Jonce Marshall Palmer

Jonce Marshall Palmer was a Tallahassee Florida activist. Now active in the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee.^[1]

Education

Studies at Florida State University.

Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee

Denver, CO - on Monday, October 24 2022, community members gathered at the Denver City Council Building to make their voices heard regarding Denver’s public budget for 2023. Mayor Michael Hancock seeks to spend almost 37% of the city budget on Public Safety. Though this is a slightly smaller percentage of the budget than last year, the proposed plan will spend an additional $45 million on Public Safety as compared to 2022.

“If the police can’t maintain adequate staffing, curb police brutality, or decrease the level of crime with nearly 40% of the city’s budget, then it’s clear to me that those funds would be better spent virtually anywhere else. And it is a testament to this fact that all these folks have come out today,” said Jonce Palmer, chair of Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee, during their remarks to the City Council.

Continuing the struggle for justice in the LoDo shooting, about 40 people gathered to voice their opinions that the proposed budget allocates far too much for policing and not enough for the social issues that lead to crime. DACAC also recognizes that the police themselves are committing crimes against those they are supposed to protect. As DACAC member, Kyle Burroughs, says, “If the LoDo shooting had been perpetrated by any other group in the U.S., this would be called domestic terrorism.”

DACAC, however, contends that a higher budget won’t lead to justice. “I think that it is irresponsible to put more funds in the hands of a force that was ultimately responsible for the mass shooting that injured Jordan Waddy and six other innocent bystanders,” says DACAC member Cole Hamilton, “Let’s give less money to cops and more money to the people that are harmed by them. We’re fighting to reduce that budget and they won’t listen. What we need is community control over the police. What we need is democratic control over the police budget so that the people can decide what’s good for themselves.”Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag