When our communities' basic needs are met – when everyone is housed, well-fed and has access to holistic, affordable health care –  we will have the chance to experience true public safety. In a world where our gente thrive, there will be fewer crises to contend with. Safety comes from interdependence and trusting relationships: the broader and deeper our networks of support are, the more prepared we are to address harm when it does occur. 

But in this country, we are sold the lie that police generate public safety – when in reality, they act as the frontline defenders of capitalism and its deadly status quo. Politicians vote to build new jails and pass laws to fill existing ones by blaming marginalized people - particularly Black and poor communities - as the cause of collective insecurity and scarcity. We are told that the only way to be safe is to invest in punishment, and that we need to leave the work of generating safety to those with guns. What’s more, when we rise up against this state of affairs, our social movements themselves become the target of police violence. This twisted logic of safety goes beyond cops and cages: policing, surveillance, and punishment show up at the public benefits office, in the foster care system, and in our clinics and schools. 

The 2020 murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department set off mass protests worldwide and built momentum to move money away from police budgets and towards city services that promote community safety and well-being. Despite the bipartisan resistance to the widespread demand to #DefundThePolice, communities across the country continue to push a new public safety paradigm, experimenting with projects that expand our ideas about what keeps us safe while also fighting to fend off the violence of policing in all its forms.