Why I’m Supporting the Minneapolis City Council’s Charter Amendment — And Why You Should, Too
The Minneapolis City Council is proposing a charter amendment to remove the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and establish a Community of Safety & Violence Prevention Department instead. The Charter Commission welcomes us, the community, to submit our thoughts on this proposed charter amendment.
Here’s why I’m in full support of this charter amendment: Because as the MPD150 report reveals (a performance review of the 150-year history of the MPD), police reforms don’t work. The MPD has tried to “reform” itself many times during its 150-year history (e.g., late 1920s, 1960s-1970s, 1990, 2003, 2013, and 2017) and nothing has led to substantive changes around decreasing the level of police violence against BIPOC communities and the poor in Minneapolis. If these reforms worked, Fong Lee, Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, George Floyd, and many other BIPOC would still be alive.
What prevents violence and crime isn’t more robust policing. What prevents violence is a) decriminalizing the poor and BIPOC communities and b) removing the conditions that lead to homelessness, poverty, mental illness, etc., by investing in programs that empower the community. So rather than putting millions of dollars toward the problem (i.e., funding the MPD), we need to reroute and divert those funds and resources to solutions that work: community-based public safety founded on a “holistic, public-health oriented approach,” as the City Council describes.
The foundation of policing in this country is built on white slave patrols criminalizing blackness in order to protect white property. Over the years, police were used to protect white neighborhoods, people, and property from not just Black folks but also Native, people of color, and poor and working-class folks. The foundation of policing is built on white supremacy. And it has — from its inception to the present day — always worked to protect white power.
If we truly want a “complete transformation” of the police system (as Mayor Frey says), changing the interior of this “house” (i.e., police system) with new policies, procedures, practices and a fresh coat of paint (via marketing and narrative-spinning tactics — which the MPD has used in the past) will not get us there. A complete transformation requires the demolition of the house — including its foundation — so that we can build anew with a new foundation that is not built on white supremacy.
This amendment allows us to dismantle the existing house and foundation so that we a can build a new “house” of public safety founded on antiracism, collectivism, people over profits, and loving care for others. For these reasons, I’m in full support of this amendment. And I hope you will support it, too, by submitting your thoughts on why the charter amendment is important and why it should be allowed on the ballot in November.
