Black Americans Back Defunding Police

Dec 13, 2023

A new survey conducted by the (M4BL),聽in collaboration with , shows broad support among Black Americans for defunding police and instead funding alternatives to policing. Specifically, the found that two-thirds of Black Americans support reinvesting police budgets in health care, education, and housing. The study鈥檚 authors refer to this as central to an 鈥渋nvest/divest approach to public safety.鈥澛�

, policy and research director for M4BL and senior advisor for the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School, spoke with 大象传媒 Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the survey鈥檚 results and how they can be applied.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.