Abolition and Imagination: Divesting from Police, Investing in Community Health + Wellbeing

Written By Dustin Vance

graphic by @itmenik on instagram 

[image 1: a black background with the words, "DEFUND THE POLICE" in upper case letters. The letters are orange with a light blue border. Each of the letters has a purple shadow.] 

“To really ‘fight crime,’ we don’t need more cops; we need more jobs, more educational opportunities, more arts programs, more community centers, more mental health resources, and more of a say in how our communities function” -MPD150

If you are already on board with police abolition, skip forward to HOW, to see how to get involved in abolitionist efforts and read more about the role of imagination in making abolitionist demands

WHAT- What is abolition? What is the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC)?

  • Definition courtesy of Bilphena Yahwon, “Tanuja Jagernauth provides a very clear and simplified definition of abolition: ‘Abolition is emptying cages and shutting down prisons, dismantling the systems that created them, and creating community-based processes for preventing, intervening in, transforming, and repairing after harm..’ Abolitionists understand that the prison system and justice system as we know it was created to supplement for the “end” of slavery. Prisons are where unthinkable violence are allowed to thrive and they very much so resemble plantations (Angola prison in Louisiana sits on what used to be a plantation and is where the Angola Three spent the longest time in solitary confinement in U.S. history). There is a reason why the 13th Amendment deemed slavery unconstitutional with the exception of slavery as punishment for a crime. There is a reason why prison walls are bursting with black folks. Abolitionists question how we can truly receive justice and accountability from such a system.” 

  • When we call for abolition, we are calling for the abolition of the entire Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), the web of imprisonment, policing, and surveillance that is driven by a confluence of political and economic special interests. Check out Critical Resistance’s video series, “Breaking Down the Prison Industrial Complex” to learn more- http://criticalresistance.org/videoproject/

    • “It’s bigger than just police brutality; it’s about how the prison industrial complex, the drug war, immigration law, and the web of policy, law, and culture that forms our criminal justice system has destroyed millions of lives, and torn apart families” -MPD150

  • Here is a comprehensive history of policing compiled by Critical Resistance- http://criticalresistance.org/policing-timeline/


WHY- Why abolition?

  • Once we concede that modern day prisons and policing are themselves reforms of slavery, we must ask ourselves why we would ever ask to further reform an inherently anti-Black system.

  • Reform VS Abolition

HOW- How do I get involved in abolitionist efforts?

Start with yourself- Don’t call the police:

Courtesy of CarePDX: Questions to answer BEFORE calling police:

(1) Is this situation just an inconvenience, like a person resting or sharing a public space? Can I tolerate it?

(2) Can I handle this on my own through communication?

(3) Is there somebody I could call to help me? A friend or neighbor?

(4) Is there a (non-police) hotline I could call? See below.

(5) If I call the police, do I fully understand how involving police could impact me and the other person differently?


Check out this list of alternative resources in Portland including hotlines for reporting sex worker violence, trans support, suicide support, immigrant support, domestic violence support, mental health crises, houseless youth support, and reporting a hate crime anonymously: https://www.carepdx.org/before-you-call-the-police/

Pod Mapping

  • Take note from the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, and work on mapping out your pods. 

    “Your pod is made up of the people that you would call on if violence, harm or abuse happened to you; or the people that you would call on if you wanted support in taking accountability for violence, harm or abuse that you’ve done; or if you witnessed violence or if someone you care about was being violent or being abused.”

    At the bottom of the page, you can download a basic pod mapping worksheet, where you are encouraged to map out your pods and “have conversations with [your] pod people about pods and transformative justice, as well as to actively grow the number of people in your pod and support each other in doing so.”

    “Growing one’s pod is not easy and may take time. In pod work, we measure our successes by the quality of our relationships with one another and we invest in the time it takes to build things like trust, respect, vulnerability, accountability, care and love. We see building our pods as a concrete way to prepare and build resources for transformative justice in our communities.”


Alternatives to calling the police- Mega thread of resources- https://edubirdie.com/articles/alternatives-to-police/

Organize around divestment: 

Learn More:

  • Stay informed by following trusted orgs with good info:

  • Check out these resources courtesy of K Agbebiyi @sheabutterfemme

Success stories

  • Changes and decisions like these don’t just ~happen~, but rather occur because of strategic and long term organizing and agitating.

  • No SROs PDX Win:

  • Care Not Cops Wins:

    • Since 2017, the Care Not Cops campaign has fought successfully for reductions in the Portland Police Bureau budget with particular focus on preventing increases in police officers, technology, and community policing programs. We have demanded the city end the use of police as first responders, invest in voluntary user-led mental health care centered in the hands of community, and dismantle the gang policing unit of the PPB. We continue to call for a reduction in police spending towards ultimately disarming and defunding the police. 

    • Care Not Cops achieved multiple victories in budget impact from 2017 to 2019, including cutting the proposed PPB budget increase in half in 2018, reducing the creation of new police positions, and building widespread community support for abolishing the gang policing unit in 2019. What's more, due to the work of Care Not Cops, which has successfully mobilized hundreds of people to budget hearings, the political culture has shifted in Portland to include a strong presence of concrete strategies that work towards the abolition of policing.

  • Minneapolis City Council Members Announce Intent to Disband the Police Department, Invest in Proven Community-Led Public Safety


The Role of Imagination in Abolition

“[white supremacists] don’t want you to be imaginative about a world free from genocide, wealth hoarding, patriarchy etc. in the moments you think revolution is impossible it’s important to remember that way thinking is inherently violent and supremacist”- Noname

In envisioning a world free from policing, imprisonment, and surveillance, we are left with questions such as: 

  • What is community safety? What does it look like free from police and policing? 

  • What is transformative justice? How can we carry out its principles? 

  • What about when ____ happens? How will we respond? 

From the FAQ on @mpd_150 ‘s website

  • Won’t abolishing the police create chaos and crime? How will we stay safe? 

    • Police abolition work is not about snapping our fingers and instantly defunding every department in the world. Rather, we’re talking about a gradual process of strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention. The people who respond to crises in our community should be the people who are best-equipped to deal with those crises. Rather than strangers armed with guns, who very likely do not live in the neighborhoods they’re patrolling, we want to create space for more mental health service providers. . .  victim/survivor advocates, religious leaders, neighbors and friends– all of the people who really make up the fabric of a community– to look out for one another.

  • This all sounds good in theory, but wouldn’t it be impossible to do? 

    • Throughout US history, everyday people have regularly accomplished “impossible” things, from the abolition of slavery, to voting rights, to the 40-hour workweek, and more. What’s really impossible is the idea that the police departments can be reformed against their will to protect and serve communities whom they have always attacked. The police, as an institution around the world, have existed for less than 200 years– less time than chattel slavery existed in the Americas. Abolishing the police doesn’t need to be difficult– we can do it in our own cities, one dollar at a time, through redirecting budgets to common-sense alternative programs. Let’s get to work!

As countless organizers remind us, though, simply replacing police with social workers will not solve these problems of surveillance and racial profiling. In the words of Heena, “social workers are also part of policing, whether it's in foster care, public schools, mental health institutions, or prisons. to abolish policing means to also abolish the medical industrial complex”. To learn more about the medical industrial complex check out this article written by Disability Justice organizer Mia Mingus, https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/medical-industrial-complex-visual/. 

In the words of Earl Sweatshirt, “the role of fantasy in liberation is huge. we are tasked with creating something that we can’t really see. building the plane while it’s flying. . . don’t be afraid right now to dream the way u did before u squashed a part of yourself to accommodate the evil world we live in”

Dustin Vance https://www.crossfade.co
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