This is perhaps the first official update I’ve posted on this blog. Usually I just put up new posts and add archived work in the appropriate page to stand on it’s own. But since I have been absent for the last few weeks I wanted to give an update, as well as share some info on an exciting new personal project.
After writing at least one blog post a week, and posting every Friday since about mid-February of this year, I’ve taken the last three weeks off from new updates. I’m not proud of this absence and planned to come back sooner. Between moving, starting a new job and the torrent of life happenings, unfortunately this has fallen by the wayside with much of my writing.
Though I am still unpacking, settling in and accommodating a new work schedule, I will be picking up my Friday blogs this week. Not only will I return to regular posts, but I will be starting my first ever series!
Many of the posts here focus around criminal justice reform, social justice issues and local legislation as it is. Since the death of George Floyd and nationwide protests for Black Lives began this Summer, that has become the main focus.I want to continue to focus around these issues of racial justice and equity policy, but with a more focused approach.
The vast majority of protesters have been demanding to defund and abolish police forces across the country. Yet these ideas are still resisted by the mainstream, among voters and politicians alike. Even more voters on either side of the debate seem to lack specifics of what those demands really entail. In a new series of posts I want to really probe and discuss the specific policy that would result from defunding police forces would theoretically put money towards, and how those might address issues of crime, health, education and economic opportunity more effectively.
Personally, I am less emphatic about complete abolition of the police as I am about actually investing in the more effective and productive policies for over-policed communities. In effect I probably fall somewhere between complete reform of all police so that they are more effective and less violent, and more funding for effective community programs. So I want to understand those programs more through this series, and keep an open mind about the roles police do or do not have as a community resource.
Police brutality and over-incarceration are the most harmful and detrimental issues facing these communities. And it is an intrinsic part of their under-investment. But it will not be the focus of these articles. I have written about policies of over-incarceration and violent policing much before, as have many writers who are more eloquent and educated than myself. I want these posts to be more inspiring and directive about a better way.
I write to educate, advocate and entertain, but more than anything, as the name of this blog suggests, I write to learn. Through this new series I hope to do all of the above, but specifically to learn about what our over-policed, under-funded communities need, and the most effective policies to provide that. I also want to highlight and uplift many of the great grassroots organizations that are putting in this good work right now, and use those as a mold for a wider public strategy with real funding. Hopefully through this series we can have a conversation about creating the change we want to see.
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