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Thinking about Trump deploying federal police in American cities and the frame used to justify his decision. He has invoked "law and order" as a response to the uptick in violence in some cities in the country. 1/
But this shorthand short-circuits any kind of nuanced thinking about public safety in the context of Covid-19. We are immediately, even if we reject his view, caught within a frame that supports current modes of policing. Our fears drive the response of locking up people. 2/
We know what Trump is doing. He is appealing to white fears, in particular, about violent black and brown people to motivate them to vote for him in November. This is old politics. He is just bad at it. But we need to respond to this old trick differently. 3/
Since George Floyd's public lynching some have argued for a broader discussion of public safety in this country: to think about a more expansive "public infrastructure of care" that would entail different ideas about safety that go beyond a more police and prisons. 4/
Here we are in the middle of a global pandemic that has disrupted every aspect of American life. Over 45 million Americans have lost their jobs. Many struggle to pay rent and put food on the table. Some, who were already resource insecure, have fallen into deeper poverty. 5/
Can we, at least, begin to account for the uptick in violence by situating it within the disruptions caused by Covid-19 and failed policies to respond to the pandemic? If people are desperate, and it looks like more and more Americans are, then they will do desperate things. 6/
Some will use this moment to call for continuing the model of policing that the protesters reject. They will point to the need for more police. To lock up criminals, etc. But few will talk about the underlying conditions that may be driving the uptick. 7/
We can't do this again. Our dead are screaming from the grave. George Floyd and Breanna Taylor's voices are shouting at us not to fall for this. Dismiss this law and order talk and direct the conversation to the need for policies to address what is happening in this country. 8/
The uptick in violence is NOT the occasion to fall back on the old forms of policing, but an opportunity to implement a more effective idea of public safety rooted in a more robust view of the public good. 9/
