Calls to defund or abolish the police are not about restoring an open and liberal society, they are about tearing it down and seizing power.
If you thought “abolish the police”—or it’s more moderate iteration, “defund the police”—was just some asinine slogan blue-check journalists, woke academics, and pandering public officials post on Twitter to show they support the Black Lives Matter movement, then you’re not keeping up with the revolution.
This week Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, announced the city would be slashing the police department’s budget by $100 to $150 million and instead “reinvesting in black communities and communities of color.” The cuts to the LA police will make up the bulk of $250 million in funds to be reallocated to “end racism in our city,” Garcetti said. How exactly those millions will be spent remains unclear, but the mayor has in mind investments “in jobs, in education, and healing.”
It’s unclear how cutting funds for the police will bring about healing in a city wracked by widespread looting and riots that forced Garcetti to request assistance from the National Guard to restore order last weekend. But it does demonstrate the extent to which BLM has been able to turn what should’ve just been an idiotic Twitter hashtag into actual policy.
In Minneapolis, where George Floyd died in police custody on May 25, kicking off nationwide protests and riots, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board terminated its contract with the city’s police department on Thursday following a similar move by the city’s school district. The University of Minnesota, museums and other venues have likewise severed ties partially or completely with the city police.
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| Minneapolis Parks and Recreation votes to end relationship with Minneapolis Police |
That means the parks will no longer use the city’s police to staff park events, and park police will no longer respond to requests for assistance from city police. It means no more school resource officers in public schools. It means, in general, fewer cops doing police work throughout the city.
Some in Minneapolis want to go even further. This week Rep. Ilhan Omar endorsed the idea of disbanding the Minneapolis Police Department, an idea put forward by a Minneapolis City Council member who wants to “reimagine what public safety means,” and “reinvest in cultural competency and mental health training, de-escalation and conflict resolution.”Read the rest from John Daniel Davidson HERE.
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