Abolition, white mess & adorable Black-ass babies

Jun 08, 2020

Welcome to the 69th installment of This Black-Ass Life! This week we want to talk about the process of defunding police departments and achieving abolition, its feasibility and why we need to do it. If you’re not in the mood for heavier topics, please skip over to section two for white shenanigans to make you laugh. And if you’re not in the mood to read about that, skip ahead to section three for adorable Black babies guaranteed to make you smile.

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l. Abolition is possible and we should do it.
Police reform and officer retraining is not working. We need to fundamentally reconsider the role of police in American society.

First things first, there is a myth that policing is politically neutral, and that the role of law enforcement in American society is to create order in a way that benefits everyone. That is bullshit.
Policing has never been neutral. It has, and continues to exist to uphold white supremacy and America’s obsession with capitalism and the protection of property over people.
From squadrons of white men empowered to use vigilante tactics to patrol slaves in the 1700s, to law enforcement authorities participating in lynchings and not holding anyone accountable or intervening when Black people were murdered during Jim Crow, when it comes to Black people, policing has never been about law and order.
That Black people today are more likely to be killed by the police than whites is not an aberration, but a continuation of a system built on terrorizing Black communities.
That is why reform and retraining will *never* work. Telling police to not choke people or to require them to give a warning before shooting is just asking for creative murder tactics.
Also, Minneapolis spent millions on reform measures like implicit bias training and even mindfulness lessons, and we still know what happened there.
What will work is the outright defunding of police departments in this country and a radical new approach to community safety.
- Just yesterday, the Minneapolis City Council pledged to dismantle their police department.
For more, check out this segment from Last Week Tonight.

If we defund police, where will all the “bad people” go? Abolition.

To answer the question of what abolition is: “Abolitionists believe that incarceration, in any form, harms society more than it helps.”
Abolitionists seek to address the root causes of poverty, addiction, homelessness and mental health crises; criminalizing these things and locking people up only leads to greater violence, harm and isolation.
Bringing in social workers, investing in schools and investing in communities would address the majority of crimes. Also, FYI - violent crime rates are actually decreasing and have been for quite some time.
For more, check out this abolition reading list.

How are we ever going to protect ourselves without police?

People call the police because they feel they cannot address violence in private spaces, but we have alternatives. Urge local governments to support survivor networks, crisis centers and self-defense.
Invest your time and energy into bystander intervention training.

But what can I do now?

What To Do Instead of Calling The Police.
Find and support your local copwatch group.
In your community, develop rapid response networks to alert people of police checkpoints, raids and/or surveillance. Here’s a starter guide on community defense zones.
Be mindful of your own safety, record police interactions and urge collective action to stop police violence when you see people being victimized. Here are 6 tips to responding to a racist attack. Here’s a helpful video on de-escalation and intervention.

A world without police, infused with transformative justice where we are interdependent, resilient and trust-based is possible.

ll. White shenanigans to laugh at
Somebody go read Ashton Kutcher’s son a bedtime story.

The iconic Teairra knew exactly how to handle white mess.
“Some girls don’t even get to go at all.” - Ashton Kutcher X, race scholar
The r**e w*r has started … in West Hollywood. Please pay attention to that WHOLE thread.
GO HOME, JACOB.
This is a few weeks old, but y’all this white woman was willing to risk it ALL for Red Lobster.
Shout out to influencers treating protesting for Black lives like Coachella.
An example of good white mess. These people let the LA Police Commission HAVE IT! Special shout out to the greatest time yield ever.
Finally, on those check-in texts…

Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Mitu):

I’ve been hyper-focused on Black joy and Sir Duke makes me happy every time. Thank you, Stevie.

Things we are looking forward to / things we are not looking forward to:

I (Jumoke) have been rewatching Smart Guy. Amazing television: Omar Gooding is hilarious, I still have a crush on Jason Weaver, and the hijinks are top notch.
I (Mitu) know Drag Race is problematic as hell, but I look forward to Shea Couleé hopefully winning a long-deserved crown this All Stars 5.

lll. Black-Ass Babies to make you smile
Instead of a text from a Black-ass parent, we decided to close this with perfect brown babies.

1. THESE ROLLS. THAT SMILE. THOSE CHEEKS!