Derecka Purnett said it.
It is angering, and embarrassing, that since Michael Brown's murder 9 years ago today in Ferguson, police killings have increased.
That all of the consent decrees and diversity and task forces and books and careers and tears that have made rounds, police kill more people now.
In 2014, the year Michael Brown was murdered by Darren Wilson, police killed fewer than 500 people. Last year, they killed more than 1100. Not even a pandemic could slow them down.
We’ve gotten great at crunching the numbers. There are interactive databases and motion graphics and all the things that would make a difference if you could use statistics against someone with a badge and a gun. We say their names. And they just keep giving us more names.
I don’t know how to stop the police. And I mean “stop the police.” It’s not about stopping “police violence.” The police are the violence. But here are some of the people I read and listen to when I’m trying to understand a way forward, and how I might be able to help:
Derecka Purnell, author of Becoming Abolitionists.
Bobby Seale, author of Seize the Time.
My penpal from the Prisoner Correspondence Project.
Jen Parker and Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor, editors of Hammer and Hope.
The group Abolitionist Futures, who put together this reading list.
Carrie Mae Weems, who has taught us so much, and who asked “How do you measure a life?”
Mariame Kaba, whose Prisonculture newsletter is on this very platform.
Ultimately the path to understanding the role you can play in stopping the police—and making that happen—isn’t something someone else can map out for you. It’s the one that starts when you take your first step forward. Too many people have died to do anything but take that step.
Peace and love to all who grieve. See you Friday.
—Mikki
PS: If you’re reading this online, the header image is from Candy Chang’s “Before I Die” community art project, which she put up around Ferguson in the days after Michael Brown’s death. I'm trying to figure out how to put in a caption.