Illustration by Paola De La Cruz
PUBLIC SAFETY CAMPAIGN
All across this country, Black people live with the everyday reality of being subjected to a police occupation. This is a form of state violence perpetrated against our community. As a people living in Black bodies, state-sanctioned violence, hyper-surveillance, and resulting disenfranchisement is a constant danger. Black folks who are poor, women, people who are currently and formerly incarcerated, working class, LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming, differently-abled, and Black immigrants and refugees of all documentation status are particularly vulnerable. The physical and economic violence of policing, incarceration, and judicial supervision can no longer be tolerated.
In the past, we have called for reform and regulation, training, and increased community accountability. In 2020, our analysis has changed. As we assess the status of policing in Portland and around the United States; as we analyze our past and present through a BIPOC and Black Queer Feminist lens, we have concluded that nothing short of police and prison abolition is sufficient to make Black Lives Matter.
We must have democratic community control over safety and justice systems rooted in restoration and healing. It is beyond time to move towards community safety that supports a healthy, healed Black community.
This violence is nothing new for the Portland Police Bureau. Its history is long and well documented.
For the BIPOC community, for houseless community members, for immigrant and refugee community members, for community members with disabilities, PPB does not provide ‘public safety’ — it creates fear and commits violence. Despite attempts at reform and oversight from local elected officials, citizen committees, and the U.S. Department of Justice, it has not changed.
Illustration by Nick Stokes
PUBLIC SAFETY CAMPAIGN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
