Abolish the Police. Abolish the Military. Abolish ICE.

In this crucial moment, all of us who desire change should begin to think very carefully about a unified message and a coherent, organizing principle in the fight against endemic racism and police brutality in this country. I believe the message should be simple, yet radical: a complete abolition of the police in this nation.

There are many reasons for this stance. Police violence against black communities has gone on for so long, with no signs of abatement, and very few cases of prosecution and significant jail time even when the evidence is overwhelming and incontrovertible. I do not believe police reform is a reasonable expectation when police (even minority police officers) have been trained for decades to shoot first, ask questions later. I do not believe a reformed police system would be ready to relinquish their military grade weapons, equipment, and automobiles. I do not believe in any reform that keeps officers armed is worthy of our time. Now is not the time for incremental reform, because no one else should die because our criminal justice system is too slow, bureaucratic, and spineless to react in time. Our nation should be pushing for sweeping change.

Recent statistics indicate US police have killed over 8,000 civilians since 2000, while in countries such as Norway, Iceland, and Finland, who all have 2–3 years of police training with much higher qualifications compared to around 6 months in the US have killed between 1–3 people each in the same time frame. No one can reasonably…