Confluence on Defunding the Police

Editors’ Note: The following is a statement from a NYC collaboration working to end violence, This collaborative statement was brought to our attention by Prof. Julie Goldsheid.

Confluence, a group of anti-violence advocates, lawyers, survivors, and scholars, supports 
the proposal to truly defund the NYPD budget by $1 billion and invest those funds in
community initiatives that give survivors and their communities much needed resources and
support.
We avow and affirm unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. As anti-violence advocates who
work to uplift and center the experiences and leadership of traditionally marginalized
communities who have survived intimate partner and all forms of gender-based violence, we
stand in solidarity and grieve with the families of Ahmaud Aubery, Rayshard Brooks, George
Floyd, Sandra Bland, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Elijah McClain, Sean Bell,
Amadou Diallo, Atatiana Jefferson, Rekia Boyd, and every victim of anti-Black violence. We
know that just like these Black lives lost to racist policing, many more Black, indigenous,
immigrant, undocumented, LGBTQ and people of color who are survivors of gender-based
violence have also lost their lives or been subjected to state violence.
We call for a re-imagination of gender-based violence response, grounded in the work of
Black survivors and survivors from other marginalized communities who have been leading
this call and proposing non-carceral alternatives for decades. In the face of responses that
disparage, isolate, and erase the leadership of these survivors and advocates, we stand in
solidarity with Mariame Kaba , current and former City workers, survivor and allies , Survived
and Punished , and the Women & Justice Project and many others who have and continue to
lead this charge and demand change. We call for responses that, by design, do not rely on
oppressive systems and institutions rooted in white supremacy. Policing in our city is
unquestionably intertwined with the racist past of the “War on drugs”, “Broken Windows”, the
Zone Assessment/Demographics Unit, and other policies and initiatives that over time have
directly contributed to the criminalization of Black and brown survivors. For these and other
reasons, many survivors do not feel safe engaging with systems, and will not seek them out
regardless of reforms.
As New York City responds to the COVID-19 pandemic and its multiple ramifications, we call
on the City to prioritize the needs of survivors, particularly Black survivors and survivors from
other marginalized communities. Our work has been used as justification for the
criminalization of Black and brown communities, when the safety of survivors is at even
greater risk due to racist policing.
We recognize that gender-based violence has its roots in the racist history of our society and
that current legal responses do not always work to truly advance safety or to meet survivors’
needs. Often, survivors have had their acts of survival used as cause for criminalization,
punishment, additional trauma, and dehumanization by a racist system that only compounds
the harms they have already experienced at the hands of a partner, acquaintance, or family
member. We recognize the survivors of violence who will not turn to law enforcement for
safety due to fear that doing so will lead to devastating immigration consequences for them or
their family members. We recognize the survivors of violence who will not turn to law
enforcement for safety due to harmful past interactions with the system. We recognize the
survivors of violence who will not call law enforcement for fear that they will be separated from
their children. We recognize the survivors of violence who will not turn to law enforcement
because they are the spouses, partners or acquaintances of the same. We call on the City to
invest in comprehensive, responsive resources and community-based services for survivors
who refuse, are unable, or choose not to engage in legal services and prosecution avenues.
We call on the City to invest in comprehensive, responsive resources and community-based
services for survivors who choose to stay with abusive partners.
We call on the City to prioritize investment in local, community-driven and culturally-responsive
resources that will truly advance safety for survivors and empower their communities.
Survivors need options for plans and strategies that respond to their unique needs as these
survivors manage their responses to violence. Some seek shelter services. Some seek legal
remedies, whether in the form of an order of protection, or even criminal charges. For
countless others, though, safety from gender-based violence requires access to economic
security, sustainable housing, education, meaningful jobs and investment in leadership
development, childcare, and health care. A meaningful path to safety and autonomy requires
that all of these options are equally accessible to survivors. Counseling and social services
from community-based organizations, peer support from other survivors, and connections with
advocates working for systemic change to underlying conditions of inequity offer far more
promise to advance safety than do incarceration and punishment. The City should invest in
community-based and led violence prevention, reduction and intervention programs outside of
the carceral system, and programs that seek to restore or heal instead of exact retribution.
Alternative solutions have been fiscally starved for decades, as public policy has prioritized
policing over people, community-based supports, and services. As COVID-19 increases the
incidence of intimate partner and gender-based violence, as well as the complexity of serving
survivors, it is all the more critical to fund the services survivors need. This moment presents an
opportunity to shift priorities to building an infrastructure that re-imagines safety and centers the
lives of Black, indigenous, LGBTQ, immigrant, youth, and other survivors of color as we respond
to gender-based violence.