ESOL 100 – Final Assignment (20%) - “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police”,
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Kaba (2020) believes the police should be abolished and made obsolete by redirecting all
resources toward social programs to reduce police power. Throughout the article, several
methods of evidence have been used by the author to support her point. Specifically, from the
first sentence before para.1 and the last sentence in para.25, the author used an appeal to
credibility to introduce her work position as "an anti-criminalization organizer" to support her
ideology of "I've been advocating the abolition of the police for year" (para.9). Furthermore, the
author also uses some evidence of historical examples to highlight this prolonged abuse of
police’s power, such as "police misconduct in New York City in 1894 about "the routine
bludgeoning of citizens by patrolmen armed with nightsticks or blackjacks" (para.11). Not
stopping there, the author also borrowed authorities by mentioning many cases and the names of
specific government figures and victims involved, for instance in paragraph 14, "brutal police
beating of Rodney King in 1991 and the rebellion that followed, and again after the killings of
Michael Brown and Eric Garner", "Obama administration's President's Task Force on 21st
Century Policing resulted in procedural tweaks like implicit-bias training.". Throughout her
arguments, the author also used the emotion appeal to provoke the audience's sympathy and
compassion. In paragraph 24, she tried to paint a perfect paradise of what if "billions of extra
dollars to spend on housing, food and education for all" and "a different society, built on
cooperation instead of individualism, on mutual aid instead of self- preservation" to finally
contrast with the harsh realities of the copiousness of the police force she previously cited.
Kaba's article seems to rely heavily on anecdotal evidence, focusing only on negative
cases of police violence and outdated references to support her one-sided point of view. Her
harsh and hostile language choices raise concerns about the credibility of the article and its
proposed solution to abolish the police force, oversimplifying the issue and failing to
acknowledge the efforts of good cops. While we cannot deny Kaba's authority and relevance to
today's controversy, her article's credibility remains questioned. It is essential to consider both
the positive and negative sides of the problem, and we have multiple solutions to fixing a
problem rather than discarding it.
Overall, while reasons can be given to justify Kaba’s ideology, I stand entirely on a more
positive solution that could involve reforming the future police force through policies rather than
eliminating them. Similarly to the idea, some scholars suggest alternative approaches to this
problem, such as reimagining or reforming the police. Cummings (2022) states that large
majorities oppose the “defund” and “abolish” police movements because people worry that their
policy goals will harm public safety. Further supporting the idea, The Times Editorial Board
(2021) explains that eliminating the police would create a space for gangs and private sectors to
fill, leading to other crises requiring resolution. Although this possibility cannot be dismissed, it
highlights the need for police to continue protecting and serving communities.
Word count: 499/500
_
Kaba (2020) believes the police should be abolished and made obsolete by redirecting all
resources toward social programs to reduce police power. Throughout the article, several
methods of evidence have been used by the author to support her point. Specifically, from the
first sentence before para.1 and the last sentence in para.25, the author used an appeal to
credibility to introduce her work position as "an anti-criminalization organizer" to support her
ideology of "I've been advocating the abolition of the police for year" (para.9). Furthermore, the
author also uses some evidence of historical examples to highlight this prolonged abuse of
police’s power, such as "police misconduct in New York City in 1894 about "the routine
bludgeoning of citizens by patrolmen armed with nightsticks or blackjacks" (para.11). Not
stopping there, the author also borrowed authorities by mentioning many cases and the names of
specific government figures and victims involved, for instance in paragraph 14, "brutal police
beating of Rodney King in 1991 and the rebellion that followed, and again after the killings of
Michael Brown and Eric Garner", "Obama administration's President's Task Force on 21st
Century Policing resulted in procedural tweaks like implicit-bias training.". Throughout her
arguments, the author also used the emotion appeal to provoke the audience's sympathy and
compassion. In paragraph 24, she tried to paint a perfect paradise of what if "billions of extra
dollars to spend on housing, food and education for all" and "a different society, built on
cooperation instead of individualism, on mutual aid instead of self- preservation" to finally
contrast with the harsh realities of the copiousness of the police force she previously cited.
Kaba's article seems to rely heavily on anecdotal evidence, focusing only on negative
cases of police violence and outdated references to support her one-sided point of view. Her
harsh and hostile language choices raise concerns about the credibility of the article and its
proposed solution to abolish the police force, oversimplifying the issue and failing to
acknowledge the efforts of good cops. While we cannot deny Kaba's authority and relevance to
today's controversy, her article's credibility remains questioned. It is essential to consider both
the positive and negative sides of the problem, and we have multiple solutions to fixing a
problem rather than discarding it.
Overall, while reasons can be given to justify Kaba’s ideology, I stand entirely on a more
positive solution that could involve reforming the future police force through policies rather than
eliminating them. Similarly to the idea, some scholars suggest alternative approaches to this
problem, such as reimagining or reforming the police. Cummings (2022) states that large
majorities oppose the “defund” and “abolish” police movements because people worry that their
policy goals will harm public safety. Further supporting the idea, The Times Editorial Board
(2021) explains that eliminating the police would create a space for gangs and private sectors to
fill, leading to other crises requiring resolution. Although this possibility cannot be dismissed, it
highlights the need for police to continue protecting and serving communities.
Word count: 499/500
