big part of why African Americans in the south voted for Biden over Sanders. They need radical over incremental change.

But they also know most Americans aren't going to vote for someone to tear the system down. Americans never have.

Bernie's lot still don't get this

To organise and mobilise people means to exercise political power and force through change - peacefully and democratically. That means changing minds, incremental change, working hard for small steps.

You want a revolution with only a minority convinced? You'll need big guns

(Anyway, before I get off point).

On the police - what we're basically left with is a slogan that makes BIG claims but in practice just means reform and representative policing.

But for some reason, ppl prefer radical slogans with moderate implications, instead of the opposite

To summarise: we should be calling not to "Abolish the police" - a misleading slogan that will go nowhere and lose political support - but reform it and make it representative.

It isn't realistic political strategy.

And it won't help minorities (as the past has shown).