Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is calling for the police to be dismantled in response to the shooting death of Duane Wright. Wright, a biracial young man, was accidentally shot to death by an officer when he attempted to flee from a traffic stop.
We were told that defunding the police just meant cutting some of their funding. However, some of us suspected that some in the defund movement actually intend to abolish police forces. We were right. They toned down their rhetoric during election season, and now they are no longer hiding their intentions.
Dismantling the police is reckless and dangerous. Sadly, poor and vulnerable Americans, especially those living in violence-plagued neighborhoods, will bear the brunt of such a policy shift. They don’t want their communities to devolve into absolute lawlessness. That is exactly what the end result would be if political leaders nix law enforcement. Meanwhile, lawmakers like Congresswoman Tlaib continue to enjoy police and National Guard protection while here in Washington, D.C.
The story
Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan tweeted last week:
“It wasn’t an accident. Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist. Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.”
Not only is the congresswoman going after policing, but our entire criminal justice system.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, fellow Squad member who also supports abolishing police, jumped in too on Twitter:
She added:
Cameras, chokehold bans, “retraining” funds, and similar reform measures do not ultimately solve what is a systemic problem. That system will find a way – killings happen on camera, people are killed in other ways, retraining grows $ while often substituting for deeper measures.
Even famed ice cream company, Ben & Jerry’s, served up a helping of its support for dismantling police.
These comments have left more centrist Democratic leaders playing clean up.
The White House sought to distance itself from Congresswoman Tlaib’s comments. When asked, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said:
That’s not the president’s view. The president’s view is that there are necessary outdated reforms that should be put in place, that there is accountability that needs to happen, that the loss of life is far too high, that these families are suffering around the country, that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel.
Americans do not support abolishing police
Abolishing police forces is a twisted way of addressing the harmful behavior of bad cops. Furthermore, it’s an easy distraction from dealing with the persistent violence that plagues some communities more than others.
Abolishing the police is akin to cutting off your leg when your ankle is sprained. Sure, the sprain is gone, but now you’re crippled. Yet this is exactly what Reps. Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez advocate.
Americans know the folly of this prescription. Not surprisingly, very few actually support the idea. Recent polling from Ipsos/USAToday found that 67 percent of adults opposed abolishing police including majorities of Black Americans and Democrats. Defunding police enjoys broad opposition as well, although less than complete abolition.
Americans are more in favor of shifting resources and other reforms, but they want police to be in full force protecting their communities.
The Black Lives Matter movement and efforts by the far Left to push our nation further away from police reform toward police eradication goes against the common-sense, bipartisan approach that is needed. We must be on guard that this view is not enacted.
The far Left has been effective at moving the Biden administration on issues like immigration and climate change. We cannot take their goal to abolish the police lightly. The safety of our homes, families, and communities is at stake.