News & Commentary

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Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio
May 16, 1967
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Imagine what would happen if people of different walks of life decided that they were done with the insanity of mass incarceration and the War on Drugs. Imagine if people proclaimed that they were tired of: » Criminalizing people unnecessarily. » Tough on crime laws that do nothing to improve safety. » Spending billions on mass incarceration while schools crumble. » Separating children from their parents. » Not meeting the needs of victims of crime. » Using prisons and jails to penalize people who simply need a job or treatment. » Paying into a system that contributes to unemployment and crime. Well, now you don’t have to imagine.

What makes us feel safe in our communities? When you know your neighbors, when youth have connections to positive people, and when residents feel pride in the appearance of their street, this keeps a community safe. When men armed with assault rifles and flash grenades spill out of an armored personnel carrier in the middle of the night to break down a door searching for drugs, this has the opposite effect. Security does not come from more weapons, night vision goggles, or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. Yet this has been the federal approach to enhancing community safety for years. Since 1997, the Defense Logistics Agency has funneled $5.1 billion of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies through the federal 1033 program. This equipment has fueled a nationwide trend in aggressive police practices. Rather than confronting barricade or hostage situations, police SWAT teams now frequently serve search warrants, raiding homes looking for drugs.