Student Group Urges Students Not To Call Police

                A student group at all-female Wellesley College has launched a new initiative urging fellow students not to call the campus police for non-life-threatening emergencies. Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration, or “WAMI,” also recently launched a petition cleverly called a “pledge not to call campus police.” Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration co-president Rachael Labes (!) told the campus paper Wellesley News that group members “think it’s important for students to recognize that calling the police should not be taken lightly. The police are dangerous, specifically for black and Latinx students and those with mental illnesses.” Labes also stated that the fact police are armed made students feel unsafe. About 400 people have signed the petition thus far. Roughly forty percent of the toney, Boston area college’s population of 2,300 are students of color.

                Labes previously told the News: “While this is a project I’m really excited and passionate about, I also recognize that this is a fight primarily for black lives and for racial justice, so I try to balance that and be an ally to this cause.”

                Let’s analyze this: students are directed not to call campus cops in non-life-threatening “emergencies,” because they may well have guns and are liable to get distracted and shoot colored people for no apparent reason. However, the directive does not say not to call them in life-threatening emergencies. Hmm. Perhaps they can actually come in handy then, what with their weapons and all.

                If I was a black or Latinx student, and who’s to say I’m not, I haven’t decided yet, I would call the hell out of the police if someone was trying to harm me and I couldn’t handle it myself.

                The vast majority of police officers, be they black, white or Latinx, are dangerous only to black, white, Latinx or mentally ill people who are dangerous to others.