Thin blue line: Marxists pressure donors to Charlottesville Police Foundation

In a scene conceivably lifted straight from George Orwell’s 1984, local anarcho-Marxists are attempting a multi-pronged, back-door shutdown of the Charlottesville Police Department in order to promote a “safer community.”

The target in this instance is supporters of the Charlottesville Police Foundation (CPF)—an organization committed to the direct and indirect support of Charlottesville police officers and the department itself.

A June 21 email sent to CPF donors offered a convoluted case for fundamentally transforming Charlottesville into a “police-free community.” Between the lines was an implicit threat: we know who you are and how to find you if you don’t voluntarily comply with our suggestion.

From: xxxxxxxxx
Date: June 21, 2020 at 10:41:35 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: A Police Free Community

Hello,

My name is xxxxxx and I am writing to you today about your donations to the Charlottesville Police Foundation. I am committed towards working for a police-free community that is safer for every human. We know that police pose an immense danger to the Black, Brown, and Indigenous community members of Charlottesville. In particular, we know that Black People are 3x more likely to be killed by the police than white people while 1.3x more likely to be unwarmed compared to white people. 99% of killings from police between 2013-2019 have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime. In fact, it is important to remember that the rise of American policing was in the form of slave patrols. A Charlottesville Beyond Policing would commit to new visions of keeping the community safe through basic needs, individual mental health, resources for conflict management, and undoing underlying structures of harm in our society.

I would like to ask if you would pledge to no longer donate to the Charlottesville Police Foundation. Instead, would you pledge to donate these funds to organizations in Charlottesville that truly support community health and safety? If yes, would you be willing to publicly acknowledge your pledge to no longer donate to the CPF?

Thank you for your consideration in making Charlottesville a safer and healthier community for everyone,

xxxxxxx

Charlo-speak, used liberally in this email manifesto, is the new language du-jour—one in which we all must become fluent in the name of self-preservation:

• Chaos is order.
• Evil is good.
• Violence is peace.
• Screaming is silence.
• Threats are love.
• Stealing is justice.
• Destruction is edification.
• Men are women.
• Abortion is health.
• Children are punishment.
• Charlottesville will be safer in a post-police era.

Orwell (and Marx) would be proud.