Andrew Lee Nicole Cardoza Andrew Lee Nicole Cardoza

Demand more than reform.

The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor this past summer sparked militant uprisings and massive protests nationwide. Combined with the ongoing pandemic and recession, the upheavals sparked tension and frayed nerves as the National Guard roamed American streets and police stations burned. None of this was helped by Trump’s hostility towards protestors, leaving many to look towards the incoming administration for a breath of fresh air.

We once again have a Democrat in the White House, one who has said we must “root out systemic racism across our laws and institutions” (USA Today). Biden is proposing $300 million for “community policing”: buying body cameras, diversifying and retraining police departments. Reform seems to be coming. You might think all is well.

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Cities across the U.S. have pledged to hold local law enforcement accountable for the racial disparities in policing. But are efforts of reform sufficient to create comprehensive change? Andrew joins us today to emphasize the importance of advocating for abolition, in time for the launch of defundpolice.org, a comprehensive platform with education and action items for those that want to drive this work home in their communities.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

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By Andrew Lee (he/him)

The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor this past summer sparked militant uprisings and massive protests nationwide. Combined with the ongoing pandemic and recession, the upheavals sparked tension and frayed nerves as the National Guard roamed American streets and police stations burned. None of this was helped by Trump’s hostility towards protestors, leaving many to look towards the incoming administration for a breath of fresh air. 

We once again have a Democrat in the White House, one who has said we must “root out systemic racism across our laws and institutions” (USA Today). Biden is proposing $300 million for “community policing”: buying body cameras, diversifying and retraining police departments. Reform seems to be coming. You might think all is well. 

The problem is that depending on reforms is dangerous. First of all, it takes power away from protestors and communities and puts it in the hands of detached politicians. If politicians had the inclination and competence to fix unjust systems of their own accord, they presumably would have done so long ago. 

The second problem is that community policing is just the last in a list of “silver bullets” supposed to truly end police brutality. First, it was civilian review boards (Minneapolis Star Tribune). Then, dashboard cameras (CNN). Now we’re told sensitivity training and body cameras are the missing piece. But if we look at the history, we find reason to be skeptical of these quick fixes. 

A number of major American cities now have some form of police review board where citizens submit complaints about police misconduct. New York City implemented civilian oversight in the mid-1960s (Civilian Complaint Review Board) after the police murder of a Black teenager sparked the Harlem race riot (Britannica). A few years after a massive uprising following the assassination of Dr. King, Chicago started a police review board as well (Better Government Association). For many, it stood to reason that police misconduct would cease with civilian oversight.

Similarly, increasing attention to racism in law enforcement in the 1990s caused a number of states to mandate that police have in-car cameras (“dash cams”) to record traffic stops (Department of Justice). Surely if every police stop were recorded, the thinking went, racial bias in law enforcement would end. 

And in the wake of the murder of Mike Brown and the Ferguson uprising, civil rights advocates joined with politicians (including President Obama) to support body-worn cameras for police (The Guardian). How could police racism ever persist, advocates declared, with video evidence of each and every encounter? 

We now know that each of these silver bullets failed repeatedly in the most abysmal, tragic ways. A police review board didn’t stop Officer Jason Van Dyke from murdering teenager Laquan McDonald (New York Times). Officer Derek Chauvin’s body camera didn’t give him second thought as he knelt on George Floyd’s neck for eight long minutes (ABC News). And the Louisville Metro Police Department’s body cams didn’t stop them from executing Breonna Taylor in her own home (VICE News).

This should be no surprise: studies have found review boards (PBS) are often woefully unprepared to actually investigate police and a study commissioned by Washington, DC found that body-worn cameras actually have no measurable impact on police use of force (The Lab @ DC). We’ve seen cops get all of the shiny new tools they keep promising will finally bring accountability and justice, and we’ve seen nothing change. There has been so little improvement in American policing as a result that two panels looking at Chicago police misconduct found virtually the same problems some 43 years apart (Chicago Reader). 

All of these much-lauded police reforms have actual effects—but not the ones advocates hope for. The announcement of reforms can pacify protests following highly-publicized police misconduct. And those dashboard-mounted and body-worn cameras for cops? Police departments were already interested in those, not for the purpose of protecting civil rights, but rather to help police evidence collection (Department of Justice). Nine out of ten state prosecutors’ offices who use body-worn camera footage as evidence in court use it to prosecute not the police but rather the civilians being filmed (Body-Worn Camera Training & Technical Assistance). 

These reforms not only do not work, but they also increase the scale and the funding of policing. What abolitionist organizations like Critical Resistance identify is that the problem isn’t that the right tweaks haven’t been made, or the correct diversity seminar hasn’t been presented. The problem, in a deeply unequal and white supremacist society, is policing itself. Instead of directing more resources towards police departments, whether in the guise of reform or not, we should move resources away from them and into oppressed communities. For more on the difference between reform and abolition, check out our previous newsletter.

 

As an East Asian man with a college degree and housing, I don’t face the brunt of police brutality in my day-to-day life. But I’ve seen them unleash incredible amounts of violence at political demonstrations, and I’ve heard real horror stories from people in my life. It’s relatively painless for allies to support easy fixes to police brutality. Imagining a world without policing and its flip side, incarceration, can be scary for the privileged since police and prisons function in many ways to protect that very same privilege. 

But if we want to be true allies for racial justice and collective liberation, we don’t have the luxury of taking the easy way out. We  can’t be satisfied with simplistic reforms, especially ones that not only fail to limit police abuses but actually increase police power. 

Removing resources from the police to build the kind of fully-resourced, safe and thriving communities that make policing obsolete won’t be easy. But at a time of inspiring mass mobilizations and incredible political danger, we need to look honestly at what decades of much-lauded reforms have actually done and what they haven’t. It’s time to demand more than reform.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Police reform has been tried before. There is compelling evidence that a variety of reforms do not reduce police misconduct. 

  • In fact, reforms can actually strengthen law enforcement’s power by increasing surveillance or diffusing anger at police abuses.

  • We should directly redistribute resources currently invested in law enforcement to under-resourced communities. 

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Understand your local law enforcement.

As we mentioned back in June, the term “defund the police” became a critical part of this election season. Moderate Democrats argue that it discouraged people from supporting candidates (Time). Progressive Democrats disagree, noting that efforts to change policing were passed in several states (Vox). While reading these conversations, remember that this work needs to persevere far beyond the phrase’s sentiment. Here’s an updated FAQ on the work at hand.

Happy Monday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Right now, Democrats are debating how the phrase "defund the police" played out at the polls this month. Today, we're revisiting what defund the police means and how you can take action. Unlike before when we centered takeaways around the national discourse, today we're encouraging you to unpack how it affects your community locally.


This is the Anti-Racism Daily, a daily newsletter with tangible ways to dismantle racism and white supremacy. You can support our work by making a one-time contribution on our website or PayPal, or giving monthly on Patreon. You can also Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). To subscribe, go to antiracismdaily.com.

Nicole

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By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

As we mentioned back in June, the term “defund the police” became a critical part of this election season. Moderate Democrats argue that it discouraged people from supporting candidates (Time). Progressive Democrats disagree, noting that efforts to change policing were passed in several states (Vox). While reading these conversations, remember that this work needs to persevere far beyond the phrase’s sentiment. Here’s an updated FAQ on the work at hand. 


What does “defund the police” even mean?

The rally to defund the police is a call-to-action for communities to change the law enforcement by re-allocating funding spent on police departments to other necessary infrastructure, including violence prevention programs, public housing, health care, mental health care, and education. These efforts challenge longstanding notions that directly correlate police to safety, one that has been proven ineffective for protecting non-white people, particularly Black and queer people in the U.S. (Neighborhood Funders Group).

"
It’s not just about taking away money from the police, it’s about reinvesting those dollars into Black communities. Communities that have been deeply divested from, communities that, some have never felt the impact of having true resources. And so we have to reconsider what we’re resourcing. I've been saying we have an economy of punishment over an economy of care.


― Patrisse Cullors in a conversation on WBUR Here & Now

This terminology was created by abolitionist doing the work. It was not created to be a rallying cry for any political party during an election. The current debate about whether the term was “friendly” enough misses a key point – that the Democratic party was not prepared to take a solid stance on this issue; powerful community organizers have carried this conversation into the spotlight.

What does “abolish the police” mean?

This is a more long-term and radical call for not just divesting from law enforcement but completing re-imagining the entire criminal justice system. For some, defunding the police is a start to transforming the system as a whole (NYTimes).

What is the difference between abolition and reform?

Generally, “reformists” believe that the current system can be changed if there’s more effort in changing it. When it comes to police reform vs. abolition, reformists often argue for more investment into law enforcement to create further accountability, like training, body cameras, etc. You can view a chart of the key differences between the two stances here (Critical Resistance).

 

Does defunding the police mean getting rid of police officers entirely?

No.  Defunding the police means "shrinking the scope of police responsibilities and shifting most of what government does to keep us safe to entities that are better equipped to meet that need,” says Christy E. Lopez, a Georgetown Law professor and co-director of the school’s Innovative Policing Program (Washington Post).

 

MPD150, a Minneapolis-based initiative by organizers aiming to bring "meaningful structural change" to police in the city, focuses on who responds when someone calls 911. Instead of sending a police officer, they're advocating that we could send social workers, mental health care providers, and victim/survivor advocates, among others.

 

By doing so, we can decrease the burden placed on police officers, who are currently tasked to respond to a wide range of requests from their community (USA Today).

But not all police are bad! Why change everything over bad apples?

Yes, not every police officer is racist. Not all police officers kill Black people. But this is not the argument. This isn't a conversation about bad apples, but a poisoned orchard. Remember that the police system has systemically hurt Black communities throughout time because it's built on a system of racism and white supremacy. Consider:

  • 1 in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police (PNAS)

  • The Minneapolis police use force against Black people at 7x the rate of white people (NYTimes)

  • Policing in southern slave-holding states had roots in slave patrols – groups of white volunteers empowered to use vigilante tactics to enforce laws related to slavery (The Conversation)

The "bad apples" argument is an incredibly harmful refrain. It doesn’t just prevent conversations from moving forward. It protects white supremacy and systemic oppression and completely discredits the pain, suffering, and grief these "bad apples" have caused to individual families and entire communities impacted by their actions.

 

But won't there be more crime if there's less law enforcement?

Unlikely. Many citizens are concerned that a decrease in law enforcement will increase crime. But by investing in other systems of support, advocates of defunding the police find this unlikely. Also, studies have shown that more police doesn't equal less crime (USA Today).  Some police chiefs, including Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham in DC, have warned that decreasing police budgets can create inadequate training resources, which can increase bad policing (read more at DCist). But by re-investing appropriately, this isn’t likely.

How can I help?

The most critical way to move this work forward is to see beyond public perception. Get to know the local community organizers that are pushing for this work in your community. Review conversations your city council has had on this topic. And move past how people feel about “defund the police” generally to how it impacts your community specifically: your local schools, sidewalks, and city centers. It may mean analyzing how your privilege defines your relationship with law enforcement and how your experience differs from those around you. This work is not easeful or comfortable but necessary for creating a more equitable future.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Defunding the police allows communities to re-invest in other forms of community support

  • The police system is inherently inequitable, and deeply rooted in racism and white supremacy

  • It's important to take this work into your local community, while supporting the community organizers fighting for change

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Study Hall! Defund the police or add more training?

Welcome to our weekly Study Hall. Each week I answer questions and share insights from each of you in our community. This week's responses focused mainly on the role of law enforcement in our society, which to me is one of the most pressing issues of our time. I answered a couple of questions on that and other things below.

If you prefer to read our newsletter only weekly, this is the email you'll receive. You can change your email preferences by updating your profile information here. 

As always, your support is greatly appreciated. These contributions are our only source of funding and help us pay writers and develop new resources. You can give one-time on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), or subscribe for $5/mo on our Patreon.

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

1. Reflect on the questions prompted by our community.

2. Ask yourself two questions about one of the topics we discussed this week. Discuss these questions with a friend or colleague.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza

In review: The newsletters we published this week.
 

Friday, 9/4/2020 | Tell museums to replace stolen artifacts.
 

Thursday, 9/3/2020 | Support mental health response services.
 

Wednesday, 9/2/2020 | Rally for fair appraisals.
 

Tuesday, 9/1/2020 | Learn the legacy of Japanese American incarceration.
 

Monday, 8/31/2020 | Condemn colorism.
 

Sunday, 8/30/2020 | Protect housing rights during COVID-19.

Additional Resources

One of our readers, Mallory, runs Don't Call the Police, a national database of local alternatives to dialing 911 when there's an issue. Learn more here: https://dontcallthepolice.com.

Q+A
Is the person calling 911 really able to discern whether police or mental health professionals are needed? What physical harm or risk may be present that requires a trained policeman to handle an altercation? The caller is probably very afraid of the actions of said person and just want the situation to be deescalated. 

The individual calling 911 might not be able to discern enough, but there's ample research that shows that often, 911 responders can't, either. When the individual calls an alternative phone number, those trained responders are often more likely to gauge the situation and decide on the proper intervention – they could easily arrive with law enforcement if they deem it appropriate, OR encourage the caller to dial 911 outright.

When we have an assumption that the "caller is probably very afraid of the actions of said person" and only want to de-escalate, we're allowing that their fear and implicit biases lead the response. That centers the caller, and often not the needs of the individual, which is the point of offering more options.

Q+A
Does it make more sense to train police officers better in de-escalation especially with someone who potentially has mental health issues? 

At a minimum, yes. On average, law enforcement spends about 58 hours on firearm training and just 8 hours on de-escalation or crisis intervention (Police Forum). So there's a ton that can change there. But considering the broad examples of harm already, compounded by the racial bias pervasive in law enforcement, there are more urgent calls to defund law enforcement and re-invest in other resources. There's no reason that we need to have law enforcement equally equipped to handle such a broad range of 911 calls. Medical professionals are likely best for health-related calls.

Furthermore, calls for re-investment argue that we can invest in mental health care support that prevents the 911 calls altogether. A punitive based approach to health doesn't change the health equity of any community. It instead focuses on de-escalating problems that preventing them altogether. And we deserve more resources to live healthier, happier lives.

Your question was followed with the statement that defunding might not be the answer, but remember that defunding the police doesn't mean getting rid of them entirely. It means analyzing where we can re-allocate funding to invest elsewhere, all of which should help from us overwhelming them with a wide range of social issues.

Q+A
When it comes to stolen art, why can’t museums buy the pieces from their original countries?

I suppose they could, perhaps as some form of reparations. But from what I understand, the goal now is to change the system entirely by building more points of accountability within the acquisition process. Also, the examples stated make it seem that most countries are more interested in preserving their culture than receiving financial compensation for it.

It begs a broader question: who deserves to have access to the art? Why was it ever okay for us to loot objects for our gain? And remember that the art world financially profits off of these objects as they change hands and remain on display for patrons. If monetary gains fuel this process of colocalization, I don't think we can justify it by sending money back to the countries (unless, of course, the countries themselves deem this the proper response).

Moving forward though, yes, a legal obtainment through a financial transaction seems more equitable than looting.

Reader Courtney shared the following on how the Field Museum is honoring art looted from Indigenous populations (which is a very similar story we're unpacking in a later newsletter):

The Field Museum in Chicago had the best response to Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in the US that I have seen. They work with the tribes to either return the artifacts or work with the tribes to display the artifacts respectfully. They also educate about how the artifacts were not given by the tribes initially. It was the most honest and open I had ever seen a museum talk about how they received Native American artifacts and have tried to rectify that with respect and honor moving forward. They also took full ownership for a racist exhibit that was in their museum for decades. Now they use it to contextualize racism in science. It was amazing to see and learn, especially since museums are inherently elite, it felt very honest in a good way. They apologized for their history, but promised to do better now. 

Bit more about their work here: 
https://news.uchicago.edu/story/exhibition-upends-traditional-native-american-representations

Q+A
My family is Italian American and I have some family members who have over the years expressed frustration that “Japanese Internment” was taught to us but not the internment of Italians and Germans during the war. They have also complained that the Japanese American victims received compensation whereas the Italian and German victims did not. I've shared my disapproval with them on this already and would love to hear your thoughts.

Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated. In contrast, approx. 10,000 German Americans and "hundreds" of Italian Americans were incarcerated. Both German American and Italian American citizens as a whole were deemed too valuable to the U.S. economic and political system for large-scale incarceration, which says a lot about the perception of Japanese Americans during that time, how our government valued human life, and the racial discrimination our country is still reckoning with.
 
As a result, there are broad differences in the scale of these decisions. We have to remember the devastating impact this had on the Japanese American community as a whole. The lasting physical and psychological harm, the mass loss of property, the fracture of families, and a long-lasting prejudice against Japanese people, which contributes to this country's racial bias against Asian communities. Comparatively, we do not see the same level of systemic and interpersonal racism against German American and Italian American people today.

I'm not saying that it shouldn't be taught, minimize any harm they experienced, or that the victims don't deserve compensation. It is all wrong, and all groups deserve justice. But these narratives are often a way to minimize the pain of marginalized communities to center the pain of those with more privilege. When people take that stance, they inherently continue to cause harm against Japanese Americans and insinuates that their struggles are less important.
 

Clarifications

The key takeaways for the Thursday, 9/3/2020 article were incorrect in the text portion of the email. That has been corrected in the archives.

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Support mental health response services.

Happy Thursday!

And a special three month anniversary to the Anti-Racism Daily! How long have you been on this journey with us? Take a look back and reflect on what you've learned. Do you have a story about how you've put the ARD into action? Let me know by replying to this email – we might feature you on our podcast launching next week! 🎉

But first, be sure to read today's call to advocate for alternative mental health response services in your community. Our criminal justice system wasn't designed for this, and as we demand justice for Daniel Prude we must also create more accountability for the safety of those most vulnerable.

As always, your contributions are so appreciated! You can give on our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), or subscribe monthly on our Patreon.

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Research: What are the alternatives to calling 911 in your city?

Are there none? Learn what your city council is planning for future budget spending related to law enforcement. Fight for an alternative.
 

Donate to the GoFundMe to support the family of Daniel Prude.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza

On March 23, Joe Prude noticed his brother, Daniel Prude, acting strangely and called the police for help. Officers found Daniel Prude naked and unarmed. He complied with officers’ demands and was quickly handcuffed. The officers then placed a spit sock – a mesh device used to shield police officers from spit and blood from the victim – over Prude’s head, one asking him whether or not he had AIDS. The officers then pin Prude down on the ground for over two minutes, ignoring Prude’s cries for help and continue to kneel on him as he appears to stop breathing. The family took Prude off of life support the following week. The medical examiner determined Prude’s death was a homicide. The police body camera footage was recently released as the family and local activists demand justice. Full story on The Appeal. 

“I placed the phone call for my brother to get help, not for my brother to get lynched. When I say get lynched, that was full fledged, murder, cold-blooded — nothing other than cold-blooded murder. The man is defenseless, naked on the ground, cuffed up already. I mean come on, how many brothers got to die for society to understand that this needs to stop? You killed a defenseless black man, a father’s son, a brother’s brother, a nephew’s uncle.”

Joe Prude, the brother of Daniel Prude, for Rochester First

Ashley Gantt, a community organizer from Free the People Roc and the New York Civil Liberties Union, spoke with the family and other activists yesterday demanding justice. Their speech noted that "the Rochester Police Department has shown time and again that they are not trained to deal with mental health crises. These officers are trained to kill and not to de-escalate” (Democrat and Chronicle). This story, unfortunately, isn’t distinct to just Rochester. Across the country, individuals with mental health conditions are disproportionately impacted by the police.

One in four people killed by police in 2015 had a severe mental health condition (Washington Post). And beyond this, 40% of people with serious mental health conditions will interact with the criminal justice system in their lifetimes. 2 million are booked in jails each year (Washington Post). Most of these individuals haven’t been convicted of a crime, but if they have, they’re more likely to have been charged with a minor offense than something series (NAMI). 

What’s more? They:

  • Remain in jail 4x to 8x longer than people without mental health conditions charged with the same crime

  • Cost 7x more than other inmates in jail

  • Are less likely to make bail 

  • Are more likely to gain new charges while incarcerated

In fact, there are more people with mental health conditions in prisons than hospitals (Washington Post).

And communities of color, particularly Black people, are especially at risk, as they’re already disproportionately impacted by police brutality (Time). As we discussed in an earlier newsletter, Black people are more likely to have mental health issues and other disabilities, and less likely to receive diagnosis and treatment (Time). 

This is why the conversation surrounding “defund the police” is so critical. Our law enforcement often acts as first responders for mental health crises. John Snook, the executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, emphasizes that mental health crises is the only medical illness that we allow the police to respond to.  “Someone has a heart attack, a stroke—we don't send the police to help them. Law enforcement aren't trained to be mental health professionals” (Vice).

Part of this is because of a historical shift to defund mental health, accelerated in the 1960s with the passage of Medicaid (Mother Jones). From there, a series of mental health funding cuts caused state mental health services to dwindle nationwide. The Sentencing Project found that 6 out of 10 states with the least access to care have the highest rates of incarceration. Learn more about the history of deinstitutionalization and defunding the police in-depth over at Vice.

But another part of this is a history of intentionally deeming Black people as mentally ill to justify enslavement and dehumanization, which Ebony explained in detail in an earlier newsletter on Black mental health. Not only has this bias become reinforced throughout history, it becomes cemented within our criminal justice system when a Black person experiencing a mental health crises become synonymous with danger and threat.

Mental health response organizations across the country are providing that alternative forms of support are possible, and effective in supporting citizens in need without violence. CAHOOTS, or Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets, is a non-profit organization working alongside local police in Eugene, OR to support mental health 911 calls, meeting those in need wtih medical resources nad trained professionals (Vice). Austin has a Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team which does the same, and is expanding into telehealth care (Gov 1). More initiatives like this are expanding across the country (Vice) and could effectively reallocate funding from law enforcement while keeping these vulnerable communities safe.

And all of the news about police brutality is creating more mental health strain, exacerbating the problem at hand. A study published in The Lancet in 2018 found that stories of police killings have adverse effects on mental health among Black American adults who were not directly affected by the incident (Penn Today). Another study published in 2019 found that viewing viral videos of police killings, beatings, and arrests — and seeing images of immigrants in cages — was associated with symptoms of depression and PTSD in adolescents (Journal of Adolescent Health). According to the lead researcher Brendesha Tynes, this is especially insidious, as it can “make these kids feel worse about their racial identity, and make them internalize some of that dehumanization” (The Verge). We frequently write about why we don’t share graphic videos of brutality, and this is part of the reason why.

The Lancet study recommends that communities should have, in part, adequate mental health resources to heal from the trauma of these incidents. As we collectively continue to watch the video footage and stories circulate in the media, we need to resource ourselves as best we can to make it through during this significant racial reckoning of our time.

key takeaways

  • Individuals with mental health conditions, particularly people of color, are more likely to be negatively impacted by the criminal justice system

  • There are more people with mental health conditions in prisons than hospitals

  • By investing in community-based mental health services crisis response services we can decrease police brutality

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Remove police from our public schools.

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Hi!

I've been itching to write something about racism in education. My full-time job works to bring yoga and mindfulness to schools, so I've seen how education upholds racism first-hand, and feel passionate about dismantling it – for this generation and those to come.

The recent conversations on removing police from schools skims the surface of a much broader conversation on the school-to-prison pipeline, which I'm committed to covering in a future issue. I could've kept writing this for another week – so know there's more information to come. And I highly encourage you to use the references to get more context than this email contains.

As always, you can invest one-time on Paypal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza) or monthly on Patreon to keep these conversations growing. I'm so grateful to be learning and unlearning with each of you.

Nicole

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TAKE ACTION

1. Efforts to remove police officers from schools are happening in cities across the country. Search to see whether those conversations are happening in your community, and how you can support (whether signing a petition, making calls, etc).

2. Reflect: How would your life be different if you were arrested at 12 years old?

GET EDUCATED

Our reckoning with law enforcement is happening in schools 


As conversations on defunding the police turn into political action, many major school districts across the country are pledging to remove police officers from schools (Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Milwaukee). Most prominently, the Oakland school district will "eliminate its police department by the end of the year and hire more social workers, psychologists, or ‘restorative justice practitioners’ as part of their George Floyd Resolution" (Time). And on June 18, the American Federation of Teachers – one of the country's largest teacher unions – officially called for the separation of school safety and policing as part of their commitments to combat racism against Black students (AFT website).

“Our schools do not need police. We need mentors to help guide us through school and to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Denilson Garibo, student representative on the school board, recent graduate of Oakland High School (Time)

Brief history of SROs


School resource officers, or SROs, law enforcement personnel that are responsible for safety and crime prevention in schools (Brookings) have been in schools since the 1950s, initially created to build rapport between local law enforcement and youth. These officers have the same training, the same capabilities and the same resources as other members of the police or sheriff's department -- but their roles are more multifaceted, ranging from security to settling disputes, monitoring bus traffic, and even standing in for teacher and administrators (CNN).  I couldn’t find hard data on this, but the National Association of School Resource Officers’ website says that most SROs are armed (website). 

The Columbine High School massacre in 1999, and then the series of school shootings of this past decade justifiably prompted schools across the U.S. to increase their SRO staffing. These initiatives were accelerated with support from the Trump administration after the Parkland shooting (Daily Signal). You can also read about how the Trump administration also rescinded previous policies designed to protect minorities from excessive disciplinary actions (NYTimes). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 42% of public schools reported employing at least one school resource officer during the 2015-16 school year.


Racial disparities in discipline
 

But studies have proved that police officers in schools are disproportionately disciplining students of color. During the 2015 – 2016 school year 290,600 students were referred to law enforcement agencies or arrested, according to the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Of them, 31% of them were Black (although only representing 15% of the student body). 65% percent of the arrests were students of color or mixed races. (Full report on their website). Black students are also more likely to attend schools with SROs, more than students in any other racial or ethnic group.

These insights align with how disproportionate arrest rates are outside of the classroom (ABC News), and how SROs contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, a concept coined by Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor, that looks at the many ways school climate contributes to youth to transition from the classroom to incarceration (Justice Policy Institute). We’ll be discussing school-to-prison pipeline in a future newsletter.

Note: these studies also show disproportionate disciplining of students with disabilities – so consider how intersectionality comes into play, and how necessary the proposed alternatives can be for students with different identities.

And interactions between SROs and students are becoming increasingly violent, another trend reflected in broader culture. Last winter, an SRO in Florida was fired after grabbing a middle school student’s hair and yanking her head back (Orlando Sentinel). Another SRO officer in North Carolina lost his job after he repeatedly slammed an 11-year-old boy to the ground (Buzzfeed). Note that both of these officers were reprimanded, likely because both incidences were caught on camera.

Take the story of Kaia Rolle, a 6-year-old first-grader in Orlando who was charged with misdemeanor battery, cuffed and put in the back of a police car after having a temper tantrum in her classroom (Orlando Sentinel). Florida has no laws around the minimum age of arrests, along with twenty-seven other states (see the minimum age for arrests for each state at the National Juvenile Defender Center).


So, where do we go from here?


Is there a way to reform police in schools? Perhaps. After the 2014 killing of Michael Brown, the Jennings School District in St. Louis County, Missouri worked with the local police force to ensure that the SROs represent at least 75% of the student demographic, which is predominantly Black or at least come from the neighborhoods in the district (CNN). 

And supporters of SROs in schools are advocating for this. A father who lost his daughter in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting is encouraging districts to reconsider, citing that SROs have helped juvenile arrests decline over the past 12 years (CNN). Police officers emphasize that officers in school can help build positive relationships between students and law enforcement, and change the stereotypes against officers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). An article from the Wisconsin State Journal also identifies that removing police officers from the local high schools reduces the limited number of Black men as role models in the classroom – although this brings up a whole other issue of the lack of diversity in teachers and administrators in schools across America (Wisconsin State Journal). 

But the rationale behind the defund the police movement applies here: what if we’re past the point of reform? And how could we invest in missing infrastructure to create other resources that students need? Consider that there are 1.7 million students that attend schools with police, but no counselors (ACLU).  Schools with such services “see improved attendance rates, better academic achievement, and higher graduation rates as well as lower rates of suspension, expulsion, and other disciplinary incidents. Data shows that the presence of school-based mental health providers not only improves outcomes for students but can also improve overall school safety” (ACLU).

And this Brookings study notes that since so many SRO policies were designed reactively to violence (and justifiably so), they need much more careful consideration to create equitable, long-term solutions that support all students (Brookings). In addition, studies indicate that, considering school shootings are horrifying but rare, building this reactionary infrastructure might do more harm than good for the health and wellbeing of students, calling more action around gun control instead (Washington Post).

Investing funds from police into counselors – along with other mental health support and nurses, or after-school programming, arts and music, mindfulness programming, and much more – is all the more urgent as the impact of coronavirus ravages school budgets (NYTimes). And as we watch the stress and anxiety of both this global pandemic and the protests impact the Black and brown youth of our country (NYTimes), it’s due time to consider taking direct action, and defunding police in schools create safe spaces for kids to learn and grow – and disrupt a larger narrative of policing Black people and other communities of color.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Disproportionate policing against communities of color is happening both generally and in classrooms

  • School districts in major cities are moving to remove officers in schools

  • Funds from SROs can be re-allocated to counselors and other support services for students

  • Removing police officers in schools can help to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline

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