The whole world is rethinking its approach to policing. Police forces were created to be occupying armies, slave catchers, and plains clearers, and this historic uprising has made it clear that reforms will not solve the problems of police violence and anti-black racism. This revolutionary moment is allowing us to reimagine what's possible and enact transformative changes in our communities.

Defunding the police allows us to redirect resources away from services the police were never intended to perform in the first place, towards services that promote health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that we can house homeless people instead of sending police to ticket and harass them. We can respond to people having mental health crises with professionals trained in de-escalation and emergency mental health support. We can make sure sex workers are protected and not victimized by police. We can fix our criminal justice system that completely fails in the context of sexual violence. And by doing these things we can make our communities safer and healthier for everyone.

Guests:

Andray Domise [@AndrayDomise], writer for Maclean's, founder of TXDL, community advocate, and fellow at the Nathanson Centre at York University 

Joshua Sealy-Harrington [@joshuasealy], doctoral candidate at Columbia Law School, lawyer at Power Law, and writer