After the protests #3: Imagining a world without cops

Chants, toppling statues, signs and singing fill the streets worldwide in response to the death of George Floyd and 100s of other African Americans at the hands of the American Police. This is the third and final episode in the mini-series “After the protest”, where Johanna Kinnock and Maria Brus Pedersen dive into some of the big questions raised by the current demonstrations with some of the leading experts and changemakers on the issue. 

For this episode they speak to people who imagine different futures for the police: David Kennedy, a criminologist who believes that before we can move forward the American Police needs to engage in a reconciliation process with the people. They speak to former police officer Melvin Russel who believes that the police have the potential to do good but needs to be reformed. And they speak to lawyer and activist Derecka Purnell who believes that we need to abolish the police completely and collectively imagine a different future. 

Listen to the previous episodes in the mini-series here: 

After the protests #1: From slave patrols to police brutality - a history of race and the American Police - here
After the protests #2: So you want to be an ally? - here

Here’s what to read if you want to learn more:

An interview with the Mayor of Minneapolis - The Daily. Listen here 

What a world without cops would look like - Mother Jones. Read here

Angela Davis: ‘There is an unbroken line of police violence in the US that takes us all the way back to the days of slavery’ - The Guardian. Read here  

Why the policing problem isn’t about “a few bad apples” - Vox. Read here