Alternatives to Policing, Community Safety, and Restorative Justice w/ Amber Yang

On this edition of Parallax Views, Amber Yang, the Restorative Justice Specialist and Wellness Coordinator for the Novato Unified School District, joins us to discuss her latest piece at Project Censored entitled ""Alternatives to Policing—The Case for Public Health and Community Development Investments". We begin the conversation by discussing Amber's work related to Restorative Justice and what it means. In particular she relates some of her experiences working with high school students. From there we delve into the issue of policing and the Defund the Police movement. Amber addresses what Defund the Police actually means in the context of policing as having become an increasingly militarized institution starting with LBJ's War on Poverty on through Nixon's War on Drug, the War on Terror, and now the War on COVID-19. Amber argues that the movement is not about entirely getting rid of police entirely but rather imagining new modes of community engagement to deal with issues related community safety. In this regard, Amber notes the community programs that are currently happening which act as a an alternative to policing in keeping communities safe. In addition, Amber notes that issues like racial and socio-economic inequality as well as police brutality are systemic issues. SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! FOR BONUS CONTENT AND ARCHIVED EPISODES! AND CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR: FAILED STATE UPDATE A NEW PODCAST FROM JOURNALIST JOSEPH FLATLEY