As protests spark across the country, a collective of over 100 Black rights organizations called Movement 4 Black Lives have shared an open letter in demand of defunding the police to free up funds that could be used towards disenfranchised communities. "Where could that money go? It could go towards building healthy communities, to the health of our elders and children, to neighborhood infrastructure, to education, to childcare, to support a vibrant Black future. The possibilities are endless," the letter reads.
The letter received signatures from some of the biggest stars such as The Weeknd, Lizzo, John Legend, Natalie Portman, Jane Fonda, Talib Kweli, Common, and plenty of others, per Rolling Stone.
The co-founder of Black Lives Matter Patrisse Cullors explained that the demand to defund the police doesn't mean stripping away every dollar from them but rather, pushing back against expanding their budget to allocate dollars to other communities that could benefit from it in other ways.
"A demand to defund essentially means, what places does law enforcement have money that is unnecessary?" Cullors explained. "There are a significant number of public health crises that law enforcement are forced to be the first responders to but should not be, and we could actually reallocate those dollars and give them back to the community. I’m talking about renegotiation of where we prioritize our money. Right now it’s mostly prisons and police, and we want to reallocate those dollars and put them into the community."
Read the open letter here.