Las Vegas DSA demands justice for Breonna Taylor and reaffirms that police cannot be reformed
Las Vegas DSA joins others all across the country who are frustrated yet unsurprised that police have killed another Black person, Breonna Taylor, ripping her from her community without being held accountable for their actions. Breonna was murdered in her own home by police who initiated a no-knock raid without a warrant, despite evidence that the person for whom they were searching was located elsewhere. They then attempted to have her boyfriend arrested on ludicrous charges despite her death being wholly and completely a result of their own actions. Amid widespread calls for a conviction of the officers who murdered her, police officials and the Kentucky courts have once again closed ranks and continued to pursue a campaign of violence and intimidation against those who seek justice in Breonna’s name.
The brutality and violence Black people face in their day to day lives are not symptoms of a broken system, but features of a system dependent on exploitation and abuse to maintain itself. The police, especially in working-class Black and Brown neighborhoods, are the sharp and brutal edge of an entire edifice of poverty, oppression, and governmental abandonment. Attempts at reform only widen the scope and lengthen the reach of policing while continually failing to hold officers accountable for their wrongdoing. As socialists, we recognize the police exist as an institution that protects property and capital, not people.
Las Vegas DSA believes the police cannot be reformed and we unequivocally support their abolition. To acquire justice for Breonna Taylor and so many others who have been unjustly murdered by police who take an oath to “serve and protect,” we must build for ourselves a world that provides safety and liberation for all.
We urge everyone, especially the media, to remember that the destruction of property will never equal the destruction of life. When those who have lived under tyranny and oppression rise up against an immoral system, we should stand together in solidarity and stand up for justice.
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Louisville Community Bail Fund
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LVDSA Abolish/Defund Police Resource List
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