Quote:
Originally Posted by Adder
Whoops, gotta stop you right there as defunding the police was not on the ballot. (yes, I saw your parenthetical).
So, there are two frustrating things about this very common take. First, it does not acknowledge the years of work from city staff, including a detailed analysis of 911 calls and the resources necessary to respond to them, and the various non-police resources being stood up across 7 city departments. They absolutely have been doing the work. They just don't have the final org chart for the proposed department of public safety because the city attorney told them they couldn't (and they do no currently have the power to create one anyway, that's what the amendment was for).
Second, nobody defunded, or was about to defund, anything. We had a whole giant flip out over an amendment that amounted to nothing more than a reorganization of city departments (yes, with the potential for fewer police in the long run).
It's super fun to credit white progressives with the longstanding work of groups like Reclaim the Block and Black Visions Collective.
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Fine, if you want to fight over semantics despite my disclaimer, here is the actual wording on the ballot:
“Shall the Minneapolis City Charter be amended to remove the Police Department and replace it with a Department of Public Safety that employs a comprehensive public health approach to the delivery of functions by the Department of Public Safety, with those specific functions to be determined by the Mayor and City Council by ordinance; which will not be subject to exclusive mayoral power over its establishment, maintenance, and command; and which could include licensed peace officers (police officers), if necessary, to fulfill its responsibilities for public safety, with the general nature of the amendments being briefly indicated in the explanatory note below, which is made a part of this ballot?”
I’m not saying no work was done, but to argue that we were just an org chart away from a functioning plan as to how this new Department of Public Safety was going to effectively replace the Police Department seems hopelessly naive to me.
The fact that there were minority groups that have long been trying to defund (or reorganize or abolish or whatever word you want to choose) is not something that I disputed. The point of the quote that I pulled out of the article was that many black people from the north side, including many vocal longstanding black community leaders, felt disenfranchised from this movement that was supposedly in large part about helping them. And whether you agree that they were or not, the fact that many of them felt this way was a huge problem. Which was probably why the wards on north side actually voted AGAINST the amendment.
https://www.minnpost.com/elections/2...lot-questions/
And this was the point I was addressing. The frustrating and very common take that the ballot amendment was defeated because of fear mongering by the status quo (and there was certainly plenty of right-wing fear mongering), ignores all of the above problems.
There was a moment in the wake of the Floyd murder where there could have been real change to address the horrific and ongoing history of abusive police practices in the Twin Cities, including due to the fact that we had (and have) a black police chief who at least appears to want widespread systemic change within the department. And I am not saying how that change should have occurred. Maybe it was to replace the Police Department, maybe it was to reign in a corrupt police union, maybe it was to work within the existing system, maybe it was some combination of the above. But I’m afraid the whole thing was horribly botched and the moment may have been lost.
