Shocked. Its not new, just more of the same. [ sound of gunfire ] history repeats itself. And yet we never learn. Perhaps the only way theyll know is if we let the city burn. Say his name George Floyd how do i explain to my 3yearold why im marching in these streets . Whats her name . Breonna taylor how do i explain to my 3yearold what his death has done to me . How do i explain to my 3yearold another Black Man was killed by police . This has been declared a riot. Summer of 2020. Americas reckoning. But lets be clear. This is isnt our first reckoning on policing. This is far from the first time Weve Seen Police battling u. S. Citizens in the streets. Like a spiderman movie, this is just another reboot. Its just that more of us are paying attention this time. Baby this is my last confession and its also not the first time weve tried to figure out what is wrong with policing in america. In 1967, Lyndon Johnsons Administration formed the Carter Commission to find out why this keeps happening. It was frighteningly simple. White racism and White Supremacy was to blame. What did we do this with revelation . What we always seem to do after discovering racism is a problem. We doubled down. More police, more guns, more training. More dead black, brown, and indigenous folks. And more this. As you can already see, parts of this show will be graphic and hard to watch. But i really feel like with this episode, its important to show whats going on out here. And weve tried to do that with respect to the victims and their families. So welcome to oakland, california, the town, my adopted home that i hope adopts me back. Where the conversation around americas Need For Fundamental Structural Change is always in full swing. A part of whats locally known as town bidness. While it may be new to many of you, around here theres long been a call to wait for it Defund The Police. Hey, its more polite than what Ice Cube said. Its a doubleedged sword. Im happy to be doing an episode about the place i call home. Also i better not [ bleep ] it up. One of the ways was by getting you to be here. That could be the part thats not good. But then well do it together. My Friend Cat brooks is a poet, tour de force, hopefully the next mayor of oakland, and the cofounder of the Antipolice Terror project. Not antipolice. Antipolice terror. It scared me the first time i heard the name too. I think the thing thats important to remember about oakland is that its the birthplace of the black Panther Party. And something that i think people outside of oakland, even some people inside of oakland is that the Panther Party was formed to fight Police Violence. And that lays, i think, the foundation for every single movement that weve seen in oakland since. I think that weve gotten to a place now where people are clear that Police Terrorism is wrong. I think that most people who will actually admit that its happening are clear that unarmed men, children, women, people should not be shot in the back. Oscar grant was one of those unarmed people. [ bleep ]. His killing by a Bay Area Transit cop kickstarted a whole new generation of activism. What do we want . Justice. He even kickstarted me. The fight that we had here set the Tone And Tenor for the next ten years. We want a system that doesnt allow this to ever happen again. And this is why many people in oakland are way past superficial Police Reform and instead demanding defund. When we met when i first moved back here, that was the first time i heard the words Defund The Police was through the Antipolice Terror project. Even somebody who like understands the police, that the institution is built on racism, i was like, whoa. Shhh. Lets go talk about this inside. Unfortunately as weve seen, when the term Defund The Police gets launched into the stratosphere, it becomes a philosophical debate not grounded in the numbers. James birch is a lawyer with a zeg from georgetown. A Policy Coordinator for atpt. When propolice americans grow up, police are venerated in their societies. They can dress like a cop for halloween. Cops have the local fair. Thats not the experience that i had growing up. One of the biggest challenges that we have as atpt, as the Antipolice Terror project, is to find ways to communicate across that gap. And we chose the Path Of Defund because the economic support our position overwhelmingly. Okay. Lets dig into Defund The Police. Pay attention, especially if youre a politician or expolitician. I guess you can use a snappy slogan like Defund The Police but you know youve lost a big audience the minute you say it. Okay. Lets start with some basics. Snappy slogan. First thing, defund does not mean an immediate end to police. Second thing, theres a spectrum here. On the one end, theres reform. Way on the other end, theres abolition. And even proponents of abolition recognize that theres no immediate end to police. Were not going to go from, okay, Today Weve got 600 officers with Oakland Police Department, and tomorrow we have zero. Its not going to happen In The City of oakland. Its not going to happen anywhere else. Im unapologetically an abolitionist. I also believe in radical reform. What are the reforms we can make that chip away at this current system . So here In The City of oakland, the Oakland Police Department gets almost half of our general fund. When you look at oakland in particular, all of these years, we remain one of the top deadliest cities for violent crime in the Country Year after year after year. So, oakland, what are we paying for . So, yeah, we say defund, but really what were talking about is refunding our communities. Americans are some of the Defundiest Defunders in the history of defunding steph. Hell, we even closed hospitals during a pandemic. Take a look at schools in relation to police. Historically as police budgets balloon, School Money shrinks, and every Stat Worth its Grant Money will tell you the more you spend on education, the less youll spend on dealing with crime. In cities across america, like these, Police Departments typically soak up between 25. 5 and 40 of municipal general funds. In baltimore, that means for every dollar that goes to police, public schools get 55 cents. The office that Funds Job programs gets 5 cents. Programs for substance abuse, Mental Health, and Youth Violence Prevention each get 1 measly cent. And what do we get for our money . Well, lets look at the Police Clearance Rate report card. As of 2019, only 61. 4 of murders in the u. S. Were solved. Sounds like a dminus to me, and thats the best grade on this list. Aggravated assault was at 52. 3 . Thats an f. Rape cases were at 32. 9 . Thats a superduper f, and so on. By the way, before you think im being too hard on the police, like thats a thing, way back in 1965, the Clearance Rate for murders was 91 . In part thats because Police Today are asked to do way too many things that they should never be doing, like dealing with homelessness, substance abuse, Mental Health, or patrolling the halls of schools. One basic theory of defund and there are more than a few says, wait a minute. Why dont we take some of that money back and give it to people who are, you know, qualified to deal with those issues without killing folks in the process . At the same time, why dont we put money back into systems that build longterm sustainable public safety and build an economy for everyone . Thats defund 101. You know, if this was a business and were giving 50 of our budget to one department that was failing across the board and killing people while they did so, we would defund them immediately. Yes. Defund the police means were taking money away from this current system where its Failing And Investing in other systems that we think will succeed. It strips all that away and says, just look at the numbers. Its sort of beautiful. My dad would be happy to hear this. Hes a numbers guy, that the accountants will save us. Maybe the antiracist accountants will save us. [ laughter ] i know to many of you, defund is foreign, confusing, even offensive. To others, its an idea whose time has come. Thats because we live in two separate realities in america. Why . Because racism. And in policing, racisms not a bug. Its a feature. From the very beginning, policing was designed specifically to keep black people in check, not black criminals black people. Dont believe me . I brought backup. Most people, even some educated people, just kind of think police have always been here. Its just the Way Society works. Right. When we talk about that, we go back to the founding documents of policing. Professor nikki jones, uc berkeley, genius, period. The founding documents of Policing Appeals Principles of policing, people still cite its emphasis on the relationship between policing and the public. And what folks dont understand is at the time that peels principles were published, the public did not include black people. So the policing that black people were subject to, Enslaved Black People were subject to, that was dictated by the other founding document, the Barbados Slave codes published in 1661. The Barbados Slave code says about what youd expect from something called a slave code. Torture, maim, hunt, rape, and execute were all aokay for the white enslavers to do to the enslaved. Most importantly, it was not just kind of okay. It specifies the enslavers could commit all these humanitarian crimes with impunity. And you can draw a direct line from way back then to the modern era. Since 2013, only 1. 7 of all policeinvolved killings have resulted in any type of charge against officers. And only 0. 36 in a conviction. Whats that smell . Thats impunity. That was the document that was basically copied and pasted into the colonies and then codified in state and then federa federal law. If were going to think about any way of addressing the problem with policing, we have to be able to acknowledge the systemic racism that is embedded in policing as a consequence of the Barbados Slave codes. At what point does america start to look at policing and go, woops . So you see this in the early part of the 20th century, and you see this certainly with the concerner report. The Koerner Report is published in the wake of what president johnson saw as riots and uprisings across the country. The president says we have to figure out what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it. And what he probably didnt expect was the answer that came down from the Koerner Report. Yeah. In 1968, after seven months of study, the 11member commission, 9 of whom were white, released a 427page Report which was a political atom bomb. It not only exposed the police as the tip of americas racist spear, it pointed to systemic and cultural White Racism as the Driving Force of that spear. The key finding was that we are a nation of two societies, one white, one black, separate and unequal. White people are complicit in the structural conditions that people were rebelling against. So the Koerner Report comes out, and then they dismantle the institution of policing, and then things are good after that. Dont get me started. These are not black radicals. So what must have come next must have been a revolution and transformation. Yeah. But, in fact, thats not what happened. But what you did see was a fundamental transformation over the next 50 years of policing. But not the way they thought, right . We saw the militarization of police. We saw the rise of the warrior cop, and that is happening as the decades march on, and we get to the war on drugs. We get to the war on violence. We get to the war on terror. And policing is adapting in each moment. So what we have now is the most professional, most wellarmed, most welltrained Police Department that weve had in our nations history. And yet the fundamental problems have not gone away. Time is running out for the merchants of crime and corruption in american society. If this is to be a land of liberty, it must also be a land of Law And Order. When a politician it doesnt matter what side of the aisle theyre on, if they want to make sure they win, they will say, im a Law And Order candidate. Im a tough on crime candidate. And weve seen the devastation. Whatever policing is in america, it has put a bunch of us in a state of like permanent ptsd. Its not about whether this is a good cop or a bad apple. 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While its all well and good to talk about policing, Activism And Defunding here, to be fair, oakland is a bit of a unicorn. But 30 miles north, the story is way different. The city of vallejo is built around the docks just like oakland. But unlike oakland, that Industry Abandoned Vallejo in the 90s, leaving the city with a broken economy and the dubious distinction of having the deadliest Police Force in northern california. And in case youre just joining us, thats saying a lot. All i know about vallejo is some gigs i bombed at, e40. Shout out to e40, mac dre. Oh, yes, mac dre. Me . I came to vallejo because i felt that people werent being heard. Yeah. Otis taylor is a journalist who has spent the last three years documenting Police Violence in vallejo, california. It was 2017. There was a viral video of Police Violence against the Black Man. The officer unholstered his gun and pointed it at bystanders. Why is this acceptable behavior for a person filming Police Violence to be threatened by an officer with a gun . Mmhmm. That brought me up here. And once i got up here, i just started hearing all of these stories. Police in this city have killed 19 people since 2010, giving Vallejo One of the highest rates of policeinvolved killings of any department in the u. S. , including willie mccoy, a 20yearold who was approached by police on a Welfare Check while asleep in his car with a gun in his lap. Gun, gun. Call it out. What . Theres a gun in his lap. What are you thinking . If he reaches for it its locked. Hes moving. Hes not up yet. Hey, keep your hands where i can see them. [ sound of gunfire ] after leaning forward and scratching his shoulder, he was given three seconds to comply before six cops fired 55 rounds, killing him. Police say he reached for his gun, but no Camera Angle ive seen shows that. And remember this. It was just last august in kenosha, wisconsin, when Kyle Rittenhouse had his hands on his gun with people screaming he shot people, and the police just ignored him. Vallejo is like a distillation of the problems that a lot of places i think are facing. Jeff king is a Lawyer And Teacher at uc berkeley. Hes also the Founder And Ceo of open vallejo, an Information And Advocacy website focusing on transparency here in his hometown. Our first scoop was that Vallejo Cops have been bending the tips of their badges, one for each person that they killed. To me, if you get to bent badges to celebrate the killing of people, that says somethings wrong with the culture and the institution that you work in, right . Weve seen this before in Police Departments, specifically in Los Angeles with Clique Names like the grim reapers, vikings and lately comptons executioners, who allegedly threw inking parties to tattoo new members. In vallejo, allegations point to a group of officers known in the media known as the fatal 14, who are under investigation for allegedly throwing badge bending parties. Allegedly. Theres an officer with five shootings, an officer with four fatal shootings. There was a 2016 Research Survey by Pew Research of it was something like 7,800 Law Enforcement personnel all over the country. They found that 73 of Law Enforcement officers have never fired their weapon. Never. 40 of the vallejo Police Department had been in at least one shooting, and about a third of those had about in two or more. There have been 63 shootings by the vallejo Police Department since 2000, 30 of them fatal. Over the past 20 years based on our data, it looks like Vallejo Police have been responsible for about 10 of all the homicides In The City. And the killing continues even in the wake of George Floyd. Sean monterrosa, an unarmed 22yearold who was shot through the throat and out the back of his head with a suppressed tactical rifle from the Back Seat of a vallejo Police Department unmarked pickup truck. He pointed a gun at us. By the way, when he was shot, Sean Monterrosa was unarmed and on his knees with his hands up. That gun the police thought they saw was a hammer. Put your hands out. Put your hands out [ bleep ]. Stupid when George Floyd died, it took a man almost 2,000 miles away for many City Officials to act like Police Brutality was a problem. Sorry, mr. George floyd. Im tired of everybody killing. Its not just black, white. They just killing us for no reason. Angel ramos. Angel ramos you have to know who the people who were killed here were. You should start locally. Yes. This police is saturated with the blood of people in this community. Angel ramos, that case really just jumped out at me. Angel ramos was killed in 2017 by Vallejo P. D. He was shot four times by police on his own Back Porch after a neighbor called 911 about a fight. What was your life like before this . I was just a regular mom at home with my kids. Yeah. Thats it. So what is your life like now that youre an activist . I find myself a lot more sad, a lot more angry. When angel was killed, the media did what the media does. They cut and paste the Police Narrative into the nightly news leaving the family in tears. Angels sister alicia focuses on breaking that narrative. When otis came t was like, if you mess up you know, by the time i left there, i was like, there is no way this happened the way the police said it happened. They were saying angel was on top of someone, about to stab them. When the Police Officer, to save someones life, shot him. Where does that knife go . Medical examiners, investigators, no knife was found on that porch. Wow. They found a knife in the kitchen, and then the initial Press Reports are, Vallejo Police say Angel Ramos was threatening a 16yearold minor with a knife. Even the minor told me there was no knife. We were fighting. We have seen this dynamic play over and over as victims families cry for justice. First the media embraces the Police Narrative. Police describe a melee happening at this house right behind me. One man armed with a knife. Then comes the he was No Angel character assassination, followed by the d. A. Bumping down the charges for the cops or more likely not pressing charges at all. Our investigation indicates that he reacted properly. The whole system creates a structure that means that even in this show, with my name on it, i cant say someone was murdered when clearly that person was i have to say killed. In october 2020, vallejo declared a State Of Emergency to get the situation in the department under control. Vallejo Police ChiefShawnee Williams has said, quote, the vallejo Police Department takes all allegations of misconduct not consistent with our core values very seriously. We want our community to know that we are committed to creating a culture of accountability, Transparency And Discipline that drives us all closer together rather than apart, end quote. And, look, we are years away from knowing if these moves will actually change the department. Hopefully so, but understandably, after all this death, many in the community remain skeptical. And they murdered my brother. Its hard because i still read new articles and hear the same story over and over. What happened to the officer who shot your brother . Hes he trains the new cops. Thats his position right now. In vallejo . Mmhmm. That is why the culture pervades. And you wonder why there are systemic issues in policing. Thats what were dealing with in vallejo. Thats what were dealing with in america. 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Applebees irresistabowls all just 8. 99. To prove our Aa Battery is the worlds longestlasting, we tested it against our competitors best battery. meowing clicking and energizer ultimate lithium wins again energizer, backed by science. Matched by No One. Wanna help kids get their homework done . Energizer, backed by science. Well, an internet connections a good start. But kids also need computers. And sometimes the hardest thing about homework is finding a place to do it. So why not hook Community Centers up with wifi . For kids like us, and all the amazing things were gonna learn. Over the next 10 years, comcast is committing 1 Billion to reach 50 Million lowincome americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. I hope youre ready. cause we are. In oakland, art is Activism And Activism is art. And claiming that space is as oakland as getting Hypy And Ghost riding the sideshow. Man, im old. Just get it all the way across . All the way across . Yeah, all the way across. Okay. So thats 197 plus 66. 263. Is that oakland public School Education . Is that what that was . Thats right. Favian rodriguez. Youve met him on the show before. Hes an Oakland Native and artist who believes in the power of art to change the world. This is a paste. You dip it right in and spread it out. Her House Mate is like me, a nonnative who lives here and has been transformed by the town. Hes the Creator And Curator of justice for our lives, an uncopywritten campaign of remembrance for those killed by police. Go to this link. Print them out. Put them up. Just remember to do it legally, like your sympathetic neighborhood dispensary. Usually this is not stuff that you ask permission for, so you want to be as quick as possible. Get it up and keep it moving. Yeah, pretty much. I started this project in 2014. I was coming back from the annual vigil that they have at the fruitvale b. A. R. T. Station for Oscar Grant. You just said im going to keep making these . It just evolved into that where i saw people would take it off of my Facebook Page and print it out themselves. Then Little By little i set up the website. Part of what we have to do is like mourn and grieve, and, you know, people create installations. I think the thing that it also does is that, you know, i dont know all these stories. You sort of get reminded that, like, its not just the ones you know. Wow, look at this. Is that a child . He was one of the children that died when there was like. Claudia gonzalez was also one of the them that died. Elijah mcclain. Thats the one that always hits me. Stop. Stop. Stop. I have a right to stop you because youre being suspicious. On august 24th, 2019, in aurora, colorado, 23yearold Elijah Mcclain was walking home from Buying Tea when three Police Officers quickly put him in a Choke Hold. A Choke Hold that has since been made illegal. Paramedics enforceably injected elijah with ketamine, after he went into Cardiac Arrest and was pronounced dead three days later. And of course the police were not charged with a damn thing. Defund the shit out of this. Look, i see myself in elijahs story. Im different too. Always have been. Elijah was a massage therapist. He taught himself violin, and then he played it for stray cats. Who doesnt want to hang out with that guy . He quite literally danced to the beat of his own drum, and im sure his mother fought to protect her son the same way that mine fought to protect me, knowing full well that the way this country sees black children, especially our young boys, puts a target on their back from day one. You know, i went to oakland public schools, and when you grow up in a place that is overwhelmingly majority students of color, theres just a different way that the system views kids behavior. The education system, a system thats supposed to be sort of the great equalizer, is actually often complicit in mass incarceration. Jackie buyers is the Executive Director of the black Organizing Project. She and her team fought to get police out of oakland schools. Oakland native Nicole Lee is the director of the urban peace league. She is a fighter for kids who get caught in the trap of the juvenile justice system. In oakland, as young as elementary school, students are policed. So when students have interactions with Law Enforcement, interactions that normally might be behavioral issues turn into referrals, into a juvenile system, and then when people end up in the juvenile system, theres a likelihood to end up in prison. I dont know that i even realize that oakland unified School District had its own Police Department. Right . You have teachers trying to just get paid enough to live in oakland. You have students who are losing programs. So to think that with all that disinvestment, then you would have the resources to invest in your own Police Department. It just didnt make sense. What activated jackie to question the use of School Police was the 2011 killing of Rahim Brown by an oakland unified school cop. A lot of folks did amazing work to try to get justice for rahim and for his family. And we decided to take kind of a different path and look at what was happening sort of widely with the school system. Interactions with Law Enforcement, even if it doesnt lead to arrests, can lead to higher likelihood of suspensions and expulsions. But also what you dont hear about is what it does, how it feels. If youre in a place where youre always surrounded by Law Enforcement, it takes away your ability, especially in school, to be a kid. Right. Do something wrong. Thats right. Kids i think their innocence gets stolen here. Yeah. We spend, i think, 16,000 per student in our school system. But last year right here in this county, we spent 490,000 a year per youth to keep a kid in detention. So basically half A Million dollars. And so you see School Officials get up in the news and they say, in order to rightsize the system, we have to close the schools. But if you look at the juvenile justice system, we have 358 beds. Right now theres 41 kids in there. And No One is telling those people to rightsize the system. Right. I mean we want our children to go to safe schools. Were not just fighting against something. Were fighting for something. In 2011, jackie and the black Organizing Project started the bettering our schools system, or b. O. S. S. Campaign because youve got to have an acronym. And in 2020, acronym accomplished. They bossed the Police Right out of the oakland public schools. We have dismantled an entire Police Department. Yeah panthers would be proud. All these Oakland Activists and militants, always saying crazy things like feed the Kids Breakfast and right. Craziness. Thats the elelegacy of it. You have to be the one that says the crazy thing in the room, like we need free breakfast programs, and we need police out of schools. This is the legacy of countless Oakland Activists. We have to do for ourselves because No One else is coming to help us. It is on us, but luckily we are enough. And this art that has taken over much of the streets, on walls, on boardedup buildings, is about doing for ourselves too. These are our streets. This is our town. And we can make sure that it reflects our spirit, our beliefs, our power, our heroes, and maybe most importantly, our goddamn beauty. Stand up, oakland. That looks beautiful. I have to say i do have a level of pride knowing i helped a little bit with this. Like in my oakland card, this is a punch. Its all love. Its definitely oakland that brought this out of me. Thank you for helping me. No problem, brother. Much love. And you. Is it on your beard . I think thats the gray action. I didnt used to be this gray when i met you. Three kids and a pandemic will put it on a negro. Ac DcBack In Black the bowls are back. Applebees irresistabowls all just 8. 99. Like many people with moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis or crohns disease, i was there. Be right back. But my symptoms were keeping me from where i needed to be. So i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who have uc. Or crohns disease. And humira helps people achieve remission that can last, so you can experience few or no symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you. And them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum Yum Yuuum yum yum yum yum yum Yum Yuuum yum yum yum clap, clap yum yum clap yum yum Cyber Attacks are relentlessly advancing. To end them, cybereason built a cyber Security Solution yum so advanced. It can end Attacks Today on computers, mobile devices, servers and the cloud. And deliver futureready protection, keeping you sharp for tomorrow. Join us, the defenders, in our mission. Cybereason. End Cyber Attacks. From endpoints to everywhere. In 1878, congress passed the Posse Com Tatis act. It says what should be obvious. Soldiers are for war and police are for, well, policing. But since s. W. A. T. Was developed in Los Angeles in 1965, its become harder and harder to tell the difference between cops and commandos. And each time we declare another war on social ills like the war on crime or drugs, the police become more militarized. That was definitely the Case Post9 11 when the government established sweeping powers to fight the war on terror. Now many black and brown communities regularly look like an occupied territory. People often think the policies put into place after 9 11 really impacted only the arab and muslim community or people who are perceived to be arab or muslim, but thats actually not true. 9 11 was an opportunity to further justify the existing criminalization of black and brown communities. Thats why my organization got involved with the Stop Urban Shield campaign. Lauren is a palestinian born and raised in San Francisco. Shes tan unapologetic abolitionist. Urban shield was and i love to say was because we were able to put an end to it last year. It was the largest militarized Police Training in the world. It was taking place on the weekend of 9 11 each year, right . And it was training cops. It was training firefighters. It was Training Nurses to respond to disasters as if they were at war with their community. It also brought The State Of Israel to come Train And Exchange tactics and trainings with local Law Enforcement and emergency responders. One could have their own opinion about whats happening in palestine, but you cant argue that its not occupied. So at The End of the day, it was really important for us to shed light on that and for people to know that that war youre watching on tv is happening every day to everyday people in this country. I mean am i right thinking there was a point when the police was the police and the military was the military and they werent linked the Way Theyve become linked . A lot of folks became aware in 2014 when we saw the response to the ferguson rebellion, but thats not when it started. When we think about s. W. A. T. , weve seen the intensification of s. W. A. T. Units. Then theres the 1033 programs. The 1033 program is the standard Action Movie Scene where our hero starts out with a gun, enter as i secret room and straps down with all the weapons he c they can get the tank of their dreams and our nightmares. And its not just tanks. Its the tactics, the training, and the mentality. Remember officer friendly . I dont. Maybe hes drowning in all that tactical gear. We loveed all those Stallone And Schwarzenegger movies but i dont want Stallone Or Cobra showing up to my house. There is another way possible, which is why this year is so extraordinary. Its definitely a new day. Hearing people even who like rightwing people who hate Defund The Police have to talk about it. Exactly. They have to respond to it. So when you have our opposition actually using words of abolition and defunding police to respond to it, thats a win. With urban shield, our goal from the very beginning was redistribution of priorities and of money. If we were going to make our case that urban shield needed to be defunded, we needed to show them what could be funded as an alternative. Divest in Law Enforcement and reinvest in the community. Sounds simple and beautiful, but people love to skip that Investment Part and instead create Nightmare Scenarios about cophating commies running amok. The left has just gone off a deep end. Things would fall apart instantly. It would take hours. Literally nobody wants that. Across the bay, San Francisco is a city celebrated and hated for its progressive politicis. But folks here know the city aint nearly as progressive enough. It has long been divesting in the black and brown communities. Now San Franciscos first black female mayor is looking to take those problems on, and she knows that some of that money has got to come from the sfpd. Were going to have a conversation. Thats all i do. Im not smart enough to do anything else other than have a conversation, so thank you for doing this. Of course, of course. Thank you for being here. Im happy to be here. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Its always good to be here with the mayor and with you. You know. Alicia garza and Mayor Breed are two powerhouse women born and raised in the bay. You know alicia. Shes one of the cofounders of black lives matter, and Mayor Breed is the mayor of San Francisco. Arent you paying attention . Its always good to be home, you know, in my hood, my stomping grounds. Where are we now . What was this when you were a kid . People in the community will know this as virgos. We would walk down here, me and my girls, looking for the guys, hanging out. There are a lot of i lived in public housing up the street. San francisco was 3 black. Oh, yeah. We were on the decline, though. I will say that. There was a complete dismantling of the infrastructure our communities need to be safe. A complete dismantling of Mental Health services and people without homes to go and get access to shelter. Looking at all these disparities, when i have talked about diverting the 120 Million from the Police Department, i wanted to make it clear to People Part of what it does mean is investment. And, so, that involving looking at everything were doing as a city. Mayor breeds proposed plan would trim the San FranciscoPolice Departments nearly 700 Million annual budget by almost 6 . That, along with additional cuts to the sheriffs department, would mean reducing the total budget by 120 Million. That money is slated to go directly to housing, Mental Health services and education. But its a delicate dance working with Police Departments. And it is about way more than just math. How do we change the culture of the Police Department . We change that by making sure that we deal with the biases that exist in our department. We change our policies. I mean, in 2006, my cousin, unfortunately, was killed by the police here in San Francisco. And there was no independent investigation. Now, as a result, when an officer pulls their weapon out, even if they dont use it, there is an independent investigation. Many people, and i would include myself, feel like you have to figure out how to start over from the ground up and go, how would you build an organization that is not rotten to the core in a way a lot of people feel like policing is in this country. Thats pretty hard. Because dismantle and then what . Right . We are doing the hard work every day. The stuff we have to do to get approval of the unions to actually do the reform. The unions are a whole other we cannot talk about policing in america without talking about Police Unions. While most unions are pro workers, Police Unions are pro power. While we all say we want to get rid of the bad apples, Police Unions regularly use that power to protect the bad apples. Take the case of jasmine. The Police Department of a major California City has devolved into chaos. Claims of elicit sex. In 2016, when she was 19, she told local news that she had had sex with dozens of officers from multiple Bay AreaLaw Enforcement agencies, including when she was a minor, all to avoid arrest. I know some of you always want to take the Police Side in shootings of unarmed black people, looking for gray areas. But sex with a minor is rape. No gray area. If you are a Law Enforcement officer giving out protection for sexual services, you should be fired and prosecuted. But in The End, despite egregious legal and ethical violations by police in these departments, the union was able to protect all the cops but four. They were fired. Only one was prosecuted. Thats not a union. Thats a gang. We have to fight battles. We were called unthinkable names. And the stuff we went through to get these Policy Changes in San Francisco, that was not easy. At The End of the day, the process of reshaping and reforming systems and transforming them has to do with a few things. Where we put money. Who makes the rules, right . And what is the pressure that officials feel . Because, honestly, a lot of these systems were designed to not be dismantled. And at the same time, can policing be reformed . Im not clear about that. Im of the opinion that these systems do need to be dismantled. And i also believe that something needs to replace them. So, to me, what this is doing is sparking the creative imagination of folks who have been fighting to change these systems for a long time and to have a champion in power is a big deal. Its a big deal. Im sure these arent the last things you plan to do. You said its not enough. Youre still ready to hit it. So lets go. Ich is another name. In this kind bar, its hearthealthy almonds. With the taste of Dark Chocolate and 75 less sugar than the leading Clif Bar. Be kind to yourself. I need a lawn. Quick. The fast way to bring it up to speed. Is scotts turf builder rapid grass. It grows two times faster than seed alone for full, green grass. Everything else just seems. Slow. Its lawn season. Lets get to the yard. Ac DcBack In Black the bowls are back. Applebees irresistabowls all just 8. 99. Youre clearly someone who takes care of yourself. So why wait to screen for Colon Cancer . Because when caught in early stages, its more treatable. Im cologuard. Im noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92 of Colon Cancers even in early stages. Tell me more. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for Colon Cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Im on it. Sounds like a plan. Im on it. In a recent clinical study, patients using Salonpas Patch reported reductions in pain severity, using less or a lot less oral pain medicines. And improved quality of life. Ask your doctor about salonpas. Its good medicine. Wanna help kids get their homework done . Well, an internet connections a good start. But kids also need computers. And sometimes the hardest thing about homework is finding a place to do it. So why not hook Community Centers up with wifi . For kids like us, and all the amazing things were gonna learn. Over the next 10 years, comcast is committing 1 Billion to reach 50 Million lowincome americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. I hope youre ready. cause we are. Oh, here comes the here comes your bougie oysters. Come on, man. If you going to change things, you got to have oysters to make something positive happen. Pastor michael mcbride. You have seen him on the show before. This is his brother. Pastor ben mcbride. Ben says hes the Malcolm X. To michaels mlk. They are two pillars of Bay Area activism. This is their friend, named chief of the Oakland Police Department in January 2021 after we filmed with him. Ben and leron worked together for years to improve Community Police relations and to combat Gun Violence in oakland. Is this moment different in america, specifically around Law Enforcement . To me, it is this moment of being a Black Man in a police uniform. Right . There are some problems, systemic problems thats been in policing for a very long time that you know need to be rooted out. So you sit in this place where youre like, do i fit in . Sometimes you even ask the question do i fit in . Im a Black Man before i take the uniform. And when i take it off. And while you got it on. That was my followup. But, see, some people will see me as a person in blue that dont think that i identify with even those that are protesting. I was reading about your work together and something struck me that some of the work that youre doing was teaching Police Officers how to treat people like human beings. Yeah. Kind of a deep thing. And i was like, isnt this something they cover at the academy . No. Doesnt that define that its broken . This has become the culture in policing. Culture eats policy for breakfast. We can pass policies, and we believe that. But culture eats the policy. I think its a bit more complex than that. The reason i say that is because part of what we teach in the class is also the impact of policing in an environment where every day you are responding to peoples emergencies, right . And the reality is studies have shown that it is going to have an effect on you, right . So these are Mental Health things that need to be addressed, too. There is some Health And Wellness things with Police Officers that this country has not invested in. Look, i know parts of this show feel harsh on the police. I also know the current system of policing doesnt work for many cops either. The grind of dealing with too many of our social ills along with, you know, actual crimes leaves many cops jaded, exhausted and frustrated. Some of the calls that ive had, the greatest threats to my life is calls i thought was lowlevel calls. The one i almost died on was a simple, go talk to a guy. As i approached him to say hey, owner doesnt want you on the property, he immediately started pulling a gun out of his pocket. And im like unprepared. I came in this profession because i cared about the community, because i had a brother that was killed in the community. There are officers every day making the ultimate sacrifice, and i think that should be commended. I respect the dignity of the public safety agent. Yes. But can you imagine if the size of the Police Department was the size of the Fire Department . And just like firefighters only show up to put up a fire, Police Officers only show up to address armed situation. Armed violent crime. Firefighters used to be called to get cats out of the tree. Then they hired some Pet Control people because they understood, man, thats not a good use of that firefighters time. I hope whatever side you are on, you can see that the violence we are consistently seeing is because of a broken system and the 50 years since kerner has shown the failures of ever intensifying Law And Order. We got to be able to imagine new systems while we reconcile those truths with the peoples actual needs. Sometimes you might need a Police Officer. But honestly, how often . Every day In The City of oakland, 435,000 people, there are 2,000 calls a day from people who actually have emergencies, right . And would like somebody to respond and provide them service. Isnt It A Problem they have one number to call for that emergency . Right. But thats the progression. What does another system look like . What other number is available . Maybe there is a number specifically for Mental Health or Mental Health related issues. Or if a black guy is looking at birds in central park. Theres a number for that. See a black guy looking at birds, just wanted to let you know, byebye now. I mean to your point, right, there is a conversation to have about whats next, right . What is the next step . I think Law Enforcement has to prepare themselves for that conversation, that maybe you need to do less. But nobody wants less money. Thats why it cant be up to them. Want their cake and eat it, too. Thats why were here, praise god. Cut that cake up, you get this slice. Cake for everybody. It is our job as citizens in this country to demand services that are a result of our tax dollars. I do think police should see this as an opportunity. But i dont expect Law Enforcement folks to say this. Ill certainly say it. This is going to save some of their lives. To prove our Aa Battery is the worlds longestlasting, we tested it against our competitors best battery. meowing clicking and energizer ultimate lithium wins again energizer, backed by science. Ac DcBack In Black energizer, B Ed by science. Back in black i hit the sack ive been too long. Applebees irresistabowls are back. 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Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum Yum Yuuum yum yum yum yum yum Yum Yuuum yum yum yum clap, clap yum yum clap yum yum text chime text chime text chime sighs text chime chuckles text chime its the biggest week in television. Watchathon week is your chance to finally watch shows you missed for free. Now you get to talk about them with your friends, No Matter What time it is. Say watchathon into your voice remote and watch for free they just shot that guy. I remember the Day Oscar Reed was killed. I remember how it spread through the Bay Area. I remember going to those protests. I remember being afraid. I remember when he was found guilty of something called involuntary manslaughter. He was murdered. My son was murdered. Oakland has never been the same. We spend so much time talking about what we dont want. We know how to say no to a lot of things, but we also know how to say yes. Yes to me is running for office, setting policy. I think thats the next frontier. We have to start running shit. I agree with you. Its not liberal or progressive just because it is. Because its not. The institutions here are just as screwed up as institutions all across this country. Thats right. But the people who live here demand better. Absolutely. Regularly. If you want to know what change actually looks like, Latifa Simon is it. A single black Mom And Widow who is also a mcarthur fellow, aka, genius grant recipient. She is now the president of the Board Of Directors of bart, what you outsiders call our subway. When my husband died, after bankruptcy, fighting cancer and im on the train with my little baby at the time, just three and a half, and i was like, i want to run this system. My people are on this system. Oscar died on this system. Institutions, if were talking about creating an antiracist society, what we have to look at is how institutions atone for their wrongs. Young men like oscar who are dehumanized in his very essence in his last moment called a Bitch Ass Nigger by a Police Officer who had a knee in his neck and we saw that young man die in front of our eyes. And, so, whats so beautiful about this space today, i get out and i look at that mural. And you tell me what institution in this country has a couple stories of the face of the man that they killed . And thats why were here. Right here is where the actual bullet had traveled through oscars body, hit the platform floor, bounced back up and went into his chest, collapsing one of his lungs. This is Oscar Grants mother. Uncle bobby his uncle, beatrice his aunt. While bobby has visited this spot before, i find when i get there, this is the first time that momma came to the place where her son was shot in the back and killed. Imagine whats going through her mind and what shes sacrificing to be here. I recognize youre here, its incredibly powerful for you to be doing this work. There is no reason you should have to do it. We would all understand if you just needed to mourn your son and not continue to Stand Up for him and others. Its very difficult being at this spot, but i do want people to know that oscar did not die in vain, that he was the start of a Catalyst Movement of whats going on today. You know, i remember years ago oscar and i had prayed unto the lord and the lord showed Me Oscar and i would be in ministry together. I didnt realize that until him losing his life. And even though hes not here today, we are still in ministry together. Its because of him that im able to stand here before you today and to be able to share his fight and to share with others that there still is hope even in the midst of situations like this. In our movement, we always say you changed the world, you and oscar. You know, you helped develop a new voice for black women in this country who were ignored for decades and decades. Some might say centuries who have lost their children to the state. There is a grace and a power that only a black mother exudes. I know it is tough to be here, but you have no idea what you have done and what you continue to do. I am Oscar Grant. I am trayvon martin. I am adam, i am sean, i am jamal crawford. There are so many i ams. Such a racial divide in this country, we have to work together. Does it ever get too frustrating that we havent learned a lesson that we should have learned from oscar . If i get frustrated, i wont be able to do it. So i have to keep that clear focus to be able to remind myself, No Matter What, you cant give up. You have to keep on sharing what happened to oscar and what we need to do to end these type of things from happening again. We have an obligation to love others as we love ourselves. Thats what our nation needs. This whole thing is about love. Oscar brought to the world what love looked like. Oscar didnt just die here, he was resurrected here. And his voice still is heard across this world. When Oscar Grant was killed, it really felt like an Oakland Story at the time. But it is a testament to the Bay Area. Testament to the activists, a testament to oscars family that they kept his name out there so he would not be forgotten. The Bay Area is a beautiful place. Oakland is a beautiful and powerful place. Every day people are creating incredible art and ideas that will change the world. But more importantly, change our world. Imagine how many more amazing pieces of Art And World shaking ideas could be created if we just didnt have to focus so much on our survival, if we didnt live in a system that not only doesnt value our lives but often actively seeks to wipe us out. Do you know what this is . This is joy. We could have had a whole show of this. We want more of this, we need to dismantle, reconceive and in some cases defund the systems that target us and refund life, refund liberty, refund the pursuit of all this. Go on with your bad self. Hi, welcome to all viewers in the u. S. And Around The World, thanks for joining me, im Robin Kerr now, youre watching cnn. India has recorded more than 300,000 coronavirus cases for 12th consecutive day. Hospitals, morgues and Cremor Toiums are overwhelmed and people are scrambling to find the oxygen needed. Supplies are arriving from Around The World as countries st