Public Safety Means Protection

What does it mean to protect something? Or someone?

The verb protect requires a subject and an object. For example, an umbrella can protect you from the rain. Simple. Or, as a father, I believe it’s my duty to protect my son from people, powers, or principalities that may wish him harm. Not so simple, especially when there are people, powers, and principalities that are actively angling to make the world and our community less safe.

We live in Jackson, Mississippi.

Depending on who you are, where you’re from, and what you believe, that five-word sentence will mean something completely different. I am proud to be a Jackson resident (also known as a Jafrican, if you know you know, and if you’re really hip, you can be a Jackson Jackal). Side note: I am also extremely proud to have been born in Clarksdale, Miss., and raised in Crystal Springs, Miss.

For some, being from or living in Jackson is a badge of honor. Some of that is probably virtue signaling, but most of it is a deep sense of civic pride to be invested in a place that once jailed Black people for fighting for equal rights and is now led by Black people fighting for self-determination. At the center of that continuous fight is a desire for safety: safety from abuse from any person, power, or principality with nefarious intent. Sometimes that’s a single bad actor. Sometimes it’s the state itself (see the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission). The source is less important than the struggle. And the struggle is always communal.

That’s why it’s disappointing and disgusting that the Department of Justice (DOJ) canceled more than $800 million in grants awarded to organizations supporting and leading community-led public safety programs nationwide. According to the DOJ, these grants did not align with the Trump Administration’s priorities, which, if we’re being honest, tracks. This administration is wholly unconcerned with safety. They use the worn-out scare tactics about crime to force through policies that threaten the safety of most of us while lining the pockets of a few.

So what does that mean for a place like Jackson?

In a state like Mississippi, where between 40% and 60% of the state budget is funded by the federal government, it means a lot. The state chose not to provide any real assistance for the City of Jackson during a historic water crisis, so the federal government had to provide $600 to cover the cost of critical infrastructure repairs. (Another side note: Safe drinking water is a public safety issue, too.) Rather than working collaboratively with the City of Jackson and residents to create long-term solutions that promoted public safety and increased the effectiveness of the Jackson Police Department, the State of Mississippi chose to create a separate police force and court system that is unaccountable to local elected officials or citizens.

These two instances support the need for direct funding and support in creating and sustaining community-led public safety programs in places like Jackson. Canceling DOJ public safety grants means people in places like Jackson will be less safe. Today, many of our clients and partners are calling on their Congressional delegations to protect funding for community-led violence intervention, which is the first step in ensuring communities like Jackson experience real and sustained public safety. Those calls must continue.

We should also call for people to share their powerful perspectives about public safety, which is why I’m glad to share that this will be the first in a series of posts where people from our team will share their ideas about public safety in Jackson. I hope you enjoy.