Reimagining Public Safety and Reclaiming Our Communities
Police brutality and policing holistically have been the centerpiece of massive amounts of oppression and violence in our communities for decades because of the lackluster governance of police and how the allocation of funding has changed their core values.
The Budget for the next fiscal year under our Mayor Brandon Scott calls for our local officer to be given a tremendous 28 million dollar pay increase while education falls to the back seat once again in our city.
This isn’t a knock to Mayor Scott or to any members of his administration, but this should serve as a reminder to our citizens that we are not seeing the change that we rightfully deserve. We have been victims of corrupt policing and inadequate funding for decades and to see that trend continue is not only disheartening, but it is also demoralizing because I know if our youth were given the resources and the opportunities they deserve we could break the oppressive norms that hinder us.
Not to mention how long we have cried for change in policing policy, for rightful relocation of funding, and for the holistically defunding of the police because they have stripped us, The citizens of Baltimore of a multitude of things ranging from our sanity to our freedom but our cries have fallen on deaf ears again so I have composed a new proposal that some may say is completely out of the box but we have the destroy the box because that very box houses the oppressive norm our society has accepted and enforced..
But I firmly believe that this is our last chance at reclaiming our communities and showing our youth the strength in trusting one another. So my proposal is we stray away from policing wholistically and start to utilize our community leaders more and build back essential community infrastructure like community watch to keep our citizens protected.
Guns are the issue and have been for decades, Those guns have allowed police to continually militarize themselves against the public, intrude in our neighborhood, destroy our homes and kill and execute our innocent brothers and sisters because of racial profiling, heinous actions, and the oppressive norms that the police department has. We need to reevaluate the second amendment because it is insulting that citizens have the right to bear but I don’t have the right to live because the color of my skin is perceived as a death sentence to not only our officers but to our government.
It’s reprehensible and unfair that I have to fear for my life every time I see the people who are supposed to be here in our communities to protect and serve. But we all have witnessed how Officers are only truly here to protect and serve their own interests. I can not believe we are still actively investing in a system that was created to bring back runaway slaves and oppress the minds of innocent African Americans. I cannot believe that the government that’s supposed to be working for us would still rather see our children incarcerated and stripped of their liberties instead of being educated. In addition to this ideal, it also unjust that our prisoners are being tortured by an outdated jail system that fails to rehabilitate them and promotes high recidivism rates by not providing prisoners with adequate training to make a real impact in our world. Then those incarcerated individuals are further isolated by society because our government prohibits them from being able to vote for their representative even though they are subject to some of if not the largest effects of elected officials. This is one of the largest forms of voter suppression in the world, and the interest of those who are suffering in cells for crimes of necessity and the aftermath of economic disparities aren’t being met or at least even heard.
It’s a part of the system they want us to live in but I’m tired of losing friends, family and seeing our youth struggle, it time to liberate ourselves and to start actually investing in our youth by giving them adequate resources, outlets, and programs so they can express their interest in a multitude of things and can actually live their lives to fruition, go to college if they want and take that next step in their lives. That's another huge issue in society today, we don’t know the value of our lives as youth in Baltimore, the public makes it seem like our lives are supposed to end abruptly at the hands of some epidemic whether it be crime or drugs, and that all of us will just be numbers or a statistics but I’m here to say that each and everyone one of you youth out there right now, are capable of breaking the generational curse that has hindered your family from success, becoming the bright and progressive leaders of tomorrow and liberating your mind of oppressive and capitalistic norms. If they don’t change our system and begin to work relentlessly to liberate the minds of youth by creating a new set of norms that adequately prepare them to contribute to this world and grow into their role as the leaders of tomorrow, I promise you as Baltimore’s first-ever elected democratic socialist mayor, I will!
