"None of the politicians who acted so abruptly consulted the public. According to a recent poll, most Americans
do not want to defund the police. Two-thirds oppose the movement, with 60 percent specifically opposed to reducing police budgets. The same poll showed, however, that 57 percent of blacks support defunding the police. As a black man with many black friends, I find this a dubious statistic: my black friends, relatives, and neighbors are neither conservatives nor strong supporters of law enforcement, but none supports defunding the police. Violent crime is on the rise across the country, and it disproportionately affects black communities. Black people need police to keep their neighborhoods safe.
One possible explanation for the disconnect: many people agree with Black Lives Matter and its demands—at least in theory—because “Black Lives Matter” can mean many things. As a principle, it’s relatively inarguable. As a social movement for police reform, it’s debatable, depending on your point of view. As a functioning organization, however—one that supports the dismantling of the nuclear family, capitalism, and most else that defines the American way of life—BLM is radical and destructive. This same eye-of-the-beholder dynamic applies to the phrase “defund the police.” Some people think that it means reducing spending on military-grade hardware and improving cadet training; others genuinely see it as a call to abolish armed law enforcement in U.S. cities."
View attachment 467125
abc7ny.com
