It was predictable. With the sheer number of people across America in the streets, protesting the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by white police officers, many officers would respond with violence.
Over the past week, we have experienced or witnessed firsthand or via social media a lot of uncalled for and unprovoked police use of force and excessive force (i.e., choke holds, knee pinnings, tear gas, use of police vehicles to move people, rubber bullets, etc.) as a response to peaceful protestors.
As someone who has studied police use of force, this practice has deep-roots in the history of our country, and despite the gradual delimitation of situations in which force can be legally applied (e.g., the use of force continuum), the practice has largely remained intact due in part to the legal system (e.g., qualified immunity), the power of police unions, and other powerful social institutions. One of the most dominant themes in the history of American policing have been calls for change and the necessity of reform. But changing the police has been an uphill battle; few wins, and lots of backsliding.
At the same time as the Democratic party attempts to pass police reform legislation through Congress, two relatively radical proposals have recently garnered attention via the protests, news, and social media: abolishing/dismantling the police and defunding the police. Although these calls are gaining some support, they are also predictably encountering push back from conservative politicians and pundits, and police unions because these constituencies feel that their power is being challenged, fear of groups who are advocating these positions, and the alternatives have yet to be clearly specified. There’s also the perception that we can’t just get rid of the police because if we do who will protect and keep us safe from criminals, and other dark elements in our society?
These recent developments beg the question, is abolition really a utopian idea? Not entirely. For example, Quakers, and a large constituency in the academic field of criminology and criminal justice, who have been advocating for the abolition of prisons for a very long time. In addition to forming the International Conference on Penal Abolition, holding biannual meetings, regular panels at learned conferences, and a burgeoning amount of scholarship, their greatest success has been in raising awareness of the costliness of prisons both financially, but also in terms of the human toll they exact on those who are incarcerated, their loved ones, and the rest of society. When we consider dismantling the police we are forced to consider other possible mechanisms that may achieve the same goals as we entrust to police departments.
An intermediate position is the reallocation of police budgets. Most Americans are shocked at the ridiculously large sums we spend on our police and the percentage they consume in our municipal and county budgets. For example, the NYPD alone spends 6 billion dollars a year.
How does this happen? Every year chiefs and commissioners of police, armed with fancy PowerPoint presentations, stand in front of city hall and/or county executives and make their case why they deserve more money. As a matter of organizational survival this makes sense. And, few elected politicians want to appear weak on crime (remember Willie Horton), so they capitulate and almost rubber stamp these inflated police budgets. Likewise police unions and accrediting bodies have pushed police departments and the governmental bodies that they are beholden to increase their budgets to alarming levels.
Assuming that budgets will largely remain intact, we need to insure that police budgets are spent on the kinds of things communities (not just the police) want it spent on (i.e., reallocation) such as improved police training, better police community relations, police accountability measures, police athletic league programs (similar to the one that operated Baltimore example), etc. But in the proportions that citizens want.
The alternative option is defunding. Defunding the police makes budgetary sense. Since the 1960s we have asked our policy makers and legislators to cut back the ridiculous amounts we spend on the military. As a response we have public (aka governmental) watch dog agencies that monitor government agency spending, to keep it in check.
There are plenty of ideas floating around regarding what to do with the surplus of police budgets or with their proposed budget increases. We can channel the remaining money into programs and professionals (e.g., social workers, public school teachers, etc.) that better help the community in various ways. For example, why call a police officer when a homeless person seems to be disruptive? A better professional might be a social worker who’s trained to deal with this population.
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_3905.jpg392640Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2020-06-09 22:33:202024-02-04 12:41:45Eliminating or reducing police violence by abolishing or defunding the police?
Despite my past struggles educationally, professionally, and financially, I’m privileged. It’s not because of my job, where I live, my marital or health status, although these factors don’t hurt; it’s because I am first and foremost a white male.
In part because I am a foreigner, I didn’t grow up here, and in part because I haven’t been subjected to racial discrimination, I never really considered being white to be an advantage for me. Like every other white person in the United States, I hear the rhetoric of equality that are standards that all institutions are supposed to live up to and assume merit at the root of my success. In reality, being white gives me a huge advantage.
Don’t get me wrong- I’m not suggesting that I or anyone else should wallow in liberal guilt, but I am calling for a deeper self-examination of white privilege, both seen and unseen.
When I go into a store, no matter what I wear, or how disheveled I look, the sales clerks and loss protection folks (regardless of what race they are) do not look at me as a potential shop-lifter. This not the experience that an African-American shopper who might be immaculately coiffed, groomed, and dressed has. In 2020, the systemic racism that exists in the United States often tends to be implicit and more subtle than it was two decades ago. The numerous situations where racism may be mediating an interaction are the kinds of things that African-Americans have to continuously pay attention to (or confront) when they are in public space. I can’t imagine, and will never be able to imagine, the amount of daily stress this type of racist scrutiny puts people under. As time goes on, this stress snowballs into innumerable negative outcomes such as poor health, suicide, educational choices, etc.. These toxic and stressful interactions are not relegated to private spaces such as clothing stores, they are also dominant in public spaces such as pools, parks, playgrounds, and privately owned public spaces like shopping malls and plazas.
Baring the hourly COVID-19 news updates, this past week has put in to bold relief some of the more damning problems of race relations in the United States. From the Amy Cooper Central Park story, to the Louisville no-knock raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor, to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis, African Americans in our society are seen as less than second class citizens.
Unfortunately, the racist incidents that occurred in the past few weeks are not new. They are on a continuum of oppression and racism of 400 years of history. What is new is the mechanisms for capturing this immoral behavior. We now have access to smart phone videos of these kinds of interactions and within minutes, and from multiple angles, we can learn about these brutal acts in real time.
The audio and visual information shared on social media is critical in drawing attention to the multiple instances of egregious acts of racism, but it is not enough. We need a formal and informal national conversation on race and white privilege. I have my doubts that this is going to take place anytime soon under the current president that has incited underlining hatred. Perhaps when a new administration is in power we purposively address this challenge. This can be similar to the gut wrenching Truth and Reconciliation Commission that countries like Argentina, Rwanda and South Africa, went through. (By last count there have been close to 45 of these throughout the world). These are imperfect solutions, but it will also be a place to start to critically examine, draw attention to, and possibly heal some the most abject and longstanding problems or race-relations dogging the United States.
While we wait to get leaders who can guide us, we can all do our part via informal conversations. If you see a racist act, call it out. Educate yourself about the inequities in your own community. Engage in self-reflection about y our own values, beliefs, and implicit bias. Learn about the ways that other communities contribute to our society,
There are also numerous anti-racist reading lists you can consult, and encourage people in your network (i.e., family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and students) to read. You can also consider donating your time or money to anti-racist organizations, and voting in candidates who not only profess a desire to improve race relations, but have a track record of doing so.
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot-2020-06-01-at-11.12.59-AM-1.png448640Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2020-06-02 17:29:512021-06-08 15:51:56Questioning my white privilege, African-Americans, and space
If you are like most people, you drive or walk around the city focused on getting to your next destination. If you are driving hopefully you pay attention to other vehicles on the road, the traffic signs and lights, and the pedestrians who attempt or are in the process of crossing the road. If you are walking sometimes you multitask, with your eyes glued to your smart phone, trying to avoid others who are walking towards you and being careful not to bump into them. At other times you are daydreaming, thinking of a vacation you should take or the work you haven’t done. You get my point. Unless you’re a “flaneur” and wander the streets to take in its sights and smells, and look at interesting people walking by, you’re distracted and miss lots of stuff. For good reasons, you may have chosen to be oblivious to the vast external world around you.
In many ways ignoring what’s going on around you is efficient. We are constantly bombarded by lots of information (e.g., visual, auditory, olfactory, etc.) that tax our ability to process it all. We need to quickly and efficiently make sense of immediate situations to determine what information is important and what can be ignored. We also have limited attention spans, no doubt related to our level of interest, motivation, and urgency. This largely unconscious process means that we are missing many social and cultural messages directed at us.
The notion that we ignore all sorts of information that the urban environment bombards us with has been identified by many keen observers of human behavior. German philosopher Martin Heidegger, for example, argued that people have become “numb to their surroundings [and] view things in a hazy muted way.”
Graffiti and Street Art, one of the most notable aspects of street culture, and one of the most important art movements in the post-modern world we live in is one of those aspects of urban environments, that many people tend to ignore. Unless you are a graffiti or street art aficionado, or your property has been recently tagged you are bound to ignore it. Again, there are several reasons why this occurs. Graffiti and street art are ubiquitous. In every large city, if you care to look, and you don’t have to go very far, you will find graffiti and street art. In some cities like New York, London, or Paris this phenomenon is omnipresent.
Just like lots of things, we can probably function fine without really noticing or understanding graffiti and street art, but if we want a richer urban experience, and have some measure of control over it, it makes sense to learn a little about the nuances of these phenomena. I’m not talking about the ability to rattle off a bunch of names of infamous Graffiti and Street Artists, I’m referring to the ability to distinguish among different types, motivations for people engaging in Graffiti and Street Art, and the numerous reactions these activities produce.
Why is this important? If we do not understand graffiti and street art, we may witness or be subjected to constant battles between those who engage in this activity and those who seek to control it, but not be able to do anything about it.
So what? Under our noses, a subterranean battle over public space is taking place for dominance, notoriety, and recognition by those who engage in graffiti and street art, and control by forces that want to eliminate, minimize or redirect this activity. Again, So what? It’s important to develop a modicum of graffiti/street literacy if you want to better understand and maybe even have some sort of say over the visual landscape that you are exposed to on a daily basis. It’s important to understand the basics such as definitions, some of the major players, and here I am not simply talking about Banksy or Sheppard Fairy. There are web sites and exhibits that you can visit, and articles and books you can read. Better still most of this information is free or can be accessed at minimal cost.
Why? Understanding Graffiti and Street Art enhances your knowledge of contemporary urban and street culture – art is not just the stuff in museums; learning to appreciate graffiti and street art can change your view of the world, give new perspectives, expand your imagination, affect your well-being by enervating you, helping you to calm down, make you nostalgic, or bring a smile to your face. In short, it can make you feel alive and part of a community of people who share similar values, but also when they may have different viewpoints. Immersing yourself in this way gives you a sense of ownership, you live here, this is your city, you care for it, and eventually you’ll protect it and help it grow.
As note French Philosopher Henri Lefevre suggested (and echoed by people like Jane Jacobs, and David Harvey), we have a right to the city beyond the commodification engaged in by large monied interests (e.g., typically large powerful corporations). He said that over time the city will support the interests of capitalism and that this will dominate and rule our lives versus the other way round. Thus, if you care about the quality of your built urban environment, it is not only the duty and responsibility of local urban governments to protect the city, to ensure its sidewalks and pedestrian walkways, its open spaces, but it is first and foremost residents responsibility to ensure that this is done in their best interests. Graffiti and street art and other important kinds of urban art, help to make cities interesting, and are all part of this experience. Urbanites need to get involved in shaping these outcomes and this starts with understanding what you see, feel and experience and not operating like you are immune to the built environment.
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_3611.jpg480640Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2020-05-26 18:22:572021-06-08 15:49:03What’s Graffiti & Street Art got to do with it?
Eliminating or reducing police violence by abolishing or defunding the police?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIt was predictable. With the sheer number of people across America in the streets, protesting the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by white police officers, many officers would respond with violence.
Over the past week, we have experienced or witnessed firsthand or via social media a lot of uncalled for and unprovoked police use of force and excessive force (i.e., choke holds, knee pinnings, tear gas, use of police vehicles to move people, rubber bullets, etc.) as a response to peaceful protestors.
As someone who has studied police use of force, this practice has deep-roots in the history of our country, and despite the gradual delimitation of situations in which force can be legally applied (e.g., the use of force continuum), the practice has largely remained intact due in part to the legal system (e.g., qualified immunity), the power of police unions, and other powerful social institutions. One of the most dominant themes in the history of American policing have been calls for change and the necessity of reform. But changing the police has been an uphill battle; few wins, and lots of backsliding.
At the same time as the Democratic party attempts to pass police reform legislation through Congress, two relatively radical proposals have recently garnered attention via the protests, news, and social media: abolishing/dismantling the police and defunding the police. Although these calls are gaining some support, they are also predictably encountering push back from conservative politicians and pundits, and police unions because these constituencies feel that their power is being challenged, fear of groups who are advocating these positions, and the alternatives have yet to be clearly specified. There’s also the perception that we can’t just get rid of the police because if we do who will protect and keep us safe from criminals, and other dark elements in our society?
Radical or not, efforts are underway in Minneapolis to “dismantle” the police department and create a new mechanism to provide public safety to the residents of that city. And in New York City, Mayor Bill De Blasio, heavily criticized in the wake of police actions surrounding the recent protests, announced late Sunday night he plans to decrease funding to the NYPD.
These recent developments beg the question, is abolition really a utopian idea? Not entirely. For example, Quakers, and a large constituency in the academic field of criminology and criminal justice, who have been advocating for the abolition of prisons for a very long time. In addition to forming the International Conference on Penal Abolition, holding biannual meetings, regular panels at learned conferences, and a burgeoning amount of scholarship, their greatest success has been in raising awareness of the costliness of prisons both financially, but also in terms of the human toll they exact on those who are incarcerated, their loved ones, and the rest of society. When we consider dismantling the police we are forced to consider other possible mechanisms that may achieve the same goals as we entrust to police departments.
An intermediate position is the reallocation of police budgets. Most Americans are shocked at the ridiculously large sums we spend on our police and the percentage they consume in our municipal and county budgets. For example, the NYPD alone spends 6 billion dollars a year.
How does this happen? Every year chiefs and commissioners of police, armed with fancy PowerPoint presentations, stand in front of city hall and/or county executives and make their case why they deserve more money. As a matter of organizational survival this makes sense. And, few elected politicians want to appear weak on crime (remember Willie Horton), so they capitulate and almost rubber stamp these inflated police budgets. Likewise police unions and accrediting bodies have pushed police departments and the governmental bodies that they are beholden to increase their budgets to alarming levels.
Assuming that budgets will largely remain intact, we need to insure that police budgets are spent on the kinds of things communities (not just the police) want it spent on (i.e., reallocation) such as improved police training, better police community relations, police accountability measures, police athletic league programs (similar to the one that operated Baltimore example), etc. But in the proportions that citizens want.
The alternative option is defunding. Defunding the police makes budgetary sense. Since the 1960s we have asked our policy makers and legislators to cut back the ridiculous amounts we spend on the military. As a response we have public (aka governmental) watch dog agencies that monitor government agency spending, to keep it in check.
There are plenty of ideas floating around regarding what to do with the surplus of police budgets or with their proposed budget increases. We can channel the remaining money into programs and professionals (e.g., social workers, public school teachers, etc.) that better help the community in various ways. For example, why call a police officer when a homeless person seems to be disruptive? A better professional might be a social worker who’s trained to deal with this population.
Questioning my white privilege, African-Americans, and space
/by Jeffrey Ian RossDespite my past struggles educationally, professionally, and financially, I’m privileged. It’s not because of my job, where I live, my marital or health status, although these factors don’t hurt; it’s because I am first and foremost a white male.
In part because I am a foreigner, I didn’t grow up here, and in part because I haven’t been subjected to racial discrimination, I never really considered being white to be an advantage for me. Like every other white person in the United States, I hear the rhetoric of equality that are standards that all institutions are supposed to live up to and assume merit at the root of my success. In reality, being white gives me a huge advantage.
Don’t get me wrong- I’m not suggesting that I or anyone else should wallow in liberal guilt, but I am calling for a deeper self-examination of white privilege, both seen and unseen.
When I go into a store, no matter what I wear, or how disheveled I look, the sales clerks and loss protection folks (regardless of what race they are) do not look at me as a potential shop-lifter. This not the experience that an African-American shopper who might be immaculately coiffed, groomed, and dressed has. In 2020, the systemic racism that exists in the United States often tends to be implicit and more subtle than it was two decades ago. The numerous situations where racism may be mediating an interaction are the kinds of things that African-Americans have to continuously pay attention to (or confront) when they are in public space. I can’t imagine, and will never be able to imagine, the amount of daily stress this type of racist scrutiny puts people under. As time goes on, this stress snowballs into innumerable negative outcomes such as poor health, suicide, educational choices, etc.. These toxic and stressful interactions are not relegated to private spaces such as clothing stores, they are also dominant in public spaces such as pools, parks, playgrounds, and privately owned public spaces like shopping malls and plazas.
Baring the hourly COVID-19 news updates, this past week has put in to bold relief some of the more damning problems of race relations in the United States. From the Amy Cooper Central Park story, to the Louisville no-knock raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor, to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis, African Americans in our society are seen as less than second class citizens.
Unfortunately, the racist incidents that occurred in the past few weeks are not new. They are on a continuum of oppression and racism of 400 years of history. What is new is the mechanisms for capturing this immoral behavior. We now have access to smart phone videos of these kinds of interactions and within minutes, and from multiple angles, we can learn about these brutal acts in real time.
The audio and visual information shared on social media is critical in drawing attention to the multiple instances of egregious acts of racism, but it is not enough. We need a formal and informal national conversation on race and white privilege. I have my doubts that this is going to take place anytime soon under the current president that has incited underlining hatred. Perhaps when a new administration is in power we purposively address this challenge. This can be similar to the gut wrenching Truth and Reconciliation Commission that countries like Argentina, Rwanda and South Africa, went through. (By last count there have been close to 45 of these throughout the world). These are imperfect solutions, but it will also be a place to start to critically examine, draw attention to, and possibly heal some the most abject and longstanding problems or race-relations dogging the United States.
While we wait to get leaders who can guide us, we can all do our part via informal conversations. If you see a racist act, call it out. Educate yourself about the inequities in your own community. Engage in self-reflection about y our own values, beliefs, and implicit bias. Learn about the ways that other communities contribute to our society,
There are also numerous anti-racist reading lists you can consult, and encourage people in your network (i.e., family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and students) to read. You can also consider donating your time or money to anti-racist organizations, and voting in candidates who not only profess a desire to improve race relations, but have a track record of doing so.
What’s Graffiti & Street Art got to do with it?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIf you are like most people, you drive or walk around the city focused on getting to your next destination. If you are driving hopefully you pay attention to other vehicles on the road, the traffic signs and lights, and the pedestrians who attempt or are in the process of crossing the road. If you are walking sometimes you multitask, with your eyes glued to your smart phone, trying to avoid others who are walking towards you and being careful not to bump into them. At other times you are daydreaming, thinking of a vacation you should take or the work you haven’t done. You get my point. Unless you’re a “flaneur” and wander the streets to take in its sights and smells, and look at interesting people walking by, you’re distracted and miss lots of stuff. For good reasons, you may have chosen to be oblivious to the vast external world around you.
In many ways ignoring what’s going on around you is efficient. We are constantly bombarded by lots of information (e.g., visual, auditory, olfactory, etc.) that tax our ability to process it all. We need to quickly and efficiently make sense of immediate situations to determine what information is important and what can be ignored. We also have limited attention spans, no doubt related to our level of interest, motivation, and urgency. This largely unconscious process means that we are missing many social and cultural messages directed at us.
The notion that we ignore all sorts of information that the urban environment bombards us with has been identified by many keen observers of human behavior. German philosopher Martin Heidegger, for example, argued that people have become “numb to their surroundings [and] view things in a hazy muted way.”
Graffiti and Street Art, one of the most notable aspects of street culture, and one of the most important art movements in the post-modern world we live in is one of those aspects of urban environments, that many people tend to ignore. Unless you are a graffiti or street art aficionado, or your property has been recently tagged you are bound to ignore it. Again, there are several reasons why this occurs. Graffiti and street art are ubiquitous. In every large city, if you care to look, and you don’t have to go very far, you will find graffiti and street art. In some cities like New York, London, or Paris this phenomenon is omnipresent.
Just like lots of things, we can probably function fine without really noticing or understanding graffiti and street art, but if we want a richer urban experience, and have some measure of control over it, it makes sense to learn a little about the nuances of these phenomena. I’m not talking about the ability to rattle off a bunch of names of infamous Graffiti and Street Artists, I’m referring to the ability to distinguish among different types, motivations for people engaging in Graffiti and Street Art, and the numerous reactions these activities produce.
Why is this important? If we do not understand graffiti and street art, we may witness or be subjected to constant battles between those who engage in this activity and those who seek to control it, but not be able to do anything about it.
So what? Under our noses, a subterranean battle over public space is taking place for dominance, notoriety, and recognition by those who engage in graffiti and street art, and control by forces that want to eliminate, minimize or redirect this activity. Again, So what? It’s important to develop a modicum of graffiti/street literacy if you want to better understand and maybe even have some sort of say over the visual landscape that you are exposed to on a daily basis. It’s important to understand the basics such as definitions, some of the major players, and here I am not simply talking about Banksy or Sheppard Fairy. There are web sites and exhibits that you can visit, and articles and books you can read. Better still most of this information is free or can be accessed at minimal cost.
Why? Understanding Graffiti and Street Art enhances your knowledge of contemporary urban and street culture – art is not just the stuff in museums; learning to appreciate graffiti and street art can change your view of the world, give new perspectives, expand your imagination, affect your well-being by enervating you, helping you to calm down, make you nostalgic, or bring a smile to your face. In short, it can make you feel alive and part of a community of people who share similar values, but also when they may have different viewpoints. Immersing yourself in this way gives you a sense of ownership, you live here, this is your city, you care for it, and eventually you’ll protect it and help it grow.
As note French Philosopher Henri Lefevre suggested (and echoed by people like Jane Jacobs, and David Harvey), we have a right to the city beyond the commodification engaged in by large monied interests (e.g., typically large powerful corporations). He said that over time the city will support the interests of capitalism and that this will dominate and rule our lives versus the other way round. Thus, if you care about the quality of your built urban environment, it is not only the duty and responsibility of local urban governments to protect the city, to ensure its sidewalks and pedestrian walkways, its open spaces, but it is first and foremost residents responsibility to ensure that this is done in their best interests. Graffiti and street art and other important kinds of urban art, help to make cities interesting, and are all part of this experience. Urbanites need to get involved in shaping these outcomes and this starts with understanding what you see, feel and experience and not operating like you are immune to the built environment.