Abolish the Police? Survivors of the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure

Post by adjkant » Fri, Aug 07, 2020, 1:56 PM UTC

syshum wrote: post #18

dorian-graph wrote: post #6

> “Seattle’s unprecedented decision to abandon and close off an entire city neighborhood, leaving it unchecked by the police, unserved by fire and emergency health services, and inaccessible to the public” Is this what people advocating for abolish the police are advocating for? Removal of health services? Isn't it literally the opposite, to have more and more varied health (and social) services, that people are advo…

>>From what I've seen, that isn't what the majority who are calling for abolishment are aiming for. The problem is a large number of people calling for for abolishing the police do not have an actual plan on what to replace them with, saying things like "Something will rise up to replace it" There is also a over riding belief that criminality is 100% related to systemic racism and poverty which is not really the case…

Post by andrew_ » Fri, Aug 07, 2020, 1:57 PM UTC

elil17 wrote: post #10

“Business owners describe a harrowing experience of calling for help and being left all alone.” No one advocating defunding the police was saying it would be good for business owners. The point of the whole movement is that police protect the rich and powerful at the expense of everyone else.

Post by moomin » Fri, Aug 07, 2020, 1:58 PM UTC

hartator wrote: post #12

dorian-graph wrote: post #6

> “Seattle’s unprecedented decision to abandon and close off an entire city neighborhood, leaving it unchecked by the police, unserved by fire and emergency health services, and inaccessible to the public” Is this what people advocating for abolish the police are advocating for? Removal of health services? Isn't it literally the opposite, to have more and more varied health (and social) services, that people are advo…

> “Abolish the police” is a scale Words have meaning though. No one on the political board is against reforms but “abolish”, “defund”, or “shut down” mean what it means.

Post by goda90 » Fri, Aug 07, 2020, 1:59 PM UTC

badRNG wrote: post #25

hartator wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “Abolish the police” is a scale Words have meaning though. No one on the political board is against reforms but “abolish”, “defund”, or “shut down” mean what it means.

"Let's move funds from police departments to public health infrastructure, and additionally, use remaining funding on accountability mechanisms" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue at a protest.

Post by dx87 » Fri, Aug 07, 2020, 1:59 PM UTC

adjkant wrote: post #20

jkingsbery wrote: post #13

"Aren't so sure" from reading the article seems like an understatement. Many of the people featured in this article are suing the city for not doing it's responsibility. I get that police treatment is often inequitable, but I think we've had some experiments this summer showing that some of the radical changes being proposed have their own problems.

> the radical changes being proposed have their own problems I'd like to point out that none of said changes have been implemented anywhere in the US in any meaningful way. Save some minor defunding, I know of no locale who has transferred any responsibility away from the police, which is one of the main roads to abolition. As another poster said, this is a very clear straw man. CHAZ was a result of protesting and an…