The Moderate Position

Abolishing ICE, defunding and abolishing the police…this is the *moderate* position.

Whether it’s ICE, Border Patrol, the city, county or state police or your local sheriff, their purpose is to be the violent, front-line stranglehold on a wholly unsustainable status quo that protects the few (white and wealthy) at the expense of the many. The support they have from our elected legislators is enthusiastically bipartisan.

From the grotesque amounts of new funding for all kinds of cops after the George Floyd Uprising of 2020 through the fascist crackdown on anti-genocide protests from 2023 ongoing, *our* money is being used to fortify and tighten the reins on a national police state that has always existed and terrorized Black and Brown communities AND is operating with apparent newly brazen vigor.

Renee Nicole Good was just murdered by an ICE agent in broad daylight, mere blocks from where George Floyd’s life was so brutally taken. She was not the first to be killed by ICE, and, tragically, she will not be the last without radical, urgent changes. What shocks many, I know, is that it was a white woman who was shot multiple times in the face, with the agents well-aware of the multiple bystanders there videotaping.

And yet, same as 2020, the Democrat Governor of Minnesota is activating the National Guard, when he used them to violently “control” those protesting George Floyd’s murder and police brutality. He and the Minneapolis mayor are claiming they are equally outraged by this public execution, but are calling for their constituents to “not give the Administration what it wants” while preparing to police those who dare to demand justice while fighting to do the work we’re gaslighted into believing the police do: protect their communities.

I can’t stop thinking about the picture of Renee Good’s glove box taken after her death. It’s overflowing with stuffed animals. I think of her dog and spouse who were in the car, and her kids who lost their mom. As a parent of both a teenager and a toddler myself, I am haunted. I know I’m not alone. As one who’s recently been to an anti-ICE protest where agents deployed bear spray on us without a moment’s hesitation, it’s clear that the “front lines” are coming for all of us, whether you’re already bearing prophetic protest witness or not.

Abolishing the polICE is the *moderate* position because it’s a starting point. For those churches and individuals claiming a “progressive” identity—is that word meant comparatively, or as a destination towards the world we need? In other words, are we “progressive” insomuch as we love and accept others somewhat more than this violent, white supremacist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic governing system? Or are we “progressive” in that we are actively moving to build the train tracks of progress towards a world where none need to live in fear, where all know embodied love, and no one needs to worry about finding sanctuary, a solid roof, abundant groceries, universal health care, and more? Because we DO have the people, power, money to make that happen! If we are to have elected leaders in this so-called democracy, the bar if they want to take office is there, because it’s our money: no money for genocide, war, ICE, police, and climate-shattering destruction and extraction of fossil fuels. We literally cannot afford it if our children are to have the world we truly want for them.

We people of “progressive” faith and conscience seek abolition of death-dealing systems because we desire abundant life for all. Manifesting that will be another story: one where we aren’t building “good enough” in comparison to this irredeemable reality, but one where we are woven into the interdependent fabric of communities protecting one another and providing for our needs until those who currently hold power and money sow into that or are rendered obsolete.

This all requires not just difficult conversations, but difficult conversions. Let us be people willing to be challenged and changed. It’s the only way forward if we are to realize not only abolition, but abundance!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rev. Seth Wispelwey is the Minister for Economic Justice with the National Ministries of the United Church of Christ.

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