‘Defunding police’ shock jargon that divides Americans
Oh come on, Democrats. Words matter. “Defund” police? Really?
No two people agree on what the Defund Police movement means precisely.
Some insist it means abolish police departments.
Others say it means serious reform where, say, mental health experts accompanied by police officers as backup respond to domestic violence situations. They want money reallocated to focus on community development and less money spent on police weaponry.
People are exhausted by 400 years of racism and police brutality against blacks. They want action and real change, not more words, not study commissions, not lip service.
“Defund police” is one effort to ensure change but it comes across as hollow jargon that reformers devised for its shock value, but which is confusing and divisive to most Americans.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., put it well: “We cannot allow sloganeering to hijack the movement (of reform) as it has before. In the ’60s, it became ‘burn, baby, burn.’
No. No to that and no to the word ‘defund.'”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee examining new proposals to ensure justice that there must be action to right the wrongs that have been done to black Americans. But then he seized on the absurdity of the word “defund.”
We are in the middle of a historic moment that recognizes that civil rights in this country have been shunted aside for millions of our citizens. It is causing turbulence that, we should all hope, leads to fairness, justice, better trained police, less violence and less fear. Most Americans agree on that and agree that Black Lives Matter. And that groundswell should give everyone hope.
We must have a ban on chokeholds and no-knock warrants. We need national standards on use of police force. We need a national registry of fired police officers so bad cops don’t just move to another locality and do more harm. We need reallocation of scarce public funds to promote more social equality.
And, as Minneapolis’ thoughtful black police chief, Medaria Arradondo, said, Americans need police union contracts to be rewritten to recognize that making police officers accountable for their problematic actions is essential. He announced he is breaking off contract negotiations with his own union because hidebound, protective supervisors continue to undercut needed disciplinary action.
Sadly, the number of police killings of civilians is increasing to over a thousand a year. And only 5% are for serious offenses. As of June 4, 429 American civilians were shot and killed by police, including 88 blacks. Shooting someone six times for a traffic violation is seriously bad police work.
Restructuring police departments sounds more sensible and possible than defunding them. Getting rid of corruption and bad apples while rewarding the thousands of dedicated, good officers who put their lives on the line every day sounds much better than disbanding entire police departments, whether or not that is what reformers mean.