Dear Mayor Jenny Durkan,
I am a 17 year old student who is registered to vote when I turn 18 later this month. I am also a student aspiring to learn political science and international relations in college, and I’ve learnt a few things that I think would be useful for you to know.
In these past few days, I’ve been heartbroken, distraught, and frustrated; I’ve been frustrated at the years and years of racist violence committed against the black community, cases stacked so high like paper pillars that it’s no surprise when the endlessly tall tower comes crashing down; I’m frustrated when privileged, ignorant people can’t understand why some people are so angry; I’m frustrated when police use weapons banned in war to target those who exercise their rights in a campaign against corruption. I’m also frustrated at myself for not acting sooner, and thinking that whatever I do will not be enough.Through discussion and listening, I have come to find many of my peers feel the same.
I would say that I hope this message finds you well, but if you choose to ignore this message like the hundreds of letters coming your way, then it may as well cost you your seat or prove that this government is failing us.
By the time you receive this, it will have already been the 27th birthday of Breonna Taylor. The lost lives of George Floyd and countless other black civilians (many of them here in not only Washington but Seattle) will be on everyone’s minds as they march in ways you’ve described as “beautiful”. Yet we continue to live in a country that gives one too many racist people militant weapons and the power to commit acts that, in any other profession, situation, or world, would not only get them fired without any excuse but arrested and face justice at the fullest extent of the law. I was inspired by the words of Trevor Noah, and I think it is paramount for a person in power such as yourself to recognize that when people don’t see justice manifested in their society, when those vowed to protect them brutalize and kill them or their brothers and sisters on a daily occasion, when they see a system designed against them that puts them through a hell that people at the top can’t even begin to imagine but it complies with the system so it must “be okay,” then that is a true, utter loss of political legitimacy.
America’s loss of political legitimacy is not being lost, but exposed. To many living here, America has already lost it, and this has always been the “normal”. If you want to know why some choose to riot and loot, it behooves you to know this concept. You don’t serve institutions that keep their power by oppression, but serve us; we mandate your position, we mandate whether the police should exist as they do now, and we mandate if they get a right to control us with fear when we speak up for justice against a system that is inherently not so.
When I reference “the system,” I am referring to not only the United States government, but also society as a whole, perpetuating an endless cycle of policies that betray constitutional rights for racial minorities and continue a spoiled system of white supremacy.
In any perfect world, I argue that the United States must demolish and rebuild this safety work that is the police, but judging by your budget proposal, I see that you invest a privileged trust in the police that many in this country never had, and that tearing the system down will probably never happen. Triumphing reform like longer training, higher educational standards, and banned practices sounds good on paper, but we all know it is not enough; the police as an institution have proven time and time and time again that they are incompetent in protecting B.I.P.O.C. and underprivileged people, and thus have never been an ally. When New York City banned choke holds, that did not prevent Eric Garner’s death, did it? And what about all those other lives threatened by cop violence and choke holds that were never reported? The police as an institution inherently support a system in our country that supports a lethal, silent kind of violence that targets poor people, P.O.C.s (although to different extents), and especially black people as they have been throughout history since the slave catchers they started from, since the Pinkerton Detective Agency they sent to beat union workers. I demand that they must be defunded and demilitarized because if a branch of a company or department was responsible for literal death and unrest over and over again, then they would be punished and money and the weapons that make them so deadly would be stripped away from them. If we can’t do that democratically, then I can see why some feel so hopeless as to attempt to take it away from police by other means. It bothers me if you only have a problem with the riots but not why they’re caused.
One of the most infamous weapons that must go is tear gas. If you will ban it for a month, won’t you consider banning it indefinitely from the police? If it is banned in war, it should not be used against defenseless citizens exercising their rights. Think about the message you send when your police department sprays, bludgeons, and assaults the same brave students that you invested in free orca cards for, just because they were willing to stand up for others. What kind of wicked investment is that? I advocate to also keep the consent decree, because it is truly appalling to me that we would think of removing it. The goals were never met. It has become clearly evident to me that we actually need more police accountability, precautionary measures, and an end to putting black tags covering badges and cameras.
I am one of the many that want these funds from the police instead to be put into services that support the communities because giving back resources is the most effective way to target the root cause for why people feel the need to resort to crimes against the state in the first place, according to numerous sources like the New York Times, The Guardian, and so forth. When you see these lootings of resources from big stores from some members of the movement, keep in mind that the economic disparities in this country have been violent and detrimental to black citizens. Resources invested into education, community centers, mental health resources, housing, and more will not only massively reduce crime, but also increase the wellbeing of the people of Seattle and work towards the justice long denied to black and other racial minorities targeted by the calamitous past of coercive tactics perpetrated by the system to purposely put them behind.
I recognize your attempts to talk with black members of the community who know and experience way more than I will ever, but this is not a substitute for taking a stance with black lives and also recognizing that the facts are there and innocent people were murdered. You may not simply talk in circles. This will no longer be the age of performance politics. I plead for you to make your position known and stand against a racist and brutal system, and when you make your actions and policies known you think about who you are affecting and who keep you in power.
Will you stand with black lives?
