When your slave ran away, who did you call? The police.

In the South, modern policing originated from the protection of private property. That “private property” was people.

We haven’t completely escaped that notion of people-as-property, but we’re further away from it than they were back then.

Tortuguita was an environmental activist. They were shot by an agent of the law as they protected a forest. The forest was about to be leveled in order to build a training ground for fire fighters and law enforcement.

The police state knows few boundaries.

In its relentless pursuit of control, it’ll consider raids before negotiation and aggression before de-escalation.

And above all, these humble public servants will be ordered to protect private property despite the intense harm that private ownership over un-ownable things bring to our environment and our lives.

We can’t own people, and we can’t own the environment.

Aye, I’m Jay. You’re on my personal site where I post things I make about interrupting mass incarceration, protecting migration, environmental justice & sustainability, language, communications, storytelling, creativity, and tech.

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