One problem with Law and Order and Public Safety discourse is that we treat laws themselves like neutral entities when they most certainly are not

Working on convincing our people that “the law” doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and is not a neutral or nebulous thing worth protecting on its face, is one of the first steps toward abolition

Laws aren’t universal truths handed down by a higher power. They are rules written for societal control by those in power. Even “good” laws are arguably designed to placate people — they give us a win, so we don’t ask for more

I’m not saying I have any idea what a world without “law” as we know it would look like. But I *am* saying that our current system, by design, oppresses and segregates people and does it LEGALLY by *using the law*

This is one of the first barriers to break down. The response to “but then who will enforce the law” should be a conversation about *why* laws are worth enforcing — how many actually keep us safe? — and understanding the difference between keeping us safe and keeping us docile

And this relates to a framework I’ve found to be really compelling once you get people past the initial “this is impossible” reaction — which is thinking of cops not as public safety, but as enforcers for the capitalist class

We are so conditioned to believe in law as universal, impermeable truth — just like we’re conditioned to believe in police as a necessary function of society. We’re told that the ills of both are sacrifices worth making for the “greater good.” That’s just not true

Police don’t have an inherent right to kill us. Nobody has a god-given right to decide that somebody else should be locked in prison because they “broke the law” — nobody! We owe each other more than that. There is no mandate that gives someone the right to destroy you.

And again, I don’t know how we fix this. People way smarter than me have ideas! But I would say — be as patient as you can (while still being firm) with people you love who are trying to untangle this. Unlearning helplessness is difficult.

At the end of the day, the argument for police is that a body of unelected, barely-trained civilians, with lethal military equipment, untreated PTSD, and near-total legal autonomy are equipped to “protect and serve,” despite data clearly demonstrating an abysmal success rate.