John,
You may or may not have heard about former President Obama's remarks where he claims “you lose people with 'snappy' slogans like 'defund the police.'”
Let's be clear: We lose Black people at the hands of 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.
If you are worried about “#DefundThePolice,” then you are a part of the problem.
If you aren't worried and you're ready to work to #DefundThePolice and invest in our communities, rush a donation to Black Lives Matter PAC as soon as possible >>
These hashtags and slogans do not exist to be “snappy.” They exist to build a collective consciousness around our movement for justice. And, our movement just so happens to be the largest social justice movement in history -- that's not a coincidence.
When Patrisse, Alicia, and Opal created #BlackLivesMatter, it wasn't created to be a snappy slogan. It was the birthing of a community that helped folks across the entire world combat anti-Black racism.
Defund The Police isn't a snappy slogan -- it's a policy demand. And across the country, state, local, and national elected leaders have been responding to the calls of our community's demands for change.
This isn't the first time #DefundThePolice has been attacked, and it's certainly not the last. John, if you're ready to keep up the fight to #DefundThePolice, chip in $10 or whatever you can as soon as possible.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Momentum to defund local police departments has taken several forms:
- Reducing police budgets and officers
- Rerouting funds to community-based models, education, health, and social programs
- Removing police officers from schools
- Removing police officers from public transportation systems
- Removing law enforcement as first responders to situations that are not life-threatening
If there is one thing we've learned over the past few years, it's that we need to elect more leaders who are willing to courageously defend and protect Black lives and who won't shy away from the demand from the streets.
Donate to Black Lives Matter PAC so we can continue to take our protest to politics and transform our government to benefit the future of Black lives.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) said it best:
John, we'll never stop fighting for Black justice and healing.
We will continue to say #DefundThePolice. We will continue to work tirelessly to elect leaders who are committed to the movement and have no problem with #DefundThePolice.
In love and solidarity,
Black Lives Matter PAC
