Beyond the Police: Protect Black Women
Delivered June 25, 2020, Abolition Plaza, Brooklyn
August 12, 2020
…He steps up to me, and he tells me that I should kill myself. And he didn’t tell me why. But he did not need to tell me why. I know why. That man wanted me to die because I am a Black trans woman! We have to talk about this, because we have to talk about, when that’s your neighbor that’s saying that to you, when that’s my neighbor that’s saying that to me, what do I do, right?
Because I sure as hell ain’t calling the cops, because who keeps us safe? We keep us safe! We have to keep each other safe. That means that if we want to defund the police, we have to prove that we don’t need them to protect us! That means we need to make our own systems outside the police, our own infrastructure outside the police.
I don’t want my neighbor to die, even my neighbor that’s saying that shit to me.
I need somebody I can call, when my neighbor tells me to kill myself. I need somebody I can call that ain’t the police. Because the police don’t do shit for me, right? I ain’t gonna call the police on him, no matter what the fuck he says to me, because I don’t want him to die. I don’t want my neighbor to die, even my neighbor that’s saying that shit to me. And if I call the police I am putting him in more danger, I am putting myself in more danger. And that means also, that means if you are a worker, right? And this is a worker’s issue.
If you are a worker and you have to be up for your 7:00 am shift, and your neighbor is popping off fireworks, you’ve gotta find something to do that isn’t calling 9-1-1. Thirteen thousand. Thirteen thousand calls about fireworks in the last month. We can do better!