I wanna explain a couple things about the principles behind #CPACNow cause a lot of people are finding out about it for the first time and I've seen a few misconceptions on here.
The main one is that #CPACNow is an alternative to abolishing or defunding the police. It's not in opposition to those demands, which is why pretty much every abolitionist org in Chicago supports CPAC. It's a strategy on the road to a world without police.
What we don't want is for the city to cut the police budget only to raise it again when there's an ebb in the movement, or to dismantle the police department and then pay some private company to do what cops currently do. That's why we need community control over the police.
It's about long term power. We have the ruling class on the back foot right now but they still own everything and they're currently thinking of ways to take back whatever we win during this rebellion. That's why we need to empower ourselves.
With #CPACNow we'd be able to determine the police budget and write CPD policy, meaning we can defund the police and end police patrols as an occupying force in our neighborhoods. That in turn gives us more power to organize than we currently have.
And of course it's not the revolution in itself. Of course the white supremacist ruling class is gonna try to find ways around it. There is no magic pill to end oppression, but we can (and must) build tools of class struggle and Black liberation.
So what makes CPAC different from other reforms? Again, it's a question of power. Right now the mayor and the Chicago political machine are making police reforms that will undoubtedly be full of buzzwords and won't change power dynamics between police and Black communities.
It doesn't matter if "don't choke people" is in the police rulebook if we can't do shit about cops who choke people. And cities have demonstrated for years that they don't hold cops accountable to their own rules, so any reform that doesn't empower the people is bullshit.
#CPACNow fundamentally changes power dynamics because 1) in order to be on the council you can't be associated with cops in any way and you need at least 2 years organizing experience and 2) the council will actually have the power to make decisions, not just recommendations.
We're in a historic moment right now and we have to make sure we come out of this with something that can't be taken back just by changing the city budget in a year or two. We need to use this moment to build power in the long term.
Read about CPAC here: CAARPR.org/stop-police-cr…
Read about CPAC here: CAARPR.org/stop-police-cr…
