It will come as no surprise to you that Black and brown people don't trust the police. We say it regularly. Especially those of us who live in poorer and/or less advantaged neighborhoods. And that is for many reasons. Chief among them being how often the police are among our top oppressors. But this book explores this thought through an even deeper lense. Because even outside of police brutality, there are consequences to relying on any government agency to take care of you.

One of the things you notice right away in this book is that, due to a series of circumstances, poorer neighboods in this post-climate disaster world have become VERY dangerous. Their neighborhoods are walled off from outsiders, and when residents need to leave, they do so in large groups and armed to their teeth. Because the risk of being robbed, assaulted or murdered is incredibly high.

Here's the thing... for them, the cost of relying on the police is death. If they leave their safety into the hands of the city, they may be avenged. But they will never be protected. And that distinction not only matters, but it applies to the real world as well.

For a lot of Amercians, you can rely on the fact that the police will respond to deter people from harming you. But the more removed you are from the privilege of wealth, the less that is true. In neighborhoods where poverty is the norm, where lack and hunger is everyone's experience, people are operating from desperation. From need. And in spaces where need is the norm, this universal truth is abundantly clear:** only community keeps you safe.**

Black activists often comment on how white americans lack funamental community. How everyone is raised to think individualistically. To worry only about themselves and to prioritize only their own needs. But there is no safety in that. Which means that it is to white american's disadvantage to dismantle the systems of power they benefit from, because they often lack the fundamental community that would help them survive without those systems.

I share this observation because I think one of the important things this book does for people is it forces them to consider how important community is to our survival as a species. And furthermore...how important it is in developing a future where marginalized people are truly free.

Relying on the government, the city, the police, on policies and systems... it will never actually protect us. The only thing that will is community.

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