I'm super disturbed at how (even before this moment) I had gotten used to seeing police in full riot gear.

Heavily armed policing was the norm growing up in Oakland in the 90s.

Dressing police in riot gear during (often peaceful) Black and Brown protests is one of the ugliest forms of intimidation and criminalization tactics because it trains onlookers to see those protests as inherently violent and in need of subduing.

Riot gear clad police also scare tf out of protestors. And they do it intentionally.

I've encountered police in riot gear who created human walls so my comrades and I couldn't pass or move, they've followed our protests like an unwanted cavalcade, and sometimes they handled us in ways meant to suggest that they could do more harm but were restraining themselves.

Aside from the tear gassing, they also frequently use unnecessary force in grabbing and moving Black protestors. We get dragged, pushed, screamed at, etc.

When we talk about defunding the police, we are also talking about ending practices like these which are meant to suppress Black and Brown political engagement.

Defunding the police is inherently about a refusal to make our communities military zones.

Feeling safe in our communities requires that police no longer act as the patriarchal all-seeing force, and arbitrators of our social and public movement.