BLM isn't going anywhere, not until change is here

The blm protests might have subsided around the world... but the fight isn't over

It is hard to keep up with the events of the world at the pace and severity with which they are currently developing. It feels as though just as we're getting over one shooting, another comes along. When we're done protesting for negligent handling of the coronavirus, another new inquiry result comes in. Abortion rights, human rights, migrants dying in our oceans. How can one accommodate this much suffering while being able to respond to the atrocities around the world that happen on a daily basis?

While many of us put aside the BLM protest for just a brief moment, another black man in America was shot and partially paralysed by police officers – sparking thousands to go out to the streets again to show us that while our attention spans are short for tragedy – the fight is not over until change is here.

Welcome back to our weekly roundup. This week we are focusing on the new wave of BLM protests. Read. Debate: Engage.

The good

The call to defund the police continues

The BLM protests brought to the front row a topic that's been undercovered for decades and desperately needed to be part of our day to day conversation.

A contentious topic, defunding the police is currently ripping through our societies – with many conservatives using this call out for police reform through 'defunding' as a means to call liberals 'extremists' and 'nonsensical'. But here's the thing, defunding the police is not nonsense.

At the very core of the call to defund the police is the Black Lives Matter movement's recognition that expanding police and prisons has done little for public safety – whether that's in Europe or the U.S., as the U.K. BLM movement has also been an avid supported of defunding the British police.

And while Trump and his supporters have used this to attack the left, the rationale behind defunding the police makes complete sense when broken down and removed from the context of political propaganda: moving the immense funds pumped into the police and investing this in mental health, education, special needs support and personal development programmes for low-income individuals – this demographic is grossly overpopulated within prisons in the U.S. and the U.K.

To put it simply, the goal behind defunding the police is reallocation – resources, funding, and responsibilities taken away from the police and funnelled into other initiatives that might improve public safety. Now doesn't that sound like something you'd get behind?

The bad

Police violence and killings is still happening...

And the president of the United States of America just branded the NBA a 'political organisation' after several players, including LeBron James, who stood in solidarity with the protests and spoke out against police brutality toward black Americans.

On Sunday, August 23, 29-year-old Jacob Blake was shot and partially paralysed by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The man, who was unarmed, was reportedly shot in the back seven times by one of the police officers who arrested him in the early hours of Sunday. The investigation was quickly turned over to the Wisconsin Department of Justice and a federal civil rights investigation was launched, but so far neither Blake nor his family have heard from the agency, their attorneys said.

In response to yet another violent attach of an unarmed black man by police, protests erupted across Kenosha, with civilian deaths from police clashes being reported on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Blake remains chained to his hospital bed. This is not OK. We can do better than this. Criminal justice reform and police funding reform are the only ways out of this. In the words of Jacob Blake's sister, Letetra Blake:

"I don't want your pity, I want change."

It's time for criminal justice reform in the U.S.

by Yair Oded

The Grassroots Law Project bridges the gap between grassroots organising and legal expertise in order to promote racial and social justice in the U.S.

Support

Our coverage

	Why Russia remains deaf to BLM agenda by Igor Serebryany While the protests against police violence and racism have been flooding countries around the world for weeks, the Russian public remains mostly indifferent Read

	Racist terrorism by any other name... by Gurmeet Singh A black man was deliberately hit with a car in an act of racist violence. What else should we call it but 'terrorism'? Read

	John Lewis’ life-long battle for civil rights by Yair Oded Rep. John Lewis, a giant of the civil rights era, passed away last week, leaving behind a legacy of nonviolent, uncompromising resistance to racism. Read

Support the BLM movement

Here are some resources we suggest:

• Nix the 6

• CHARGE THE POLICE OFFICERS WHO SHOT JACOB BLAKE

• DEFUND THE POLICE

• HELP RAISE MONEY FOR BLAKE AND HIS FAMILY

• CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES IN THE US

• DONATE TO BAIL FUNDS

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