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Dear John,
Just as this newsletter was set to go to press, we heard the news: a U.S. F-22 fighter had shot down [[link removed]] the Chinese balloon that spent several days over the U.S. last week.
While we’re still waiting to learn the full story of the balloon, this is a disturbing development. It’s a reminder of how easily relations between the U.S. and China can spiral into military confrontation - and that diplomacy is more necessary than ever [[link removed]] to avert worsening outcomes.
The U.S. has a real violence problem. This month, the U.S. saw news of more mass shootings [[link removed]] , learned horrifying details of another brutal police killing [[link removed]] , and saw signs that the U.S. and its allies are digging in deeper in the Ukraine war [[link removed]] . Everywhere on the news, it was violence.
These events don't seem connected, but all of them speak to a deeply rooted problem in our country: the way that we treat violence as a solution to problems rather than a problem to be solved. And then we use our tax dollars to support more violence [[link removed]] .
We are failing Black and Brown people, communities, and mothers. Instead of funding education, health care, and housing to build strong communities, we create virtually lawless special police forces like the SCORPION [[link removed]] force in Memphis whose members killed Tyre Nichols - and we use our tax dollars to fund them. [[link removed]]
We are failing schoolchildren, shoppers, churchgoers, seniors just trying to enjoy an evening of dancing, and people with mental illness who die by gun suicide. We underfund mental health care and treat mass shootings as something to be solved by more guns and more policing, putting armed police in schools [[link removed]] and other public spaces, arming teachers, and fortifying public spaces – all using our tax dollars.
And we are failing the world. Congress just passed an $858 billion war and military budget [[link removed]] largely justified by preparations for an imagined war with China. The U.S. shooting down a Chinese balloon [[link removed]] isn’t likely to lead directly to war, but it’s a frightening reminder of how slippery a slope it might be. As NPP’s Lindsay Koshgarian noted in The Washington Post this week, there’s plenty of room to cut the Pentagon budget while making us safer. [[link removed]]
This is why we work with movements that are working for nonviolent alternatives, like diplomacy, investment in communities, and resistance to violence as a solution. Check out our online calculator [[link removed]] to see what we could do if we stopped investing in violence, and instead invested in solutions.
In peace,
Lindsay, Ashik, Alliyah, & the NPP team
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TRADEOFF: FLOODS VS. BOMBS
Last month, Pacific "atmospheric river" storms caused over 500 mudslides [[link removed]] across California, dumping massive amounts of rain along the coast from Los Angeles to Sacramento. The flooding rains and heavy snows killed at least 20 people, and caused over $30 billion [[link removed]] in economic losses through major flooding, widespread power outages, landslides, and road closures.
That's about as much as our government commits to nuclear weapons [[link removed]] . When nature is bombing us with such extreme weather, why are we still making new bombs of our own? Against the real threat of climate crisis, all people and our planet need a major shift in priorities.
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SENATORS FAILED TO ADD ANTI-IMMIGRANT BORDER POLICY TO BUDGET DEAL
A halt to anti-immigration policy that would have denied migrants and refugees their right to seek asylum? That’s a win in our books.
In late December, movements fought two amendments [[link removed]] to continue the inhumane Title 42 program that denies the legal right to seek asylum at U.S. borders - including one bipartisan effort. In a win for humane immigration policy, both amendments failed. Currently, Title 42 is frozen in place, awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court.
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POLICE KILLED A RECORD HIGH
NUMBER OF PEOPLE LAST YEAR
Law enforcement killed at least 1,192 people [[link removed]] in the United States in 2022 - the most in any year since national record-keeping began in 2013. Black people were three times more likely to be killed than white people - and they were the racial group most likely to be killed unarmed.
And yet the Pentagon continues to transfer military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies, including guns and ammunition, armored vehicles, and drones. The Pentagon has transferred more than $7.6 billion in military equipment [[link removed]] to civilian law enforcement agencies since 1990.
These transfers serve to maximize the lethality of civilian law enforcement, the exact opposite of what our public policy should be doing. There have been several legislative attempts to end the program, but they haven’t yet succeeded.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
"America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr. [[link removed]]
"Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence" [[link removed]]
Delivered 4 April 1967 [[link removed]]
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RECOMMENDED READS
Is Biden right to send tanks to Ukraine? Our panel reacts [[link removed]]
Christopher S Chivvis, Matthew Duss, Reverend William Barber and Phyllis Bennis, The Guardian
Want to cut spending, Republicans? Liberals have some ideas for you [[link removed]]
Paul Waldman, Washington Post
Hawks blow a lot of hot air over proposed budget cuts [[link removed]]
William Hartung, Responsible Statecraft
Taking a Hard Look at Police Killings [[link removed]]
Sonali Kolhatkar, OtherWords
Documents show how 19 ‘Cop City’ activists got charged with terrorism [[link removed]]
Alleen Brown, Grist
From a Militarized to a Decarbonized Economy: A Case for Conversion [[link removed]]
Miriam Pem berton, Costs of War
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Share on Instagram [[link removed]] or Twitter [[link removed]]
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