Response to the Boston FY21 Budget
From Groups Working to #DefundBosCops
Also share your reactions in an online form, view youth organizing groups’ response, and see how each Councilor voted.
Last week, the Boston City Council voted to pass the City budget and prioritize the police department over our communities. The conversation that erupted across Boston is a result of the years of organizing from Black youth, Black communities, and partners for a real investment in our people. This recent budget made it clear that our City officials are still not listening. Mayor Walsh continued to create false solutions to the violence of policing, rather than engage with the community that initiated this campaign.
We are in the midst of a national uprising that is calling on us to be steadfast in our defense of Black lives. In Minneapolis and throughout the country, we are seeing local governments respond to longstanding demands from communities to invest in what keeps us safe and well. At a time when so much is moving forward, the Boston City Council chose again to leave our communities behind. Year after year, the City Council has approved a growing police budget, with overtime alone increasing by $35.5 million since 2011. We asked that they be bold in these unprecedented times and find a path to return at least $40 million to the community this year.
Though not all of our demands were met, we are celebrating the work of organizers who made all of these victories possible. Black-led organizing won a $10 million shift away from the police budget and pushed our City government to begin addressing its racist budgeting process and generations of disinvestment in Black communities. Immigrant youth won a unanimous vote to pass the facial recognition ban. Young people won investments in youth jobs, recognizing that we must invest in economic opportunities and jobs rather than policing. Muslim organizing addressed the falsehood of community policing and put a pause on grants that enable racial profiling through the use of technology. Boston teachers organized to pass a meaningful resolution within their union in support of our demands.
We are building a city where we have all that we need to thrive. We reject the false narrative of scarcity that the City used to pit our communities against each other, rather than move swiftly on our demands. We know too well the austerity and economic instability that faces all of us; this increases the urgency to shift funding to those who need it most. Defunding police creates more resources for ALL of us. Boston is a resource-rich city with a track record of hiding behind commissions, special committees, and crisis funds instead of doing the work of systemic and structural change that Black-led groups like Families for Justice as Healing have been leading for years. We have proposed real solutions to the violence and inequality we see each day. We celebrate our communities’ unity and vision, despite the political schemes that seek to maintain white supremacy.
We will continue building our vision of community-based safety and reclaiming control over our resources. That is what “defunding the police” means. Our community has the solutions to the problems we face, and we know that it will take all of us to solve them. Our government officials have the opportunity -- and the responsibility -- to push themselves beyond the “business as usual” political games and join us, or get out of the way. There is much more to come and we are not accepting incremental reforms. We deserve investment in our people, the autonomy to define what safety looks like, and the right to live without fear. We will fight to defund the police and fund our communities like our lives depend on it -- because they do.
Families for Justice as Healing, Young Abolitionists, Youth Justice and Power Union, Muslim Justice League, Mijente, Asian American Resource Workshop, Kavod, Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project, The City School, Alternatives for Community and Environment, and Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network
Youth Organizing Groups’ Response
This year we were demanding $15 million for youth jobs, 1000 year-round jobs and 5000 jobs this summer. We wanted a 10% cut from the overall police budget, including $40 million to be taken out from the overtime budget. Every day we are disappointed but not surprised by how our government treats under-represented communities. We're going to take it as a setback but the fight is not going to stop. We are going to keep pushing politicians for more defunding of the police. We still believe that a safer community does not mean police. More of the budget can go toward community needs not the police, and the government shouldn't throw all that money into the status quo.
Stay tuned for further statements and what’s next in our fight!
- Youth Justice and Power Union, Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project, and The City School
Results of the Boston City Council Vote on the City Budget
What do you think of the vote? Share your reactions in an online form here!
On Wednesday, June 24, the Boston City Council voted to pass Mayor Marty Walsh’s broken budget, which only included a $10 million cut from the Boston Police Department (not $41.4 million of the $414 million budget as we demanded). Only $12 million cut from police overtime (not $40 million from the $60 million overtime budget as we demanded), and $2 million of this went right back into the Boston Police Department. The City may be using federal money to make sure that there are 4700 summer jobs and 1000 year-round jobs through SuccessLink, but there is no commitment to keep these numbers the same next year if federal money dries up. The City also has not agreed to hire 14 year olds, 19-22 year olds, or undocumented young people; they have not agreed to provide food stipends.
Along with our partner groups, we called on the City Council to vote NO on the budget to force Mayor Marty Walsh to give a new budget. We held a rally on Tuesday, June 23 and blocked an intersection for 2 hours to pressure City Council to do the right thing. (Check out media coverage in Channel 5, Channel 7, Channel 10, and The Boston Globe.)
We wanted City Councilors to vote NO on the Mayor’s broken budget. Here’s who voted NO:
City Council President Kim Janey - Voted NO
City Councilor Julia Mejia - Voted NO
City Councilor Michelle Wu - Voted NO
City Councilor Andrea Baker - Voted NO
City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo - Voted NO
Here’s who voted YES on the Mayor’s broken budget even though it did not include enough of a cut to the Boston Police Department and did not commit enough for youth jobs:
City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George - Voted YES
City Councilor Michael Flaherty - Voted YES
City Councilor Lydia Edwards - Voted YES
City Councilor Ed Flynn - Voted YES
City Councilor Frank Baker - Voted YES
City Councilor Matt O’Malley - Voted YES
City Councilor Kenzie Bok - Voted YES
City Councilor Liz Breadon - Voted YES
What do you think of the vote? Share your reactions in an online form here!