It truly boggles my mind how anyone can see a $6 billion policing budget in ONE city alone – which is more than we spend on health, youth, housing, and homelessness services here *combined* – and say, “You know what will fix police brutality? More money” A Tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who identifies herself on Twitter as @AOCUS Representative,NY-14 (BX & Queens). In a modern, moral, & wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live. People-Funded, no lobbyist, She/her.Bronx + Queens, NYC ocasiocortez.com Joined April 2010

What we are saying is that the *current infrastructure* that exists as policing … should not exist anymore. A Tweet from Ilhan Omar who identifies herself on Twitter as @IlhanMN Mom, Refugee, Intersectional Feminist, 2017 Top Angler of the Governor’s Fishing Opener and Congresswoman for #MN05. Join me.

I open the New York Times on my screen and read about another police officer killing another black man and I am at a loss for words. As my awareness of the magnitude of the carnage our white oligarchy has imposed on our black citizens, I’ve gone from “It’s just a couple of bad apples”, to “They need more training, not the heavy-duty weaponry we give them”, to “Holy shit! These guys are out of control”, to “Not another killing, there must be some good cops”, to “Another killing, this can’t be an accident”, to finally, in despair, “What the fuck, they are just killing black men for sport, this is on purpose”.

If we are capable of such love and kindness, why do we think that we need these thugs to protect us? Do we think that this love and this kindness are so delicate that they can only exist behind a blue line of hate and anger? Make no mistake, we are players in this travesty of who we say we are as a country, as a people. I am at least, and I’m deeply sorry for it. Which, of course, does no good at all.