We only learned yesterday morning how much the armed police trials were being used for routine policing (half of all recorded interactions with public were for traffic stops alone)

This isn't a co-option of the very real and desperate struggle that Black people in the US are in.

Sometimes things happen at the same time.

Police violence and racism against Black people in the US is an unbelievable injustice that MUST end.

At the same time, our Police are pushing towards wider armament and this absolutely cannot be allowed to happen.

I don't think it's cynical to draw lines between global imperialism, colonisation, racism and police violence. We can hold the need to put our collective foot down against police fuckery here while standing in absolute solidarity with Black people in the US.

Both of these struggles are real and it's possible and necessary to support both.

#armsdownnz was flooded with stories of police racism and violence yesterday because this is an issue happening here at the same time as Black people in US are rising up against police violence