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“Burn It Down” -- Activists in Seattle want to abolish police, prisons, and courts.
City Journal ^ | Autumn 2020 | Christopher F. Rufo

Posted on 11/23/2020 4:41:04 AM PST by karpov

American cities are entering a period of chaos. Protests and riots have dominated headlines, but beneath the surface, activists are launching an unprecedented campaign to overthrow the traditional justice system and replace it with a new model based on a radical conception of social justice.

In Seattle, where this campaign may be most advanced, activists have crafted a narrative about police brutality, mass incarceration, and punitive justice that leads to a natural sequence of solutions: “abolish the police,” “divest from prisons,” and “defund the courts.” Over the past three decades, the city’s radical-progressives have seized control of municipal government—with the notable exception of the criminal-justice system, which they see as the final obstacle to total control. If they can dismantle it, activists believe, they can bring about their transformation of society.

The city’s political establishment has joined the campaign to “deconstruct justice.” Since the outbreak of the George Floyd–related protests starting in late May, elected officials in Seattle and King County have announced their intentions to defund the Seattle Police Department, permanently close the county’s largest jail, and gut the municipal court system. They believe that, when the oppression of the justice system is lifted, a new society can be shaped through criminal diversion, psychotherapy, and harm reduction.

The theoretical underpinnings of this movement can be traced back to the academic currents of “critical race theory,” long pervasive in university humanities departments, which holds that all legal structures—and society generally—can be understood as a function of embedded racism. The law is shot through with white supremacy, critical race theorists believe, which must be rigorously identified and dismantled if true justice is to be achieved. In recent years, critical race theory has expanded beyond the academy and become a force in progressive politics.

(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: antifa; blm; criticalracetheory; defund; police; seattle
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1 posted on 11/23/2020 4:41:04 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

bookmark


2 posted on 11/23/2020 4:41:49 AM PST by GOP Poet (Super cool you can change your tag line EVERYTIME you post!! :D. (Small things make me happy))
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To: karpov

So, the left wants to dismantle the police, jails, and courts.

And then they want us to disarm.

Fat f****g chance.


3 posted on 11/23/2020 4:45:41 AM PST by Lazamataz ("We beat the Soviet Union, then we became them." - 2005, my quote. I never knew how prescient I was.)
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To: GOP Poet

To a point I really don’t care anymore, let em, not my F’ing problem, the good people can evacuate, the rest can stay in the shithole they created.


4 posted on 11/23/2020 4:46:04 AM PST by the_individual2014
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To: the_individual2014

Agreed. Regardless who ultimately “wins” the election, I hope Antifa and BLM continue burning their cities to the ground. The voters in their areas (for the most part) deserve every bit of it.


5 posted on 11/23/2020 4:47:58 AM PST by TheZMan (I am a secessionist.)
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To: karpov

And the left “won” the election there


6 posted on 11/23/2020 4:51:43 AM PST by 2banana (Common ground with islamic terrorists-they want to die for allah and we want to arrange the meeting)
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To: karpov

Like right out of a Kurt Schlichter novel.


7 posted on 11/23/2020 4:52:37 AM PST by SIDENET (ISAIAH 5:20)
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To: karpov

BTT Better learn to Prep for invasion.


8 posted on 11/23/2020 4:55:59 AM PST by GailA (TRUMP IS A GUTSY PRESIDENT)
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To: karpov

Close it off and make it Americas first prison camp


9 posted on 11/23/2020 4:57:41 AM PST by ronnie raygun ( Massive mistakes are made by arrogant fools; massive evils are committed by evil people.")
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To: GailA

A little LESS infrastructure might be a good thing, soon.

Make sure they run out of gasoline before they think of leaving...


10 posted on 11/23/2020 5:01:09 AM PST by Empire_of_Liberty
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To: karpov

there’s got to be an island somewhere with no courts, no police, no rules. Let’s see...ah - that pervert’s island. Perfect. It’s cursed and so are they. Round ‘em up and move ‘em out, raw hides and all.


11 posted on 11/23/2020 5:03:50 AM PST by blueplum ("...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017) )
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To: ronnie raygun

Close it off and make it Americas first prison camp

Wow! I am so unimpressed...I agree let ‘em have it and make sure they who cause such harm wrapped in stupidity cannot leave their own city. Keep them in there until they figure out how much they have destroyed, how many children have died and how many families cannot buy food.

I think all people who think all people are unimportant should all be exsanguinated by piercings.


12 posted on 11/23/2020 5:06:35 AM PST by Bodega
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To: blueplum

I’m all for shipping all the whack job libs to a place where they can try utopia on their own.

One way trip only.


13 posted on 11/23/2020 5:14:08 AM PST by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure.)
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To: karpov

This program leads to the rise of war lords and anarchy. Wonder how they will like that? I suppose that they think they will be the war lords.


14 posted on 11/23/2020 5:29:37 AM PST by Lion Den Dan
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To: karpov

I am okay if they burn it down. Just don’t move your asses here because we don’t want you.


15 posted on 11/23/2020 5:35:35 AM PST by boycott
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To: karpov

“Activists”. In France the call them “Youths”.


16 posted on 11/23/2020 5:35:53 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: karpov

Entering a period of chaos? This has been going on all of 2020 and the idiots are going to ruin a good thing. Go ahead and proceed with your plan and watch the state break apart into the Great State of Idaho.


17 posted on 11/23/2020 5:42:25 AM PST by DownInFlames (Ga)
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To: the_individual2014; TheZMan
...I really don’t care anymore, let em, not my F’ing problem, the good people can evacuate...

Such a normal reaction is quickly becoming obsolete.

From this well-written, informative article:
"In Seattle, the movement to 'abolish the police, prisons, and courts' is not simply the dream of marginalized radicals; it has also been adopted at the highest levels of municipal government."

We are this very day close to the brink of seeing at the national level exactly what the Left has done in Seattle over the past 50 years. Imagine a Harris-Biden admin with control of the House, Senate and a packed USSC.

18 posted on 11/23/2020 5:48:28 AM PST by frog in a pot (The American voter should realize there is nothing democratic about the current Democrat Party.)
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To: the_individual2014

Agreed! The good people evacuating need to LEAVE THEIR LEFTIST GARBAGE IN SEATTLE!!! And not bring it to their new home, like Austin TX.


19 posted on 11/23/2020 5:59:12 AM PST by No_More_Harkin
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To: karpov

There will be courts. Look up and watch a movie called “The Chekist” to see how they will operate. (Russian revolution)


20 posted on 11/23/2020 6:10:51 AM PST by dynachrome (People who get what they want are often surprised when they also get what they deserve. ~ james wood)
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