At the collapse of the NFT economy, SFPD’s anti-Black participation will not be forgotten

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The Floydie NFTs are crude drawings of our brother George Floyd in violently racist depictions – including as Kyle Rittenhouse and as a slave. Floydie creators market the NFTs as “progressive” and a “service,” and have tweeted that buying a Floydie comes with “an ‘N-word’ pass.”

by CCSF Collective

CCSF Collective would like to make a statement: SFPD must be defunded and abolished.

When elitism and fascism in San Francisco are aired out in public without scrutiny, it serves as yet another attack against Black people.

San Francisco’s wealthy often express their elitist and fascist tendencies in public without any scrutiny. There are endless examples of racism within San Francisco, from overarching environmental issues to the blatant anti-Black behaviors which are widespread throughout our 7×7 miles. 

Anti-Blackness is pervasive in communities of non-Black people of color as well, and anti-Black behaviors can even be reinforced by Black folks within the wealthy and elite. Not all skin folk are kinfolk, as evident in both Mayor London Breed and Chief William Scott. The land, spirit and community knows of the racist corrupt politics that happen within San Francisco, and they must be addressed.

A “Meta Slave” NFT project launched on Twitter in 2022. To be brief: NFTs (non-fungible tokens) can be understood as a form of internet currency where people create art hosted entirely online through NFT platforms and exchange “ownership” of them for money. 

It is a total scam. Because of the existence and growing popularity of NFT amongst the alt-right Bay Area tech world, the dangers of them cannot be ignored.

In February of 2022, SFPD was caught “liking” a racist NFT Twitter post – an NFT project that specifically uses the imagery of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis Police in 2020, to create NFT artwork to then make money. Chief William Scott has since apologized, but CCSF Collective would like to make it clear that the apology is not accepted. 

This incident is just one part of a long-standing pattern of abuse and disregard for the lives of Black people by SFPD. This pattern encompasses all lives stolen directly, including Jessica Nelson-Williams and Mario Woods, to SFPD’s daily harassment and brutality particularly against Black people in San Francisco. The wounds of SFPD’s terroristic legacy are reopened and amplified.

In fact, since appointing William Scott as SFPD’s Police Chief in the aftermath of Greg Suhr’s resignation, the optics of a Black man under London Breed, a Black woman mayor, simply reinforce the insidious nature of identity politics to sweep systemic racism and targeted abuse under the rug. 

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The account @FloydiesNFT was proud of getting a “like” from SFPD and touted it as healing. “Projects” like this need to be taken down. People like the NFT creators and SFPD have been emboldened by the indifference of our mayor and of politicians everywhere to the needs of our communities. We must continue to call for abolition NOW.

We reject these attempts at “radical” posturing particularly while continuing to fund, support and encourage the brutality proven to be the foundation of SFPD.

Additionally, NFTs are a notoriously challenging topic to discuss due to the inaccessibility of tech and venture capitalism. As a CCSF community, our lives are often at the frontlines of wars waged in the name of gentrification. 

Our bodies, homes, neighborhoods, families and histories are constantly in the fray due to tech-centered development. San Francisco’s is on a rapid trajectory toward becoming a playground for the wealthy and a wasteland for us with deep ties here.

Gentrification as a process is reinforced by SFPD and specifically targets Black people and Black neighborhoods to make way for non-Black and white families to move in.

We as the CCSF Collective community reject and condemn SFPD for their long legacy of anti-Black racism and as stewards of gentrification. We see this incident not as isolated or without context, but instead as a pattern of disregard for Black lives.

CCSF Collective is an abolitionist student-led organization that combines art and activism through individual and collaborative projects. You can view their free community-powered class on abolition here: ccsfcollective.org/abol101.