Santa Rosa Activist Describes What Defunding The Police Could Look Like

The national movement for racial justice following George Floyd’s killing has found a stage in Sonoma County. Libby is a local activist working with the grassroots group Love and Light.

Libby, who is biracial, queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming, asked us to not use their full name. Camille Escovedo spoke with them in June about what an alternative to policing could look like. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation.

Listen to a longer version of their conversation below:

(Image: Protesters in Santa Rosa on July 11th. Credit: Diane Askew.)

For more on the history of policing in the United States, listen to NPR's throughline episode, "American Police." Below is a list of additional reading on the topic compiled by throughline.

The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill

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We provide local news updates on The North Bay Report Tuesday-Friday at 6:45, 8:45 a.m., and 5:30 p.m. on KRCB radio 91 and 90.9. This North Bay Report episode airs Tuesday, July 21. Subscribe to The North Bay Report podcast to listen on the go.