Madeline Ranalli is a Newton resident and organizer with Defund NPD
Last night, in her address to Newton residents concerning the recent murders of Black Americans at the hands of police and our next steps as a city, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller outlined three primary acts she intends to take in the coming weeks to address systemic racism and unconscious bias in Newton. Her second step outlined an independent reform task force, approved this past week by the Newton City Council as Resolution 7, to better understand POC residents’ experiences with the Newton Police Department and possible ways forward via surveys, focus groups or interviews. Then, in her third point, Mayor Fuller said that cuts or changes to the budget should not be made until after the commission officially reported back to her office and the city council with findings. While this commission is well-intentioned and a solid first step, it is simply not enough to make substantive change at a time when residents are crying out for it. While evidence should always inform policy, the evidence is already here.
We do not need to rely on focus groups or interviews when there are Black residents in Newton who have shared their experiences and concerns publicly on numerous occasions, both online and in person.
Defunding the police can seem intimidating and abstract, I know I saw it that way at first. But we need not shy away from the imagination and creativity that creating a new understanding of public safety will require. If we want to make the systemic change that Mayor Fuller and many others agree to be necessary, we have to be willing to brainstorm and listen to new ideas which require us to think outside our traditional parameters of power and authority, whether that be creating new bodies of public safety or new methods of accountability. Because if the issues are systemic and we agree that the solutions we demand for them must be as well, it is time to think past reform. There are a growing number of cities and public officials who are willing to do just that.
Now is the time for the Newton community to join cities like Boston, Minneapolis, Dallas, and Cambridge who are not just reconsidering where their funds go, but actually changing it. Newton has the opportunity to live up to the progressive values it espouses right now. Not in sixth months or one year or two. Now. I am proud to work alongside so many incredible Newton students, graduates, and parents at DefundNPD and imagine a brighter, bolder future together at this very moment. If you’re interested in getting involved, please email us [email protected] or follow us @defundnpd.
Fully agree – the fact that the Mayor evidently launched a “full-court press” against an extremely small, lax reduction in the police budget should be concerning to anyone paying attention. The Mayor can launch as many task forces and hire as many consultants as she wants, but all of her tangible actions so far show she’s more interested in maintaining the status quo than being a progressive leader like Newton should be.
https://twitter.com/HumphreyWard5/status/1273046471210930177
This all said, time and time again “defund” has proven to be bad packaging for some great ideas, and I hope activists in Newton and elsewhere will take a note of the actions of progressive leaders like Sanders and Warren who have rejected the “defund” terminology for less divisive, more accurate slogans.
Madeline, could you provide some examples of systemic racism in Newton and changes we might make to rectify them? Mayor Fuller strikes me as extremely sensitive to injustice in all it’s forms.
I’ll give you an example of a way that Newton Police are actively helping my community: we live near a crosswalk that children (and adults) of all races use every day. The street it’s on is a popular cut-through to bypass Needham St. Newton police patrol the area during rush hour most mornings and evenings and pull over dozens of cars each day for speeding, running the stop sign, or driving through the crosswalk when pedestrians are present.
Statistically kids of all races are much more likely to die by car than by police, and we have tragic recent examples in Needham and Westfield.
I use this example because it is a way that that police are actively solving a real problem in Newton that cuts across all racial groups.
Thanks for your efforts to make Newton a better place to live.
“Statistically kids of all races are much more likely to die by car than by police”
The two are not mutually exclusive, I’m not sure why this is even remotely relevant. This isn’t an example of promoting racial justice, it’s an example of preventing people from being hit by cars and it’s silly at best to purport it’s solving a real racial inequity.