About Us
Why Refund Raleigh? Why Now?
WE ARE A COLLECTIVE OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN RALEIGH WHO ARE:
ORGANIZING
to end police violence & economic exploitation.
Fighting
for a city budget made by the people and for the people.
demanding
a divestment from police violence & investment in our city.
EVER THOUGHT ABOUT HOW "GOVERNMENT MONEY" IS ACTUALLY JUST OUR DOLLARS?
We the people should decide what happens with OUR money!
Did you know the city of Raleigh spends more on police than ANYTHING else? Imagine what Raleigh would be like if the City Council prioritized its resources to ensure the people of Raleigh had what we needed to thrive. We demand a Raleigh where we stop bankrolling the police and the violence they cause Raleigh residents and our families. We demand a Raleigh where we prioritize our collective resources to make sure our people are safe, housed, healthy, and have what they need. We demand a complete shift of power from police and punishment to the resources we need to be safe. That starts with divestment from and demilitarization of the police, and investing OUR DOLLARS into OUR COMMUNITIES.
Divestment
Divestment means diverting funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support.
DEMILITARIZATION
Demilitarization is an effort to end the use of military weaponry by local police forces.
We deserve clean water to drink, cook with, and clean ourselves with. We deserve housing with a strong foundation, air that keeps us cool in the summer, and heat that warms our feet throughout the winter. Our children deserve sidewalks that are safe and sturdy to stand on while they wait for their school buses. Those that are houseless deserve housing and resources because none of us are disposable. Those of us battling mental health issues, seen and unseen, deserve space and resources to stabilize our lives to put us in positions to thrive.
We deserve to have our families kept together instead of ripped apart due to policing, mass incarceration, and deportation. We deserve more than to merely improve the war the police have waged on our communities. We deserve to feel safe in our communities, not surveilled, intimidated, brutalized, and murdered by the Raleigh Police Department.
We demand the immediate re-funding of Raleigh. We demand a reallocation of those city funds to ensure our collective survival, sustainment, and safety.