Read on Twitter
I& #39;m going to express a viewpoint I have long kept to myself. A viewpoint I believed, if made public, would kneecap my dreams of public service. But my silence was just a vestige of my internalized respectability politics. F*** respectability. Here& #39;s why I am a #PoliceAbolitionist
First off, it& #39;s important to note that this is not a new view, or an original thought by any means. When I first googled the phrase, I found it was already well in use, and there was a theory and discussion that had been underway for years. I& #39;m still learning that theory. 2/x
I originally came to the view & phrase on my own, based on my experiences & observations as a queer Black American. My perspective was honed by the work of #JamesBaldwin #AssataShakur, the #MOVEBombing, #BlackPanthers, #LeslieFeinberg& #39;s Stone Butch Blues, and so many others. 3/x
I think of #policeabolition in two ways: First, police abolition is a body of work, a history, and a movement that I am learning and hope to participate in. 4/x
Personally, #policeabolition is the result of this thought process:
1. The state does not protect me or my people.
2. Police are state actors & thus do not protect me or my people.
3. Police & policing make me less safe. 5/x
1. The state does not protect me or my people.
2. Police are state actors & thus do not protect me or my people.
3. Police & policing make me less safe. 5/x
4. There is no positive social function the police serve that isn& #39;t better served by an existing agency, an holistic justice system & a compassionate approach to social ills.
5. There must be a way to keep communities safe that doesn& #39;t rely on the state monopoly on violence. 6/x
5. There must be a way to keep communities safe that doesn& #39;t rely on the state monopoly on violence. 6/x
The theory #policeabolition is best described by the theorists themselves. I am still a very young student in this. Here are some links:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/.../3382-police-abolition
7/x">https://www.themarshallproject.org/.../3382-...
https://www.themarshallproject.org/.../3382-police-abolition
7/x">https://www.themarshallproject.org/.../3382-...
This is abt #prisonabolition, but relevant. After all, "[T]here is no penitentiary system without general surveillance; no carceral confinement without control of the population." (from The Cambridge Handbook of Policing in the US, unsure of author) http://criticalresistance.org/ ">https://criticalresistance.org/">...
8/x
8/x
Another link re: #policeabolition https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/abolish-police-instead-lets-have-full-social-economic-and-political-equality/?fbclid=IwAR3EerZtJLhyWQZ9p0Wcp-RKgzDWLDieS3tvXwtI1Stmwij8UXuZz-8lz3M
9/x">https://www.thenation.com/article/a...
9/x">https://www.thenation.com/article/a...
And another... #PoliceAbolition https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/police-abolitionist-movement-alternatives-cops-chicago/Content?oid=23289710&fbclid=IwAR09Gx32zLVT7wCnlnQjdG43G12VNBFw9k9IVn56R3cH7KYDq9-j-c0lYv4
10/x">https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/p...
10/x">https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/p...
A broad understanding of #policeabolitionism should also include a baseline understanding of #PrisonAbolition b/c, again: "[T]here is no penitentiary system without general surveillance; no carceral confinement without control of the population."
https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/davisprison.html?fbclid=IwAR01m2HCXOj9HhdXuf4F7R6TC1dlydpghf9HgGCrfKeq46NR3YdzixoZBS0
11/x">https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/d...
https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/davisprison.html?fbclid=IwAR01m2HCXOj9HhdXuf4F7R6TC1dlydpghf9HgGCrfKeq46NR3YdzixoZBS0
11/x">https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/d...
Here& #39;s more on #PrisonAbolition:
https://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Angela-Davis-Are_Prisons_Obsolete.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2aCi7Tqsdxqb1xHeAOJJzmU96l3l-xtBaKyrBaxZ-hjC4TXGtvjK8Hwpc
Ultimately,">https://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-conten... #PoliceAbolition & #PrisonAbolition are mutually supportive movements just as policing & the prison industrial complex support each other. Understanding both is essential to being rounded in the movements. 12/x
https://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Angela-Davis-Are_Prisons_Obsolete.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2aCi7Tqsdxqb1xHeAOJJzmU96l3l-xtBaKyrBaxZ-hjC4TXGtvjK8Hwpc
Ultimately,">https://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-conten... #PoliceAbolition & #PrisonAbolition are mutually supportive movements just as policing & the prison industrial complex support each other. Understanding both is essential to being rounded in the movements. 12/x
Also supportive of the theory of #PoliceAbolitionism are: --The history of state police (and the police state)
-The history of private police
-Criticisms of private property (not to be confused with personal property)
These are all areas where I& #39;m still learning.
13/x
-The history of private police
-Criticisms of private property (not to be confused with personal property)
These are all areas where I& #39;m still learning.
13/x
Amid my learning, I still have my first thought process. Let& #39;s dig into that:
1. The state does not protect me or my people. (To be clear "my people" here are Black and/or queer.)
Few groups have a history of US police violence comparable to Black & queer communities.
14/x
1. The state does not protect me or my people. (To be clear "my people" here are Black and/or queer.)
Few groups have a history of US police violence comparable to Black & queer communities.
14/x
In northern states, the first police were patrol units developed as a response to urbanization & the desire of land-owning whites to protect private property. In southern states, the first police were slave patrols (also abt maintaining "private property").
15/x
15/x
Northern & southern concepts of policing merged in the form of municipally funded agents of violent law enforcement. The policing of Black bodies (either as property or threats to property) & poor bodies (as threats to wealth) are baked into the origins of American policing. 16/x
In queer history you& #39;ll find decades of brutal rape & murder by police. Gendered clothing article laws were enforced w/ brutal strip searches. In the 50s-70s queer social gatherings were disrupted by billy clubs. Queer folks were rounded up and throw in jail. 17/x
CW: sexual assault
Butch lesbians (or AFAB folx who didn& #39;t perform femininity per social expectations) & effeminate gays (or AMAB folx who didn& #39;t perform masculinity per social expectations) were singled out in jail, beaten, anally & vaginally raped as "punishment." 18/x
Butch lesbians (or AFAB folx who didn& #39;t perform femininity per social expectations) & effeminate gays (or AMAB folx who didn& #39;t perform masculinity per social expectations) were singled out in jail, beaten, anally & vaginally raped as "punishment." 18/x
Butch lesbians had to be "reminded they were women," while feminine gays & drag queens were "treated like women." (Which has scary implications abt how the patriarchal policing system views women.) The horrors of anti-queer policing run deep. 19/x
As a queer Black person, a demiguy, an AFAB who dares claim my own masculinity, knowing that it is Black & thus threatening & "thuggish" in the eyes of society, I do not see protection or service in the badge. Police do not protect me. They do not protect my people. 20/x
Realizing I conflated 1-3 in my history lesson. Point made for now, so on to 4. There is no positive social function the police serve that isn& #39;t better served by an existing agency, an holistic justice system & a compassionate approach to social ills. 21/x https://twitter.com/JacDArcher/status/1265752722512293890">https://twitter.com/JacDArche...
(Getting tired. Will come back and finish this thread tonight.)
22/x
22/x
