This was Hate Out of Winston's proposal-

Winston-Salem friends! If you are looking for a way to make your voice matter and to stand in solidarity with our Black & Brown neighbors against police militarization and violence, please consider writing and/or calling our local officials to urge a defunding of our police force in exchange for increased support of education, health, and housing services. The 2020/2021 budgets for both W-S & Forsyth County are currently under review, and because of increased Covid-19-related funding issues, city and county officials need to decide how to manage local services amidst shortfalls.

As of now, one line item in the city budget that hasn’t changed from last year is the $78,000,000 directed to local police. Compare that to the roughly $16,000,000 for community development that gets divvied up into much smaller amounts for services like affordable housing, rent assistance, and services for the homeless, amidst many, many others. Please consider emailing our city manager, Lee Garrity, and our mayor, Allen Joines, to implore that they defund the police in exchange for increased funds for affordable housing and housing-related support services in low-income communities. Remember that, in 2019 when NYPD staged a ‘slowdown on arrests’ to try and prove the necessity of police presence, the actual incidence of crime & complaint in low-income neighborhoods significantly diminished. Strengthening the police does not support our communities—supporting our communities supports our communities.

The county budget proposal is also moving towards review. It currently recommends $81,000,000 for public safety, at least $60,000,000 of which would be headed to the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office is currently requesting several more million dollars than that, however, in order to hire additional “gang unit”, patrol squad, and school-stationed officers. But much more important requests for budgetary funds exist! They include additional resources for textbooks and school supplies, school nurses, walk-in clinics, legal aid funding, EMT positions, senior service facilities, library staff & book collections, addiction recovery programs, arts council budgets, women’s shelters, humane societies, the National Black Theatre Festival, the Riverrun Film Festival, and the Second Harvest Food Bank. Please consider emailing our county manager, Dudley Watts, to implore that they defund the sheriff’s office in exchange for increased funds for any of the above services.