The Digital Dispatch

From NOEBIE.net

Black Lives Matter

Public Safety Alternatives

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BLM Sticker Brian Bean PhotoPublic Safety Without Police – Chicago Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez speaks with Rampant Magazine’s Brian Bean about her efforts to reprogram $150 million in funding from the Chicago Police Department to an alternative Chicago Crisis Response and Care System.

The CPD’s annual budget is $1.8 billion, so this shift would represent less than 10% of the city’s current police funding.

For those who consider calls for “defunding the police” ludicrous, as if major city police departments would cease to exist altogether, I would urge you to read the interview with an open mind, and try to envision how a relatively subtle shift in the way public safety funds are used might improve our lives and communities.

https://rampantmag.com/2020/10/13/public-safety-without-police/

The Religion and Socialism Podcast

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The Religion and Socialism Podcast

I’m pleased to be working on a new podcast project for the Religion and Socialism Commission of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The first episode of the program is an interview with renowned theologian and ethicist Gary Dorrien of Union Theological Seminary. Professor Dorrien discusses the relationship between Christianity and socialism, and particularly focuses on issues of racial justice in the United States.

Here’s the iTunes listing. You can also find the program at Soundcloud or click on the player below to listen in your browser.

Barbara Ransby on Black Lives Matter

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UIC Historian Barbara Ransby writes for Colorlines about the black-led movement against state violence. In two short paragraphs she describes the essence of late-stage capitalism, coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

The post-industrial era and the age of global neoliberal policies means cities and neighborhoods have been abandoned. Some of the areas where police have recently killed black civilians are reeling from more than 30 percent unemployment. They’re challenged by a booming underground economy that puts participants and bystanders at greater risk of being jailed or killed.

In Chicago’s North Lawndale, in West Baltimore, or almost any neighborhood in my hometown of Detroit, there simply are no jobs and no real grocery stores. There is dilapidated and abandoned housing and dramatically dwindling services. The one problem, from a crude capitalist standpoint, is that there are still people in these post-economic areas but their labor is no longer needed in the steel mills, factories or private homes. These superfluous, redundant bodies are the dilemma of 21st Century racial capitalism.

Read the Full Essay: Ella Taught Me: Shattering the Myth of the Leaderless Movement | Colorlines

Dispatch from Baltimore

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Stacia L. Brown reports for The Nation that the emotional distance between Freddie Gray’s moving funeral and the chaos that followed isn’t as wide as it may seem.

Billy Murphy had, at one point, asked everyone present to raise their hands if they’d been a victim of police brutality in Baltimore.

Everyone raised a hand.

Read More: Dispatch from Baltimore: Praying for Peace, Living Another Reality | The Nation

Baltimore Uprising

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Here are a few links that seem relevant to the current drama playing out in the streets of Baltimore.

The city has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers brazenly beat up alleged suspects. One hidden cost: The perception that officers are violent can poison the relationship between residents and police.

Source: Undue force – Sun Investigates – The Baltimore Sun

When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con.

Source: As Riots Follow Freddie Gray’s Death in Baltimore, Calls for Calm Ring Hollow – The Atlantic

We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ballgame irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.

Source: Orioles COO John Angelos offers eye-opening perspective on Baltimore protests | For The Win

Most of the media sensationalized the small amount of property damage that took place during demonstrations last weekend–while downplaying all evidence of the systemic racism and police violence that stirred this reaction.

Source: We have a right to be in the streets for Freddie | SocialistWorker.org

Twenty journalists and 40 police, academics, youth and experts came together in Chicago at Columbia College Chicago to discuss how to better cover stories of race, police and community.

Source: #RaceandPolice — Day 1, April 24 the morning discussions: police, race, bias and Ferguson coverage (with images, tweets) · Susys · Storify