As part of my time at Cultivate this week I visited a meetup hosted by the Columbus Safety Collective. The Columbus safety collective is a group pushing for the City of Columbus to adopt a non-police emergency response program. Because the police commonly escalate crises and harm and kill people, learning of the group and event excited me. The police system is not anti-racist and does not center the health and care of individuals calling for help. The group wants the City to allocate money to this response team in its 2023 budget. As part of the outline in this policy, community members will be hired as crisis responders. They will come from the neighborhoods who have high needs and work with the people who are in the crisis situations. This is a true community care program, with members being hired and trained directly in the communities that need the service. For accountability, there will be a community oversight board and payment to outside evaluators to assess the impact of the program. This event had people affected by police violence share their stories. They were not new stories for me, but they all resonated and hurt to hear. It is always an honor when people share their vulnerable stories. The event lit a spark in me to continue advocating for this kind of change that we desperately need. We were reminded of the meaning of first responder, and I formed a new perspective. I am a first responder. When my sister was having a seizure, I was the first person to respond. When I saw a man who appeared to be dead in the alley, I was the one who responded first. I have been in other crisis situations, and they all mean being a first responder. It has been 7 years since I last called 911 and I’ll never do it again if it means a police presence. The lack of care and the disdain officers have has always disgusted me. I’ve never had a positive experience with police. They are not here to help us. They are used to segregate and to punish. Columbus needs an alternative now. See below to get informed and to get involved.
https://www.facebook.com/cbussafetycollective
COLUMBUS POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT: https://c-pap.info/
Columbus Can’t Wait episode on non-police response: https://anchor.fm/columbus-cant-wait/episodes/S2E7-Jasmine-Ayres–Steve-David-e10p9ls
Columbus Can’t Wait also has a whole season dedicated to victims and survivors of police violence.
Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs 