“Defund the police” became a rallying cry in the summer of 2020 as demonstrators flooded streets across the United States to demand an end to police brutality in the wake of the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at the hands of the police. In the months since, hundreds of city councils nationwide have voted to reallocate what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars away from law enforcement to a broader array of services that support public safety. But these shifts amount to only a fraction of the money we spend on law enforcement—not to mention incarceration and the military. Will the new abolition movement succeed in transforming how we invest public resources? And what really are the economic underpinnings of the system this movement aims to change? Laura investigates the economics of abolition in conversation with historian Vijay Prashad, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles co-founder Dr. Melina Abdullah, Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and prison abolitionist Andrea James.  Music in the Middle: “Big Man” by Captain Planet featuring Shungudzo, from his album No Visa, courtesy of Bastard Jazz Records.

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Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

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