Colin Kaepernick calls for the abolition of police: ‘A future without the terror of policing and prisons’

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Colin Kaepernick has written a letter calling for the abolition of police and prisons.

Kaepernick on abolition of police

In the essay, Kaepernick revisited his own statements in 2016 when he explained why he knelt for the national anthem and what change he wanted to see in policing.

F reform

Under the subheading title “F—k Reform,” he wrote that his thinking “was fastened to a reformist framework.”

“The focus on individual punishment will never alter the outcome of a system rooted in Black death. I wanted change. I wanted it to stop and I wanted to reform what I saw. ”

“Yet, the reforms often proposed — use-of-force policies, body cameras, more training, and police accountability — were the same recycled police reforms consistently proposed in the past. And in both the past and the present, these reforms have done nothing to stop the actions that force us to #SayTheirNames,” he added.

Prisons and incarceration

Kaepernick tackled prisons, incarceration and policing in his first essay and instead of police reform, head right for the abolition of law enforcement.

“Despite the steady cascade of anti-Black violence across this country, I am hopeful we can build a future that imagines justice differently. A future without the terror of policing and prisons. A future that prioritizes harm reduction, redemption, and public well-being in order to create a more just and humane world,” he wrote.

Police shootings

Kaepernick spoke about the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and 92-year-old Kathyrn Johnson, saying the police performed acts of terror and affirms the idea of anti-Blackness has always been engrained in and is central to law enforcement.

“Despite the steady cascade of anti-Black violence across this country, I am hopeful we can build a future that imagines justice differently. ”

“A future without the terror of policing and prisons. A future that prioritizes harm reduction, redemption, and public well-being in order to create a more just and humane world,” he wrote.

Kaepernick on the abolition of police

Ending his essay, Kaepernick asserts police reform should result in the abolition of police.

He wrote that in doing so, it would give people a safer, healthier and freer future.

“By abolishing policing and prisons, not only can we eliminate white supremacist establishments, but we can create space for budgets to be reinvested directly into communities to address mental health needs, homelessness and houselessness, access to education, and job creation as well as community-based methods of accountability,” he added.

The article was written on Medium as part of his Kaepernick Publishing series.