I wrote a personal account of why I support defunding the police today via this Twitter post. I wanted to share the text with you all here as well:
“There have been two times during my lifetime that I was assaulted & the police became involved. And I am here to say #DefundThePolice because they are not there to protect or keep us safe. Hear me out:
When I was 15 years old I was sexually assaulted by a boy I went to school with. When my father found out, he called the police. I was treated like a suspect by the cops, who interrogated me without family or anyone present.
The police who questioned me made me feel as though the assault was my fault, asking questions like ‘what were you wearing?’ and ‘were you drinking?’ The experience left me so traumatized that I ended up telling them that I wanted to do it and dropped the charges.
The perpetrator never faced any consequences, and was never held accountable for the assault.
This experience was so formative that to this day I feel threatened when around cops. And I have had to deal w/ the repercussions of the assault for 25 years.
The second experience was when I was mugged outside of my apartment. The perpetrator came from behind and smashed my head into the ground. They took my keys and went inside my apartment as I laid outside, unconscious.
Once I came to, I called 911. The police eventually came. Again, they questioned me as though this was somehow my fault. They did not seem to be concerned about my injury, or about how unsafe I felt being in my apartment.
They scribbled a few words down and handed me a sort of boilerplate police report. I was left feeling no more ‘safe’ and certainly not ‘protected.’
A few days later, I called the phone # on the paper they gave me to inquire if they had made any progress w/ my case. The officer who answered asked what was stolen. I said, ‘nothing I don’t think, but I was assaulted & the perpetrator had my keys & was inside of my apartment.’
The officer laughed.
I was treated horribly, in both cases, and I realize that I have an incredible amount of privilege as a white person. If my experience with the police has been THIS terrible — can you even imagine how black folks are treated?
Something to consider when you are using, ‘but who will I call if I am raped or robbed?’ as an excuse for keeping a corrupt, racist, sexist, and entirely broken system in place.
We must take this opportunity to re-imagine what a more just, compassionate and effective infrastructure for public safety & accountability could look like. And it ain’t the #FOP. We must #DefundThePolice and start anew.”