1) I have seen several people that I have great respect for say that racism underlies a newly circulating poll that shows support for BLM but substantially fewer people supporting the demand to “defund the police”. Of course, it’s the US and racism underlies most things
2) but I think in this case, there is more going on. The first is that this is a new demand among most people. Two months ago no one, other than organizers, had heard of “defund the police”, so it’s a new idea.
3) and like most new ideas, people need to think about it and understand it’s meaning before fully agreeing with it. Most of the media discussion concerning #defund has been reactive and in response to the right’s mischaracterization of it.
4) there has been little space for those who understand #defund, let alone #abolition politics to clearly articulate its meaning to a broad public. There are even disputes among activists as to its meaning...so we have to create the political space to clarify our own ideas.
5) A majority of Black people also do not, right now, support #defund. Many Black people have been left with no alternatives to policing and punishment. But a big part of this movement is “divest” but also “invest”.
6) We want to rebuild a society where people’s physical and emotional needs are taken care of and for that we must invest in those programs and services that allow for that—as a bare minimum.
7) But this requires explanation because there has been a 40 year bipartisan attack on spending money to satisfying human need. Our movement aims to get people to think differently or “reimagine” how things could be.
8) But this requires both patience and urgency. None of us should underestimate that the leaders of this country have spent the better part of fifty years convincing the general public that the biggest problem in their lives is crime.
9) No serious movement can hope to undo these deeply ingrained ideas in a matter of weeks. We have to patiently explain. But in this kind of volatile atmosphere years are compressed in weeks. We shouldn’t expect to wait forever. People’s ideas are challenged in struggle.
10) The sea change in ideas we have witnessed with Black Lives Matter, which most people now support, is evidence of this. Six years ago, BLM lacked majority support, but organizers and ordinary people kept fighting, building, arguing, explaining and opinions have shifted.
11) That is the power of social movements and organizing. So instead of bemoaning the polls, consider them a gauge for where we are at and where we need to go. Our work is hard, as was told to me, this is why it is called struggle.
I would encourage everyone to take a look at this article by Amna Akbar @orangebegum to get some idea of what we can say to folks who wonder what we mean by defund... google.com/amp/s/www.nyti…
