My new article in @nyulawreview describes how policing perpetuates racial housing segregation. It helps address one conundrum in the current debate: What to do about the routine police violence Black people experience outside central cities? nyulawreview.org/issues/volume-… 
Ferguson was a suburb. Ferguson helped reveal numerous dynamics of policing in a predominantly Black suburb that was controlled by white people. Scholars like Alex Murphy @UMSociology, @ekneebone, @berubea1 & others have written about race and class heterogeneity in suburbs.
Many white wealthy suburbs/neighborhoods rely on policing too -- but completely differently from how central cities and predominantly Black areas are under carceral control. Liberation requires focus on how segregation, political jurisdiction, and violent policing intersect.
We know there are 18k+ locally governed police departments in US. I support (and have written and spoken in favor of) shrinking & shifting funds away from police. But there are many jurisdictions that won't abolish or defund soon. How to reduce harm w/out legitimating status quo?
Black freedom of movement is part of what racial justice has to include. So how should we think about "police reform" in light of this?
As @mattyglesias points out, the idea that police are nonviolent in the suburbs is a myth. This is partly explainable by the heterogeneity of suburbs. But also...
Policing in white, wealthy communities is often racially and economically violent in ways that don't gain wide attention. This article refers to two of those policing strategies as "border patrol" and "distributing racialized economic value."
At the end, I discuss how my args might fit w/ calls for abolition. I also describe one of my own experiences, when a neighbor called the police on me for standing on my porch in New Haven. I try to avoid living in that area now even though it's where most of my colleagues live.
This is to say, please don't assume that because I am hesitant about every police reform buzzword that I'm uninterested in practical change or uncommitted to radical transformation. This isn't merely a theoretical or political exercise for research participants or me.
There's a lot more one could focus on -- which is to say, the article is *definitely* too long (oops). Alas. I hope you take a glance and find something valuable in it. Let me know of any thoughts or pushback. Eager to continue this conversation.
IS, not was 🙄. I really wish you could edit tweets.
