Four years ago, demonstrators grieving for George Floyd burned the Third Precinct in Minneapolis, showing the world what police abolition could look like.

https://crimethinc.com/ThirdPrecinct

Immediately after, politicians promised to defund the police—if only activists would confine themselves to seeking change through state institutions. None of those promises came true.

Instead, for four years, politicians of all stripes have engaged in a concerted effort to erase that moment of possibility, doing everything they can to equip police with even more funding and perceived legitimacy, even as the police go on murdering with impunity.

In a society wracked by extreme disparities in wealth and power, police are essential to governance itself. The politicians can't afford to do without them. But neither capitalism nor police nor politicians are beneficial to the rest of us.