Who deserves credit for the decline in murders? Police, Public Health, or the Grassroots?

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Despite media fearmongering about crime in cities, violent crimes like shootings and murders have declined nationwide in 2024. In Baltimore, murders have dropped even as police departments claim to be understaffed and demoralized, yet many still credit the police for the decline.

Dayvon and Lawrence reveal that grassroots community organizations, not police or the nonprofit industrial complex, have driven this change. By reallocating funds from traditional nonprofit channels to grassroots efforts, these groups have addressed conflicts upstream. However, public health nonprofits and pro-police entities have tried to take credit for this work while perpetuating narratives that pathologize Black communities.

They argue that framing Black-on-Black violence as a product of internalized self-hatred and anti-Blackness, combined with traditional public health and policing strategies, risks worsening the problem. Instead, culturally affirming programs that redirect anger into pro-community action are key to long-term violence prevention.

Finally, they critique the Left’s generic “defund the police, fund public health approaches” rhetoric, which undermines grassroots violence prevention efforts. They assert this reflects the Left’s discomfort with engaging working-class Black communities and politics.

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In Search of Black Power is a Black-owned internet show and podcast. This podcast is sponsored and produced by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS).

The internet show is published in collaboration with Black Liberation Media (BLM)