The murders of George Floyd, Dreasjon Reed, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, and countless other Black people at the hands of police have exposed what we've known for too long: Policing in the U.S. upholds a violent legacy of racialized trauma and control, diverting crucial resources from communities that most need them.

We must immediately defund the police at local government levels.

Defunding the police is a divestment, reducing the excessive and disproportionate budgets of the police, and directing those recovered funds to critical resources that have long been neglected in Black and brown communities, including schools, affordable housing, and comprehensive healthcare that includes mental health support.

This is a movement to address the longstanding trauma and harm policing creates and to finally invest in our Black and brown communities that have carried the weight of that pain for too long.

The U.S. spends more than $100 billion on policing per year. In Chicago, in a single day, the City spends more than $4 million to police communities but just over $600,000 on public health services. Police department budgets make up a disproportionate amount of overall spending in most major U.S. cities. It is well past time to reckon with the decades of racist divestment from resources that actually keep communities safe and well. We must reclaim public money from the systemic oppression and inequity upheld by policing.

Some cities have already taken action. After immense pressure from protesters, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti rejected a large increase in the LAPDs 2020 budget, reducing it from $1.89 billion to $1.86 billion. The NYPD 2021 budget was set at $6 billion. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that NYPD resources will now be shifted into social services. Dallas, Philadelphia, and Nashville are looking into similar steps to gradually reduce their police budgets.

We are calling on ALL local governments to divest from police budgets and redirect that money to essential services in Black and brown communities most harmed by these violent systems. We demand our city budgets reflect what we value as a community. This begins with supporting life-giving resources, not racist and violent police.  

Sign the petition: Cities must divest from law enforcement and finally invest in Black and brown communities.