When I was a kid, I played string bass in a youth orchestra. (I was a big kid.) It was the most fun thing I did. Then the orchestra lost city funding and folded.

When we talk about transferring money from cops to social services, this is what that means.

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The orchestra was amazing because it brought kids together who would never have been in the same room. Black kids, Vietnamese American kids, Latinx kids, white kids. Some kids caught the bus to practice. Others were driven in luxury cars. 2/x

They became my family. We traveled all over Louisiana and Mississippi for competitions. And we were good! We were middle schoolers playing against high school students and winning! 3/x

We played at public events on the steps of a massive building in the French Quarter. Beatles songs lol. We played Christmas songs in shopping malls to spread the spirit. Our conductor wore reindeer antlers. There were so many kids and grandparents watching us. 4/x

At a competition at the University of Southern Mississippi, I had to lug my gigantic string bass across campus by hand. No cart It was 90 degrees and humid. My friends didn't help. They only had to carry flutes and violins. I was soooo sweaty and mad. 5/x

I wandered into the main auditorium. No one was around. It was dark but the air was electric. This huge swell of music came out of nowhere. It made the hair on my neck stand up. It was beautiful. The college orchestra was onstage practicing. 6/x

This was 1989. It turned out to be the Danny Elfman score to Batman.

We did well that day. I think we came in first in our class. I got a gold trophy shaped like a music note. My parents were proud of me. When we got back to New Orleans. The conductor called a meeting. 7/x

He was a large man, bald, with glasses and a walrus mustache. He was crying. We were disbanding due to government budget cuts. No more practices. No more competitions. He was moving out of state for a new job. 8/x

Meanwhile, the police department got new cars, a SWAT van, two RVs, and, I'm not kidding, a bunch of horses and a boat. I got my first car when I was 15. I got pulled over and searched all the time. But never by a horse. Lol 9x

The orchestra changed my life. I didn't pursue a music career. But I learned so much about songwriting. When I hear a song today, I can tell exactly what the musicians are doing. And I made so many friends. Felt so much love. 10/x

Meanwhile, every member of my family had run ins with the police, including my petite mama, a home health care worker. I'm trying to remember a time the police actually helped us. I'm drawing blanks. 11/x.

When I got my own house, we had a break in. Cop came out and took prints. I asked her if she would figure out who had my laptop and stuff. She said no. This isn't like TV. They just store the evidence. That was 2007. Last time I called the police. 12/x

But the police been getting my tax dollars my whole life. Meanwhile, these kids have nothing to do. People with schizophrenia wandering the street with no homes. The public schools are holding pens. We can be so much better than this. 13/end

I'm adding this because I guess I blocked this out. New Orleans metropolitan area is divided. The East where I grew up is mostly Black since the 70s or 80s. The west is mostly white. Lakeshore Drive was the make out area. cont.

The Levee Police (yes we had police just to patrol the levee area) would put barricades on Lakeshore Drive. But only heading west. That way white people could come to the city, but Black people couldn't drive out to the white suburbs. cont.

When I was in college, I was driving with my girlfriend and an officer pulled us over. Short guy. Small eyes. My college was right by the water, so we used the road all the time. The officer got out of his car and approached. The lake water was lapped in my rearview. cont.

The cop didn't really say much. He just hung outside my window. Kept asking me if I broke any laws. I was such a nerd, but eventually I realized that he wanted a pay off. I was a broke college student. I think I had $5 on me and I told him. cont.

I guess he believed me because eventually he just walked away and drove off. cont.

To recap, the orchestra brought all kinds of us together. But these police literally cut off one part of the community from another.

@threader_app compile