As protests persist across the nation in response to police brutality and the murder of George Floyd, a movement has emerged with many impelling cities to defund their police departments.
The movement to defund police has been met with confusion. Some fearing that massive cut backs to funding for local police enforcement in order to redirect to marginalized communities, to focus on social justice and social services, education, mental health, homelessness and domestic violence, among others primary issues, could lead to anarchy.
With many perplexed by the driving force for the movement and what it all actually means, John Legend seized the opportunity to eloquently explain, in his own words, what defunding police would really look like.
"I know this word 'defund' has caused some controversy, even from some who are inclined to agree with a lot of the underlying arguments," wrote Legend. "Some hear that word and envision 'The Purge,' some dystopian descent into anarchy."
Legend asked reasonable Americans to indulge him and engage in a thoughtful discussion on the concept, as some are looking to purposefully shift the argument to the extreme for political gain.
Legend continued by simply stating facts, pointing out that huge portions of a city’s budget is directly funneled into police departments. Funds that could be allocated to benefit social service programs like health care and education. Such programs, which have been proven to benefit low-income areas and lead to reduced the crime rate end up taking a back seat at the expense of police surveillance.
"Police funding takes up a huge portion of our local budgets. Budgets are moral documents which spell out in black and white what our priorities are," he wrote. "We have finite amounts of money to spend and right now we spend far too much on policing and that choice comes at a cost."
"Whenever there are budget cuts, those 'softer' services are on the chopping block first. And, since we know we're not solving the underlying problems, we figure we better keep a huge police force to contain them.” Legend urged his followers to switch up this way of thinking and envision a “healthier world” in which we “join together to try and change the system.” Using resources to uplift our communities, rather than policing them.
In response to the concerns of those who fear a dystopia where there are no rules, Legend clarified that defunding police doesn’t mean abolishing them entirely. Rather, it simply suggests redistributing budgets away from police and towards social programs. Expressing, "it means there should be significantly fewer police and more professionals of other types with expertise in their fields, whether it's social work, health care, conflict resolution, drug treatment, etc.”
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