The senseless killing of George Floyd is not just an isolated incident. Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and a devastatingly long list of others have been murdered without remorse and justice at the hands of police since their inception. Founded on white supremacist, racist, and anti-black ideals, it will take more than just police reform to adequately provide the equity, healing, safety, and protection from anti-black violence in America that African Americans have fought for time and again. 

While movements are taking off across the nation in major cities to confront the weight of police brutality, this particular petition calls on citizens of St. Louis to defund AND abolish the police as an institution, effective immediately. Being one of the worst police states in the country, research shows that in St. Louis, the budget for policing this year alone is a staggering  $150,334,982. With evidence against the effectiveness of police in keeping communities safe and knowing they are often able to murder African Americans with impunity, the allocation of these funds utilized for the department should be spent on cultivating educational, social and economic programs and resources within communities that will ultimately eradicate the need for a police force. The purpose of this petition is to effectively begin divesting from oppressive institutions such that we end police brutality, demand accountability for our pain and reclaim a significant investment in the wellbeing of black communities and black life.