I am scared of the police

No matter how you feel about it, the fact is that anybody who isn’t white, cisgender, heterosexual, able bodied, and mentally well is at higher risk of being attacked, killed, abused, or suicidal. Among those hurting us is the police force. I did not know, until I turned 16, that not everyone else gets scared to tears every time their parents are pulled over, because they are Muslim, Arab immigrants and may not survive. I didn’t know that if you’re the right “type”, police will actually come help you instead of insulting and harassing you after a crime. The very origins of the police are violent, racist, and unacceptable. There is no reform without abolition. The OPS is a boys club, like most police departments are, more concerned with their brothers than the citizens they swore to protect.

With community-based policing, we can actually HELP people who need it. Defunding the police means less Black people are killed, less LGBTQ+ people, less mentally ill people, less disabled people, less PEOPLE will die.