John,
10 years later, we're in a moment where we can pause and acknowledge the growth we've gone through together. As part of that, we're calling to #DefundThePolice – because we've seen time and time again that reforms continue to fail us.
Our declaration of
#BlackLivesMatterDay is beyond a call for defunding the police. It is to acknowledge that there is much more work to be done in the name of basic human rights for Black people.
The 13th Amendment in 1865 didn't mark the end of the abuse of Black people. The 14th Amendment in 1868 and the 15th Amendment in 1869 didn't mark the end of anti-Black racism. The 1964 and 1965 Civil Rights Acts didn't mark the end of an infringement on Black people's rights. And the election of our first Black president in 2008 didn't mean racism was a thing of the past.
As an institution derived from the slave patrols of the 1800s, we cannot talk about anti-Black racism without talking about policing.
If you're ready to work to invest in our communities and remind everyone that #BlackLivesMatter,
take a quick moment to write one of your legislators in declaring #BlackLivesMatterDay so we can honor every single Black life forcibly taken by state-sanctioned and vigilante violence.
If there is one thing we've learned over the past few years, it's that police don't keep us safe -- and as long as we continue to pump money into a corrupt criminal punishment system at the expense of housing, health, and education investments -- we will never truly be safe.
Divesting from police and investing in our communities may sound complicated,
but it really isn't. It isn't even new. This has been a part of the movement's demands from the beginning...
In a time when we are opening our minds and our hearts to the solutions that will transform our communities, we each have to pause, consider and learn what freedom fighters mean by saying #DefundThePolice and why this is an important step in defense of Black lives.
#DefundThePolice isn't a snappy slogan -- it's a policy articulation and demand. And across the country, state, local, and national elected leaders have been responding to the calls of our community's demands for change.
Let's be clear: We lose Black people at the hands of the police. We lose Black people when we have leaders that spend more time talking about the hashtag than they are talking about solutions to end white supremacy and state-sanctioned violence against Black people.
#DefundThePolice is a bold and strategic policy demand aimed at tackling white supremacy in public safety and ending the suffering of countless communities across this country.
The real question isn't if #DefundThePolice is bad. It's: Why are so many folks okay with upholding white supremacy?
Police need to be held accountable for their actions, and they cannot continue to hide behind their badge. Join us in demanding that we make #BlackLivesMatterDay official so it's clear we won't stop until ALL Black Lives Matter and that we'll always honor lives stolen to state-sanctioned and vigilante violence >>
In love and solidarity,
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation
