Focus & Critical Needs for Justice in 2021

As the new year begins, here are the focus points, the needs and ways we can all take action towards freedom and equality in 2021:

There are several campaigns being organized around “defunding the police,” “abolishing the police” and/or “police reform.”

• Police reform refers to making changes to the ways in which police and communities interact, especially during arrests. This includes limiting the use of force, demilitarization of police, training and the requirement for police to wear/use body cams.

• Defunding the police is similar to reform but suggests moving resourcescurrently in the police budget to human services and community organizations. For example, instead of police responding to a call of someone drunk in public they would be seen by outreach and harm reduction workers experienced in addictions. Instead of a “drunk tank,” they could be taken to a rehab facility, or if they have a home, driven safely home.

• Abolishing the police is a call to remove police altogether, beginning with a significant reduction in staffing and then eventually removing the police force completely.

There are both immediate and long-term needs in support the current crisis of civil unrest in the country.

Immediate needs include:

• Bail bonds and supports for jailed protestors.

• First aid and medical support for protestors who have been injured.

• Financial support for families and victims of violence.

• Direct aid: food, water, diapers, transportation.

• Support for safe spaces where protestors can receive medical treatment, access healing modalities or mutual aid, or take a break from the sun, crowds or tear gas.

 
On a longer-term basis, look to this Nonprofit Quarterly article by author Will Cordery. He challenges philanthropy: “My call to philanthropy: fund racial justice. Fund the hell out of it. Fund racial justice work that centers organizing and power-building to counter anti-Blackness. Fund racial justice work that centers the lived experiences, leadership, and communities of Black people. Fund spaces that foster a radical imagination and the creation of new ways of being that could potentially replace centuries of systemic and structural racist practices in our society. And have the staying power to give Black activists and allies the space to develop effective organizing strategies to achieve lasting change.”

(https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/u-s-civil-unrest/)