Many know about policing’s origins in slave-catching. But did you know that the 911 number was launched as a tool to suppress civil rights protests? My colleague and I wrote about the history of 911, its roots in anti-Blackness, and what needs to change. 1/6 https://twitter.com/inthesetimesmag/status/1354095102428389378

Highlights from the archives we reviewed: Elected officials & various orgs demanded a universal number for years to reduce deaths from fires & med emergencies. But LBJ’s admin only launched 911 after they were told it could mobilize police to suppress civil rights protests. 2/6

Where’d they get the idea for a 911 number? From a system the U.S. funded to conduct surveillance and counterinsurgency in Venezuela. Officials involved with the Venezuela number advised the Kerner Commission that a similar system could address “civil disorder.” 3/6

The Kerner Commission team that launched 911 also fueled modern policing’s militarized approach. They recommended riot gear, tear gas, and infiltrating/surveilling Black communities. Their recs became a federally-funded training given to thousands of officers nationwide. 4/6

The new 911 system immediately increased police contact with communities. Within a year of NYC’s launch, calls for police jumped 40% and deployment of cops to communities jumped 7.5%. To this day, the 911 system deploys police as tools of racist state violence. 5/6

Confronting this history is just one step toward dismantling the racial violence inflicted by 911. We need community-based emergency responses that center care & transformative justice. One of my fav examples is this Creative Interventions Toolkit! https://www.creative-interventions.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/CI-Toolkit-Final-ENTIRE-Aug-2020.pdf 6/6