A Lao American for Police Abolition
Today I asked my mother, "Mommy, back in the day when you were little and you lived in Lao, if you had a problem in your village, did you call the police?" She said, "No," in a tone similar to when you say "Of course not". Me: "What did you do to fix the problem then?" Mommy: "We would call our elders together to talk about it. Or call our Village Leader to mediate." Me: "At the end of the day, after talking it out, did people walk away feeling like the issue was resolved?" Mommy: "Yeah," she said in a tone that meant, "Of course". We talked about how the police in Laos do not resolve issues. They only lie and steal resources from people. We talked about how the police in the US only inflict violence. In the US we can even call the police to inflict violence on others on our behalf. My mother lived in Laos a short 31 years ago. Not that long ago, she was experiencing community ...
