I interviewed @equalityAlec about his work ending the criminalization of poverty, the history of policing and prisons, the real motives behind reforms like body cams, arguments against #DefundThePolice, what abolition really means, and...
What you can do in your own community:
"No society in recorded history of the modern world ever attempted to take so many human beings from the schools, and families, and jobs, and medical care, and children, and put them into government run cages" - @equalityAlec
"If they are determining who's in a jail cell, separated from their kids, and who's home with their family on the basis of how much money they have, how can we trust anything else they're doing?" - @equalityAlec
"That is the kind of evil we're dealing with... The intentional brutality these companies are inflicting"
"What's radical is the incredible amount of money we are currently spending"
I asked @equalityAlec what we should say when liberals tell us they agree with #DefundThePolice... but we need to change our language
"Are we ever going to get to a world where we can guarantee that every single person will be safe every single day? No, and that shouldn't be our goal, and the police are never going to get us to that goal in the first place" - @equalityAlec on arguments against abolition
"The number one rule in how we think about these systems is: is the particular reform that I'm being offered shrinking the size and power of the system? If it's not doing that, it's not worth supporting" - @equalityAlec
“The detectives took turns raping her in the backseat as the van cruised the dark streets and as she sat handcuffed, crying and repeatedly telling them ‘No.’ Between assaults… the van pulled over so the cops could switch drivers”
New York is one of 35 states where cops can evade sexual assault charges by claiming it was consensual
Some states have recently closed this loophole
Most have not, “because it has been politically unpopular to push laws that target cops and anger their powerful unions”
In most of the states that do not outlaw sex between on-duty cops and detainees, an officer can claim consent and face only a misdemeanor “official misconduct” charge, which carries a maximum one-year sentence
Even those who still believe the fallacy that police and prisons make us safer understand that police accountability is critical — and "wandering cops" are a major concern
A 2020 Yale Law study found 1,100 terminated cops re-hired and walking the streets in Florida alone
The national decertification database isn't public, isn't checked by most depts before hiring, and doesn't include some of the biggest states, including California and New Jersey
This sorry excuse for transparency has led to numerous deaths
“Study after study shows that a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity, and stable housing are more successful in reducing crime than more police or prisons." - @popdemoc, ‘Freedom to Thrive’