Are we living in such an unusual time that former NFL quarterbacks are writing essays on how to fix things by collapsing foundational institutions?
Concerning at least one, yes.
A new series of articles to be published over the next month reveals Colin Kaepernick’s take on the rightful handling of crime.
“Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing & Prisons” is a 30-part initiative between Kaepernick Publishing and Medium’s minority-men-aimed, education publication LEVEL. In it, Colin and other columnists address society’s ills.
The QB’s first entry –“The Demand for Abolition” — was crafted on October 6th.
See the revolution’s kickoff:
Thread/
ABOLITION FOR THE PEOPLE: The Movement For a Future Without Policing & Prisons
The collection of 30 essays will be posted below over the course of the next 4 weeks. #AbolitionForThePeople https://t.co/jccRsxqLhT
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) October 6, 2020
Amid the messaging, writer Mark Anthony Neal dissects the “myth of the good cop”:
The Myth of the “Good Cop” by @NewBlackMan
“Copaganda – the reproduction and circulation in mainstream media of propaganda that is favorable to law enforcement – has long been a tool to disrupt legitimate claims of anti-Black violence.”https://t.co/vlhtflVhN7
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) October 6, 2020
And if you were wondering who might benefit from no policing and no bad people behind bars, per Dr. Kihana Miraya Ross, it’s schools:
How policing in schools feeds our kids into the carceral system & corrupts education by Dr. Kihana Miraya Ross
“Even Black toddlers in pre-school, as young as three years old, are disproportionately sent out of the classroom, suspended, and expelled.”https://t.co/YTkE1PGkmF
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) October 8, 2020
As you may recall, Kaepernick began his National Anthem kneeling in 2016 as a call for reform.
However, as indicated in his prose, the athlete’s turned over a new leaf:
“F*** Reform.”
He explains:
“At the time, my protest was tethered to my understanding that something was not right. I saw the bodies of Black people left dead in the streets. I saw them left dead in their cars. I saw them left dead in their backyards. I saw Black death all around me at the hands of the police. I saw little to no accountability for police officers who had murdered them. It is not a matter of bad apples spoiling the bunch but interlocking systems that are rotten to their core.”
If you’re revved up for the rest, tune in weekly:
“Each week will bring a collection centered around a different theme: police and policing, prisons and carcerality, f*** reform, and abolition now.”
When some people think of no police and no prisons, they imagine those who should be incarcerated not and those who should be policed not.
Kaepernick sees something else:
“This is a future that centers the needs of the people, a future that will make us safer, healthier, and truly free.”
It’s all about hope and change:
“Despite the steady cascade of anti-Black violence across this country, I am hopeful we can build a future that imagines justice differently. A future without the terror of policing and prisons. … The more that I have learned about the history and evolution of policing in the United States, the more I understand its roots in white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton once said, ‘The police are in our community not to promote our welfare or for our security or our safety, but they are there to contain us, to brutalize us, and murder us.’ … Will you continue to be actively complicit in the perpetuation of these systems, or will you take action to dismantle them for the benefit of a just future? … Another world is possible, a world grounded in love, justice, and accountability, a world grounded in safety and good health, a world grounded in meeting the needs of the people.”
What if a “need of the people” is for murderers to be stopped?
Perhaps the answer’s in his list of alternate means:
“By abolishing policing and prisons, not only can we eliminate white supremacist establishments, but we can create space for budgets to be reinvested directly into communities to address mental health needs, homelessness and houselessness, access to education, and job creation as well as community-based methods of accountability.”
Well, one thing’s undeniable: If all that works, it’ll be quite the revolution.
And if none of it works…same thing.
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
Hilarious: Facebook’s Nudity Algorithm Puts the Kibosh on a Seed Supplier’s Onion Ad
Wildlife Park Removes a Gang of Parrots for Cussing Out the Customers
Mommy Dearest: California Mothers With the Milk of Madness, but at Least It’s Not Chocolate
Find all my RedState work here.
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