Law enforcement harms Milwaukee
In Wisconsin, our racial caste system is exceptionally brutal. It is more invasive, restrictive, and more racially targeted than most other states. Police are the front line of that caste system, pulling people into it, and keeping them churning through it.
Law enforcement does not keep Milwaukee safe
Youth programming, mental health resources, infrastructure projects, affordable housing, basic human needs keep taking a back seat to law enforcement funding in both city and county budgets. Those things are actual sources of public safety, but we cannot invest in them when we’re giving nearly half of our budgets to the illusion of safety provided by the police.
Mayor Johnson’s budget recap - AART
African American Roundtable highlighted that police were bankrupting Milwaukee in our report in 2021, yet nothing has changed and no one has seemed to listen. Police are the only department where results or metrics don’t matter. If crime is up, we need more police; if crime is down, we need more police. This logic fails to keep us safe, and this narrative fails to acknowledge what residents need and deserve.
Milwaukee’s Budget Fight
The local manifestation of the 2020 rebellion painted defund the police in ten foot letters on the street outside city hall. Many might dismiss this demand as just local people jumping on a national trend, but it wasn't. It was a mass mobilization behind authentic community demands that existed prior to 2020, and persist to this day.
Instead of “Neighborhood Improvement”, Participatory Budgeting
We already pay taxes to elected officials, if they don’t give us what we need then why do we think spending more taxes to create another group of people who will spend our money for us is a solution?