63 - Defund the Police, with Dr. Jane Mantey (9.9.2020)

We are joined this week by Dr. Jane Mantey, Associate Director of Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies at Texas Christian University, to discuss what people mean when they say, "Defund the police," and what a society that values community-oriented responses rather than punitive policing as a method for ameliorating society's ills might look like.

Jane may live in Texas, but she's a longtime Sacramento scholar, politico, journalist and activist who knows the region well. She guides us as we go over the first two chapters of Alex S. Vitale's 'The End of Policing' (which Verso Books has made free to download, should listeners want to read along with us).

We cover a whole lot of ground, but the premise of this episode is to show people what things like "defund the police" or "abolish police" look like, and what we can do to get there.

American policing and police brutality are inextricable from their racist, xenophobic and capitalist history. While liberals continue to try to re-legitimize the system by tinkering with new training, body camera policies and changes in police protocol, progressives and leftists recognize that the entire system needs to go. We go over the arguments that many white liberals make in defense of policing, and also discuss the cowardice and lack of imagination displayed by local politicians like Mayor Darrell Steinberg.

Along with Vitale's book, we recommend that listeners get acquainted with the #8toAbolition movement. 

Thanks for listening and, as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.