Testimony to Ways & Means Committee Hearing on the City Budget
Jamala Rogers, Organization for Black Struggle
June 2, 2018
Good Morning Distinguished Members of the Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to come before you today.
For the last several years, the Organization for Black Struggle –in collaboration with our partners in the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression—have been facilitating a community engagement campaign on “Reenvisioning Public Safety.” The goals of the campaign were to take our public consciousness past crime-fighting (reactive) to addressing the root causes of crime (proactive and preventive). The knee-jerk response to crime in our city is to shout more police. That is not the only answer to our crime problems and our current situation is a testament to this fact.