a fundamental question that divides abolitionists from reformers: do you believe everyone is capable of, and commits, harm? or do you believe there are inferior people who embody harm and those who do not / are victims.

the latter is the prevailing understanding of crime in the US and it has deep racist roots in our conception of "crime" and "criminals" to continue oppressing and controlling Black people following emancipation.

so, whether you'd like to acknowledge it or not, by arguing that we will always need cops to handle a violent underclass of people in the US is to blow a racist dog whistle as hard as you possibly can

what @voxdotcom & @mattyglesias are doing is defending & perpetuating a racist construct that sits at the heart of our oppressive system, employing the same colorblind Law And Order rhetoric used by Liberal and Conservative racists to build power for most of the last 150 years

this is truly the elephant in the room that we all need to address when Matt and his peers trot out these arguments about "the science" of needing cops bc of the "violent criminals"

This crowd is trying to force us to have a conversation about what to do about harm on their terms. i personal believe we must refuse the bait and reframe the conversation in ways that attend to reality, not racism, if we are going to win.