I missed the biggest demonstration San Francisco has had in quite some time. I didn’t know. It started at Mission High about 3 blocks from me but it must have been extremely peaceful because none of us heard a peep.

It’s not like my thoughts weren’t with the demonstrators. Earlier this afternoon I wrote to my District Supervisor, Rafael Mandelman, expressing my frustration with police actions and the role of police in our society.

It’s time to start defunding storm troopers and use that money instead in positive ways that rebuild the community. And it’s time to stop subsidizing the Us vs. Them mentality that police thrive on but that make our cities more and more unliveable.

To: Supervisor Rafael Mandelman
June 3, 2020

Re: Defunding the Police

It’s time to fundamentally rethink the role of the police. When I saw how the community came together to get through the COVID-19 crisis, then how easily that spirit was crushed by police actions across the country doing the same old same old, it became obvious that police forces as we have known them are no longer viable. They are not a part of any community I want to belong to.

Get them out of their cruisers and on their feet so they can become part of the neighborhood again. Take their guns away, make them less violent. If they want to live out their SWAT team drug bust fantasies, make them stop practicing on my block. Take it to Hollywood 300 miles away where that kind of crap belongs.

Finally, Supervisor Mandelman, if your response is going to be a canned spiel on how valuable their work is and what an important role they play in our society, spare me. We have listened to that for the last 50 years and the situation has only gotten worse.

Police have become the enemy of, not the servants for, the people.