Well, you know what they say about broken clocks, right? On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Al Sharpton took on the issue of defunding the police as a way to decrease instances of excessive force used by law enforcement against black Americans. But, it didn’t go the way one might expect given the host’s history of inflammatory rhetoric on racial issues.
In an appearance on “Morning Joe,” Sharpton participated in a discussion on increasing rates of violent crimes in New York City in August. Over the past three months, the city has seen a troubling rise in shootings, which has disproportionately affected black residents.
During the conversation, Sharpton asserted that defunding the police is an idea “a latte liberal” would embrace, but is not attractive to those who are “blacker and poorer.” He said:
“We’ve always heard about the tale of two cities. On the side of the city that I come from, which is Blacker and poorer, we’ve seen more in terms of gun usage. I got a lot of attention when I did the eulogy for George Floyd’s funeral, but I also, a month later, preached [at] a 1-year-old kid’s funeral in Brooklyn who was killed by a stray bullet.”
Sharpton continued, “Six people were shot over Labor Day weekend at a festival in Brooklyn, so I would say statistically we’re not much higher than where we were, but on the ground it is certainly feeling more violent, feeling more unsafe in unsafe communities.”
Later in the conversation, he insisted that “We need to reimagine how we do policing. But to take all policing off is something a latte liberal may go for as they sit around the Hamptons discussing this as an academic problem. But people living on the ground need proper policing.”
The New York Police Department (NYPD) reported that shootings increased by 166 percent in August compared to last year. Murders have also had a 47 percent increase this year.
Amid the surge in violent crime, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio decided to slash funding for the NYPD by $1 billion in the 2021 budget .”We are reducing the size of our police force by not having the next recruit class. We are reducing our overtime levels. We’re shifting functions away from police to civilian agencies,” de Blasio said.
Despite his usual race-baiting antics, Sharpton’s remarks are correct. It is primarily the white progressive elite who are pushing to defund police departments across the country. While they claim these measures are designed to address police brutality, the black community can see that this is far from the truth.
A recent Gallup poll revealed that the majority of black Americans are not in favor of decreasing police presence in their neighborhoods. In fact, a significant percentage would like to see more law enforcement, not less.
From Gallup:
“When asked whether they want the police to spend more time, the same amount of time or less time than they currently do in their area, most Black Americans – 61% – want the police presence to remain the same. This is similar to the 67% of all U.S. adults preferring the status quo, including 71% of White Americans.
Meanwhile, nearly equal proportions of Black Americans say they would like the police to spend more time in their area (20%) as say they’d like them to spend less time there (19%).”
Defunding the police is an issue on which many, if not most, black Americans agree with Sharpton. Community leaders in cities like New York City and Minneapolis have vociferously condemned the notion that removing funding from police departments will somehow keep them safe.
Nevertheless, these “latte liberals” ardently push for policies that will further devastate black communities nationwide while they sit protected in their gated communities. The question is, will Republicans respond with a competing solution for the police brutality problem? Or will they just continue reacting to the left’s stupid ideas?
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
