Community Refunding?
As new protests over police violence are scheduled for Saturday in Reno (the main one being 4 PM @Believe Sign), where have we gone since the big protests of 2020? Reno’s police quickly updated its use of force policy, including banning chokeholds and shooting at or from vehicles, while bodycam footage from deadly police interactions is now usually being released faster and more consistently. But there has also been a refusal to hire social workers instead of new police officers, there’s a state bill making its way to keep police misconduct files secret and efforts to dilute or push back on a police use of force bill. More generally, the “police defunding” terminology that has been advanced has been criticized from more and more quarters, and it’s not happening locally. What about “refunding” the community though? What about having social workers deal with situations that don’t require armed police? What about an unarmed civilian corps dealing with such matters as expired tags? Why should people keep dying over expired tags? What about the exacerbated Fentanyl crisis we are going through here, and funding peer recovery specialists rather than paying for more police officers, who usually criminalize the poor and those struggling? There might be headway at the federal level at some point, but with the razor tight Congress, and so many big ticket items being considered, odds are against that, until at least 2022, and new elections, both locally, statewide and nationally. How long can we wait for elections and elected officials to make any meaningful change take hold though?
As we marked Earth Day with #keeprenogreen coverage across our social media platforms, we included a call to make the Truckee River an American Heritage River. We also looked into progress and the challenges of our local bus and public transportation network. We also featured a local artist working to protect local humans, lands and waterways. Below is a mini doc we made of Indigenous-led river cleanups of which there will be another one Saturday, starting at 10 AM at 2425 E. 2nd Street.
Our podcast this week is the audio version of two women explaining their current plight at tent city. While other podcasts are moving to paid subscriptions, we are keeping ours free, as we do all our content, without any paywalls. Join the conversations, and educate others with your own lived experiences and knowledge.
