Jeree Thomas (’11), Program Director of the Communities Transforming Policing Fund at Borealis Philanthropy, coauthored an article for Nonprofit Quarterly examining a recent DOJ report on the Phoenix Police Department that revealed widespread misconduct, including racial profiling, constitutional rights violations against people experiencing homelessness, the falsification of allegations against protest leaders, and retaliation against people critical of law enforcement (“Warning Signs for Philanthropy: The Authoritarian Crackdown on Social Movements,” Aug. 8). Jeree and her coauthors issued a call to action: “At this crossroads for our nation, when so many of our basic rights are under attack, and the indicators of rising authoritarianism are all around us, philanthropy must do two things to defend the intersectional social movements that are the last best hope to realize our nation’s unfulfilled promise of a multiracial democracy: act boldly and go quickly. We believe the only way forward to defeat authoritarianism is together, in deep solidarity with each other and with social movements. Because solidarity in action is our best collective defense and our only hope for the future.”
