Unfortunately powerful people are already trying to rehabilitate police and give them even more money, so we need to say, again, that what happened in Uvalde wasn't police failing. It was the outcome of us relying on cops to keep us safe when that is not their purpose. 🧵
The purpose of police is the protect property, the status quo, wealth and power. And they are not useless at that, not failures or incapable or lacking in training. They are extremely good at that, because that is what they're for. /2
And in order to get us to support the police, powerful folks have convinced way too many people that cops protect the little guys too. That's just not true. That's not their job. They're not legally required to protect you, and they don't want to. /3
So what happens when we invest billions of dollars into a system not meant to keep us safe is that we reinforce the violence and power of the armed guys meant to protect the rich and powerful. /4
And we do so at the expense of our community. Don't lose sight of how the Uvalde police consume 40% of the budget, while not keeping kids safe, hurting parents, and not stopping the shooter. /5
And that 40% of the budget is money taken from schools like Robb Elementary. Its money taken from housing, from violence prevention, from mental health care. So not only are we given money to guys who dont keep us safe, we're taking it from programs that build real safety. /6
Imagine if the $180 billion we spent on police went to free housing, free healthcare, transformative justice programs, free transit, green energy. We really could start to move things in a different direction.Towards a world of care rather than punishment. /7
So don't fall for the lies. Don't fall for the lies that the cops who chose not to help those kids would help if we gave them a couple million more. That's not what cops do, that's not what they're meant to do, and more training won't change that. More money won't change that. /8
Another way to look at how these billions could be spent. On prevention rather than (non)response.
And David is a helpful explainer and communicator on this topic.
And David is a helpful explainer and communicator on this topic.
https://twitter.com/davidkaib/status/1529796062071898116
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