The month of March began and ended with police murders of 2 women (that we know of), in England and in Mexico.

Sarah Everard was murdered by a (male) police officer in London. Victoria Esperanza Salazar was murdered by a (female) police officer in Tulum https://www.feministgiant.com/p/essay-fuck-the-police
Sarah. 33, was a white marketing executive who was abducted by a police officer as she walked home.

Victoria, 36, was a refugee from El Salvador who worked as a cleaner in hotels. She died after her neck was broken by the police officer kneeling on her after her arrest.
There is a hierarchy of protection: the further we are from wealthy, white, cisgender, heterosexual, able bodied men, the less likely we are to be protected. There is a hierarchy of concern. Sarah’s name was in headlines in many parts of the world in a way that Victoria’s was not
The intense coverage of the former compared to the little or no coverage given Black and women of colour victims of violence was a reminder of who we are told we should care about and who the police are expected to protect.
And when police kettled and violently arrested women at a vigil for Sarah in London, it was especially shocking to many because both the murdered woman and some of the handcuffed were white--police are not expected to do that to white women. At least publicly.
Those images of the police brutalizing women at a vigil for a woman who was murdered by a police officer took place in a country where the Police and Crime Bill aims to give police more power. Soon after the vigil for Sarah, police again used violence vs Kill the Bill protesters
In Manchester, they did this to a woman, which immediately brought to mind what soldiers did to a female protestor in Tahrir Square in Cairo in December 2011.
When the police claim they “protect and serve,” always ask who are they protecting and who are they serving? And just as importantly: who aren’t they protecting or serving? White women expect protection from the police. White women expect the police to serve them.
Remember that just because police officers look like us does not protect us from the racist & misogynist systems that undergird the police force: a female officer murdered Victoria in Mexico in an almost identical manner to the way a white officer murdered George Floyd in the US
Sarah and Victoria were murdered by police exactly a year to the month after police murdered Breonna Taylor in her home in Louisville. So again: who aren’t the police protecting and who protects us from the police?
“The police don't take care of me, my friends take care of me,” chanted Mexican anarchist feminists on their way to the National Assembly in Mexico City earlier this month to protest Victoria’s murder. This thread has incredible footage of their protests https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1378541422517886978?s=20
Ask yourself as you watch the police--in the U.S., U.K., or wherever--again brutalize people protesting police brutality:

- Who do you usually see police arresting?

- Who do you expect the police to protect?

- Why do you think the police will protect you?
The police don’t protect us from violence; the police are perpetrators of violence. Ask the non-cis, the non-white, the non-wealthy, and most broadly, the non-men. I do not want to be protected. I want to be free of violence.

Fuck the police. https://www.feministgiant.com/p/essay-fuck-the-police
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