martydefund12
commented
4 years ago This is awesome. I'd recommend adding some concrete #s, such as how much (raw amount and percent) of the state's budget goes to police
Open purni2102 opened 4 years ago
martydefund12
commented
4 years ago This is awesome. I'd recommend adding some concrete #s, such as how much (raw amount and percent) of the state's budget goes to police
Zach_McCue@booker.senate.gov, jason_tuber@menendez.senate.gov, Ginamarie.cordero@mail.house.gov, Javier.gamboa@mail.house.gov, Yujin.lee@mail.house.gov, Kelsey.Griswold@mail.house.gov, Lauren.gonnelli@mail.house.gov, Miranda.Peterson@mail.house.gov, Madeleine.Pike@mail.house.gov, Dylan.Sodaro@mail.house.gov, Shannon.casey@mail.house.gov, Jack.Gebbia@mail.house.gov, Kevin.block@mail.house.gov.
To whom it may concern, My name is [x], a resident of [town]. New Jersey must take active steps in defunding its police departments. Resources must be allocated towards community models of safety, support, and prevention, rather than giving responsibility to the police. I urge you to take these matters into consideration as you approach the police departments and justice system within New Jersey as it will protect the citizens, allow them to have a voice, decrease crime, unrest, and is the right step forward in combating the systemic racism inherent in the country. The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) encourages these steps across the country— We demand a world where those most impacted in our communities control the laws, institutions, and policies that are meant to serve us – from our schools to our local budgets, economies, police departments, and our land – while recognizing that the rights and histories of our Indigenous family must also be respected. This includes: Direct democratic community control of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, ensuring that communities most harmed by destructive policing have the power to hire and fire officers, determine disciplinary action, control budgets and policies, and subpoena relevant agency information. An end to the privatization of education and real community control by parents, students and community members of schools including democratic school boards and community control of curriculum, hiring, firing and discipline policies. Participatory budgeting at the local, state and federal level.
We demand investments in the education, health and safety of Black people, instead of investments in the criminalizing, caging, and harming of Black people. We want investments in Black communities, determined by Black communities, and divestment from exploitative forces including prisons, fossil fuels, police, surveillance and exploitative corporations. This includes: A reallocation of funds at the federal, state and local level from policing and incarceration to long-term safety strategies such as education, local restorative justice services, and employment programs. The retroactive decriminalization, immediate release and record expungement of all drug related offenses and prostitution, and reparations for the devastating impact of the “war on drugs” and criminalization of prostitution, including a reinvestment of the resulting savings and revenue into restorative services, mental health services, job programs and other programs supporting those impacted by the sex and drug trade. Real, meaningful, and equitable universal health care that guarantees: proximity to nearby comprehensive health centers, culturally competent services for all people, specific services for queer, gender nonconforming, and trans people, full bodily autonomy, full reproductive services, mental health services, paid parental leave, and comprehensive quality child and elder care. A constitutional right at the state and federal level to a fully-funded education which includes a clear articulation of the right to: a free education for all, special protections for queer and trans students, wrap around services, social workers, free health services (including reproductive body autonomy), a curriculum that acknowledges and addresses students’ material and cultural needs, physical activity and recreation, high quality food, free daycare, and freedom from unwarranted search, seizure or arrest. A divestment from industrial multinational use of fossil fuels and investment in community- based sustainable energy solutions. A cut in military expenditures and a reallocation of those funds to invest in domestic infrastructure and community well-being. I implore you to take these actions in defunding the police and funding the communities affected seriously, and fight for these values with us. Thank you, [name]