what’s the end goal here Zohran. ‘Socialism’ (actually social democracy) but with a roving gang of armed and organized fascists that we just ignore? are we just going to kick the issue of systemic racism down the road because it’s “woke 1” to even talk about, until it becomes a powder keg again? this is the actual internal DSA white chauvinism contradiction that MSM are clawing to find but they won’t use it as a real wedge because it’d increase the salience of Defund again
Besides policy changes (which do require buy in city council and also is restriction by state and federal government), the number one thing that a bourgeois politician (as in, a politician within the bourgeois state) can do to help the socialist movement is to remove reactionaries from government positions and replace them with loyalists.
The implementation of genuine harm reduction policies would go much easier if a cycle of purges was established.
You can’t do a mass purge right away for obvious reasons. It could provoke a massive reaction. You have to chip away at it. Start with the easy targets (corrupt officers and open white supremacists) then move towards tightening the rules to cut more reactionaries out of the police. It would be good to put as many of them in prison serving life sentences as possible.
Weakening the police union is also important, as is creating alternative armed organisations (such as, perhaps allowing for the arming of some militant groups and unions). I’m not too sure about the feasibility of this. But the priority in dealing with the police state is naturally to wrest control of arms away from reactionaries such that it becomes easier for further developments.