Part One: a conversation with Alex S Vitale, who is professor of sociology and coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and the author of The End of Policing
We discuss various ways to introduce change to the way that police behave with black and other minorities. In the light of the American citizens’ response to the recent killing of George Floyd, it is obvious that what has gone before has not worked. Prof. Vitale believes that the only way to correct the issue of the police militarization is to defund the police, and allow the appropriate agencies, such as welfare and education agencies, take on the tasks that the police are doing now, by default
Further reading:
The Only Solution Is to Defund the PoliceThe murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor prove what we already knew—police “reform” has failed.
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/defund-police-protest/?print=1
The answer to police violence is not ‘reform’. It’s defunding. Here’s why
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/31/the-answer-to-police-violence-is-not-reform-its-defunding-heres-why
Part two: a conversation with Professor of Goverment J. Russell Muirhead of Dartmouth College, Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics
Chair, Department of Government Co-Director, Political Economy Project
Interim director, Rockefeller Center for Public Policy
We discuss the reaction of the Republican party to recent events, and the party’s reluctance to rein in Donald Trump. What are the implications of leaving him in place, and the consequences for the party and the country.
Further Reading:
History Will Judge the Complicity “Why have Republican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous president?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/trumps-collaborators/612250/
Why is this time is different?
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/why-george-floyd-protests-are-different.html
CIA veterans who monitored crackdowns abroad see troubling parallels in Trump’s handling of protests
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/cia-veterans-who-monitored-crackdowns-abroad-see-troubling-parallels-in-trump-handling-of-protests/2020/06/02/7ab210b8-a4f6-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html
Bill Barr personally ordered White House protesters gassed for Trump photo-op: report
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/03/bill-barr-personally-ordered-white-house-protesters-gassed-for-trump-photo-op-report/
