Activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham did not mince her words or disgust for policing in America that is systemically fatal for people of color.
Activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham hits the nail on the head
Activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham appeared on All In with Chris Hayes, where she points out that what all should know by now. Police attack on the bodies of people of color is systemic. The myriad of videos that we see with a constancy throughout the country corroborates her statements.
“If you run a company,” Packnett said. “And you hire an outside contracting firm to come and help you solve problems. And they came in and did their job. And when they did their job, they didn’t solve most of the problems. They didn’t prevent the problems from happening. And, in fact, they caused new problems of their own. And they cause those problems incredibly severely against certain people who work for and with you or your neighbors, people you love. And then they came back to you at the end of that year and said, ‘Pay us more money. And in fact, don’t just pay us more money. Make sure the people that we cause the most harm to help pay the bill,’ you would laugh us out of the room.”
That is exactly what POCs live through now. The system policies POCs more severely and extracts more out of these overpoliced people who further pay for their oppression.
But the activist had an important point to add.
“In this country that is build on a violent capitalism,” Cunningham said. “That is most often defended by the very people who still tell us to back the blue. That would be a laughable premise. And yet, we continue to increase police budgets every single year.”
Cunningham then gave the stats that show how inept and inefficient the police are. She pointed out that only 46% of violent crimes are solved. Only 18% of property crimes are solved.
The activist implied that we should not want to continue increasing investment in an optimized institution to suppress POCs. She nailed it.