– Walidah Imarisha
Last month, Obama inspired a renewed flurry of think pieces and arguments with his comments that “defund the police” is nothing but a “snappy slogan” which serves only to alienate potential allies rather than bring about needed police reforms. In the ensuing blowback, a video of Vice President Kamala Harris resurfaced in which she arrogantly mocks the demand to “build more schools, less jails” and declares that we, as abolitionists, do not really mean what we say when we argue police have no place in public safety. In the UK, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has been similarly dismissive of “defund the police