We can work for safety and liberation by investing in community-based alternatives to policing, like mental health programs, public education, restorative justice practices, and economic justice.
There is a long history of racism in U.S. policing. For all Americans to be truly safe, it is important to weed out White supremacy, especially in the institution sworn to protect us all.
The human “fight or flight” response gives demagogues like Trump a tool for political manipulation. But we could replace oppression with a system of care.
In most cases, calling the police on abusers is unhelpful at best, and at worst makes survivors feel less safe: “It’s really time that we recenter on what the survivors are telling us.”