1 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: Greetings and welcome to woke AF with me Danielle Moody. 2 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: This week, as all eyes are on the trial proceedings 3 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: in Minneapolis for the former police officer who killed George Floyd, 4 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: I wanted to explore calls for abolition and defunding and 5 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: what these terms actually mean in practice. I had deep 6 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: half hour conversations with New York City mayoral candidate Maya 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: Wiley and Represent Justices executive director Daniel Furkio about how 8 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: we can transform policing and rehabilitative justice to work for 9 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:44,200 Speaker 1: all people. As always, you can hear those full conversations 10 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 1: right now on my Patreon for just five dollars at 11 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: patreon dot com slash woke AF. But if you've ever 12 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: had questions about how activists are processing the loud calls 13 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: to abolish prisons, take a listen to Daniel Fokio explaining 14 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: what represent Justice is doing to adjust the fat that 15 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: the prison system is directly descended from the institution of slavery. 16 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,559 Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that I often say, 17 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,559 Speaker 1: and you hear people saying, is that our criminal justice 18 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,559 Speaker 1: system is broken. Right, our criminal justice system is broken 19 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 1: and it needs to be fixed. And what I have 20 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: started to say is that the criminal justice system isn't broken. 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: It's actually working exactly the way it was intended to work. 22 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: Right that you, following the abolition of slavery, that we 23 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: have as a society created various mechanisms to in prison 24 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,559 Speaker 1: right and essentially put back into slavery black and brown people. 25 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: We use the criminal justice system as a way for 26 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: us to say that this particular group of people needs 27 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: to be over surveillance, needs to be over policed, right, 28 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: and so we are going to put law enforcement embedded 29 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: in these communities, right. And what we know to be 30 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: true is that the more police that you have, the 31 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: more likely you are to be picked up foreign fraction. 32 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: And then this cyclical way of being happened. So when 33 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: we look at this and we have these communities, we 34 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: have the white community saying, well, you know, of course 35 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: they commit all of the crimes right like the you know, 36 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,239 Speaker 1: we see they're in prison for a reason, and so 37 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:17,920 Speaker 1: we treat them like animals because they are animals, and 38 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: it's a reinforcing this sense of being and then justifies 39 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: white violence. So talk to me about how this is 40 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: such a grave lie. When we talk about the big 41 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: lie right now, we talk about the big lie in 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: politics in terms of lying about who won the twenty 43 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: twenty election, but I think the biggest lie in all 44 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: honesty is how we have continued on with the system 45 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: that we know is purposefully made based on racism and injustice. 46 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: And so how do you unpack that lie? What does 47 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: it look like to have these real, deep conversations and 48 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: stories about why our justice some misset up in the 49 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: way that it is. That is such a great and 50 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: observation and question, Danielle. I think one thing I would 51 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: say for people that don't know is that between nineteen 52 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: ninety and two thousand and five, if you can imagine this, 53 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: a prison was built once every ten days in the US. 54 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 1: Those prisons were filled, particularly even in states like California, 55 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: like where people believe that we're very progressive right on 56 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,519 Speaker 1: with black and brown individuals, including the youth. The super 57 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: Predator narrative which popped up at the same time, feel 58 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: that type of investment, state level of incarceration. And so 59 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: when you look at and it feels, ultimately Danielle, a 60 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:46,119 Speaker 1: narrative of good versus evil instead of opportunity versus oppression, 61 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: which is really the conversation that we should be having. 62 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: And so it's important for people to understand that when 63 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: you spend, for example, in California, fifty billion dollars a 64 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: year on your justice system, you are making a philisop 65 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: optical statement that this is what you believe. It's not 66 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: a matter of safety. There's a million different types of 67 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: interventions and alternate models besides locking up individuals, and besides 68 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: all of the many atrocities that sort of happened to 69 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: our youth and to incarcerated women in the system. So 70 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: you're making a decision that this is how your resources 71 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 1: should be sent. And so I think there's a couple 72 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: of things versus reframing it to opportunity versus oppression, and 73 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: also to naysayers around changing the justice system. It usually 74 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,039 Speaker 1: comes from a really myoptic view of what the justice 75 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: system is. It comes from a view that it's a 76 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: person's worst act that they've ever committed and what the 77 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: retribution for that act is at the systemic level. And 78 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: so we need to broaden people's view of the system. 79 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: We need to broaden people's view of who is incarcerated, 80 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: why are they incarcerated? You know, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, 81 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: victims of prime, survivors of crime, survivors of abuse, survivors 82 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: of discrimination and prejudice, violence of all kinds. That really, 83 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: those stories and that understanding is ultimately will fuel the 84 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: empathy and the demand for change. I think if people 85 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: understood how we've invested ourselves emotionally and really in our 86 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: identity as a country around the justice system, it would 87 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,279 Speaker 1: do more to change it. You know. The last question 88 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: for you, Daniel and I you know, I just want 89 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: to once again like commend you and the work that 90 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: represents justice has been doing over the past couple of 91 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: years since your launch, because I think you know, as 92 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: a storyteller, right, as somebody who works to share information 93 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: and tell stories, I think that it's incredibly important. I 94 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: want to ask you, you know, when we are having 95 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 1: these conversations that are readily in the press right now 96 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: about abolition, right the abolition of the police, the abolition 97 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 1: of this very injust system, they understanding that throwing people 98 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: in jail and throwing away the key has not made 99 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: our society any better. That looking at people as obstacles 100 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: other than opportunities for change or possibility is where we 101 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: actually need to lead and need to put our investment. 102 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: Do you think that we need to change the conversation 103 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: or change the language that we use in terms of abolition. 104 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: Do you think that that has been a hindrance to 105 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: people getting on the side of how we reform this 106 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: system or is it just we need to talk more 107 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: about it and we need to familiarize people more. I 108 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: think we just need a more detailed understanding around what 109 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: it means. I think that there's some misunderstanding around abolition 110 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: that is completely willful, and then there's some just general 111 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: misunderstanding around what it means, I think, or that converts 112 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: it to kind of this zero it's either going to 113 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: be no public safety or the current system that we have. 114 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 1: And so what I would do is I would reframe 115 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: kind of the context of it to say that we know, 116 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: and we all, every single one of us desires to 117 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 1: live in a safe community, a well invested community. We 118 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: desire to feel protected. We desire that when you know, 119 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: people stumble or commit mistakes, they not be defined by 120 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: those mistakes, but rather given a chance to grow redeem 121 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: themselves in a way that doesn't harm anyone, so storing 122 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: the harm that they've caused and also repairing the harm 123 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: that has been caused often to them. But take a 124 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: look at our prison system and does it do that? 125 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: And I think that if you give that deeper understanding 126 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: around the narratives that people's stories, you will lead to 127 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: a very logical conclusion that the prison system does not 128 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: do that. The prison system does not rehabilitate you. It 129 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: is not just a predictive it is a predictable consequence. 130 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: In fact, it's validated by by the stigma that people 131 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: who are returning citizens have that we don't feel like 132 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: the prison system is doing anything good. And so you 133 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: have to really kind of give that additional context and 134 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: narrative to share that this system is not working. The 135 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: system it is working, as you said, the way that 136 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: it's been intended to safety. It's not bettering people, it's 137 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: not bettering the communities. And if we can really communicate 138 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: that clearly with people's voices who've been impacted by the 139 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: system at the center of it, everyone everyone will understand 140 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: what it means when we say abolish, abolish prisons, or 141 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: whatever the case might be. It's abolishing the trauma and 142 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 1: the trauma factory, the prisons that have become That was 143 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:37,719 Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier written into the constitutional amendments. I mean, 144 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: we could have foreseen that mass incarceration would be the 145 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: evolution of slavery, of racism, and everything else. So it's 146 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 1: not meant to be at odds with the values that 147 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:51,680 Speaker 1: we all share, but it's meant to point out that 148 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 1: this system is not accomplishing those values at all for anyone, 149 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: and there's a better way to do things, and it's 150 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:02,319 Speaker 1: time for our philosophy as a country to completely change. 151 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 1: While Daniel and I agree that the prison system is 152 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: not actually intended for rehabilitation, there is still work to 153 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: be done to help people understand the prison industrial complex 154 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: so that we can work together as a people to 155 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: end private prisons and create a system that works better 156 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: for everyone. One small thing you can do is to 157 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: help share these conversations with your friends and family, equip 158 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: them with the knowledge they can use to expand wokeness 159 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: in their own communities. Activist calls to abolish prisons and 160 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: defund the police might be confusing to people until they 161 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:40,760 Speaker 1: understand what they actually mean in practice. So I asked 162 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: Maya Wiley, who is running from mayor of New York City, 163 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: how she interprets these calls to defund the police in 164 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: a city where there is endemic police violence against everyday citizens. 165 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: When we talk about this term of defund the police 166 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: right and of creating investment in community, we see that 167 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: there is incredible pushback from the police. We see incredible 168 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: pushback from police unions. I want to know, how do 169 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: you both create a city that is equitable in terms 170 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: of the fact that my tax dollars go to funding 171 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: them police, just like my white neighbors tax dollars go 172 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: to funding the police. Except I would be fearful to 173 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: call the police if I needed them because I don't 174 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: want to end up as a hashtag. And so how 175 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: do we look at the readjustment in terms of the 176 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 1: relationship that police have with the communities that they are policing, 177 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:39,559 Speaker 1: the excess violence that we have seen over the course 178 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:42,559 Speaker 1: of decades with too many black lives lost, and then 179 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 1: also recognizing that we are not putting money in the 180 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 1: right place. But when we talk about defund that spins 181 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: off into something else. So how does your campaign, would 182 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: your administration deal with this balancing act that we've seen 183 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: play out across the country. Yeah, look, I start with 184 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: it from the perspective of a moral budget. A moral budget, 185 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: and a moral budget requires us one to look at 186 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: how we build revenue effectively, but in ways that solve problems, 187 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,320 Speaker 1: not create them. Right, So revenue generation means thinking about 188 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: as I said, you know, we're going to take ten 189 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: billion dollars, actually didn't say this part the caring economy 190 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,319 Speaker 1: is one piece of that. Right, We're actually putting money 191 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: back in people's pockets. They can care for themselves, they 192 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: can care for their communities. They can put money back 193 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,320 Speaker 1: into the economy when we help them get those jobs, 194 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: when we help them work because or deal with emergencies, 195 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,439 Speaker 1: because they have a safe place to leave family members. 196 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: We also, by giving them those grants, are ensuring that 197 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: they can put money back into the economy. That's good 198 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: for everyone and that actually brings revenue back into the city. Coffers. 199 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: It's also looking at it from what our resources are 200 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: that we control. That creates more of those opportunities. So 201 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: I'm going to spend ten billion dollars capital construction budget 202 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: that is separate from the expense budget. We're often talking 203 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,680 Speaker 1: about budgeting. Is if we don't have two different budgets, 204 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: but we do the capital budget, that just means money 205 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: we borrow to build things we need built and fix 206 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: things we need fixed. And what do we need? We 207 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: need affordable housing that's deeply affordable for so many of 208 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: our workers who work hard but can't afford the rent. 209 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: We need, you know, to make sure that they're creating. 210 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,080 Speaker 1: We're solving the problem with nitscha. So we'll put two 211 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: billion dollars into renovation and rehabilitation. As I said, my 212 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: god son lives in public housing. This ain't theoretical for me. 213 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: People are unsafe and unsanitary conditions and they deserve better 214 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: green economy, green jobs. You know how we're thinking about 215 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,200 Speaker 1: building resiliency when you know two thirds of our people 216 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,440 Speaker 1: who are in flood zones or low income people of color. 217 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: So these are all ways where we're fixing problems we 218 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: have as a city. But we're doing it by creating 219 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: a hundred thousand jobs. We're going to do local target 220 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: and hiring. We're going to think about local procurement, buying 221 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: the things we need for those projects. We're going to 222 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: be thinking about how that creates jobs for artists and 223 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: creatives as well, so that while while we're spending and 224 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: borrowing to spend in a way that is stimulative that 225 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: we know from the Great Recession to the Great Depression 226 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 1: has helped us come back in the past. We're also 227 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:33,840 Speaker 1: going to focus it on art what I call communities 228 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,199 Speaker 1: of concern, which were the communities that were worse off 229 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: before COVID, and we're worse off during COVID, and we'll 230 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:45,320 Speaker 1: have a long trajectory to recovery and deserve investments post COVID. 231 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: And so that's really looking at our budget differently, and 232 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: we've already talked about it on the police side. It 233 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: means that when we make cuts, and we will, that 234 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: we're making choices that are about investing in our future, 235 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: because that's what a moral bud is. It is investment 236 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: in the kind of city I think we all want 237 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: to live in. When I talk about it in that way, 238 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: when I talk about what is just good common sense, 239 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: like nobody thinks that police officer's job is responding to 240 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,439 Speaker 1: a mental health crisis. Everyone agrees that it's a mental 241 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: health professional that should be responding to a mental health 242 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: crisis with the ability to ask her police backup if 243 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: the expert thinks he or she needs it, But that 244 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: should be a call by a mental health expert not 245 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: by the police who don't sign up for the force 246 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: to become mental health experts. That's not why they're signing 247 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: up for the job. And there's so much that we 248 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: can focus policing on that's appropriate and that we know 249 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: our communities want police focused on. I use the legal 250 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: guns because that's such an obvious example, and it's such 251 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: an example that police officers also want to work on. 252 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: But putting more police officers on a street corner doesn't 253 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: stop the shooting it, Oh, it just moves it over 254 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: a block. Why would we keep doing it that way? 255 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: It is often said that the definition of insanity is 256 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting 257 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: a different result. We have seen what the prison system 258 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: and police departments due to Black Americans across this country. 259 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: We cannot keep doing things the same way. There needs 260 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,440 Speaker 1: to be deep systemic change, and folks like Daniel Fokio 261 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: and Maya Wiley are leading the charge to make this 262 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: a better nation for all Americans, but especially black folks 263 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: and people of color who suffer disproportionately. To hear more 264 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: of these conversations every single week, you know what to do. 265 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: Head over to patreon dot com, slash woke f and subscribe. 266 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: Five dollars a month gets you five shows a week 267 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: full of in depth discussions just like these until next time. 268 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: Power to the people and to all the people. Power, 269 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck.