All I see are police officers taking away my mom
Each time she emerged from your prisons
Each time worse than the last
All I see is the violence of “correctional” officers against her when she needed the most support.
The violence she felt from officers thinking she was unfit to live in the outside world
The violence shared by many who’ve encountered the police
I’m tired of seeing the headlines of another innocent life stolen just for being a person of color or
A person who couldn’t help being born into the conditions surrounding poverty or
A person who identified as queer in a culture of homophobia
I’m tired of empty promises of police “reform” in the wake of unforgivable harm
More than 1,000 people are killed by police every year
More than any other developed country
I invite everyone to recall when Officer Friendly was quick to deflect blame onto a “bad apple”
How can an individual be responsible for the system that created them?
How can one “bad apple” explain away the orchard?
I invite those convinced police are not violence workers to remember why they exist at all
How could colonialism be maintained without police and their laws?
How could capitalism survive without violence?
We must realize policing is inseparable from its legacy of racialized violence and murder
Understand their original purpose was to serve the interests of wealthy white landowners
Understand their history as slave catchers and oppressors
Knowing this, we can understand why reform is not about curbing violence
Not compared to the purpose of preserving the perception of police
Not in comparison to justifying more violence to come
So, when police promise “reform,” don’t assume their hearts and minds can change so easily
Call into question the use of state-sanctioned violence
Call into question the heart of the problem
Policing is not broken
It’s working exactly as intended
