Quote:
Originally Posted by Adder
Around these parts policing has been a major issue, with the progressive left trying to do something that is an immediate concern for a lot of people but also left a lot of room for the status quo to fear monger other people into saying no.
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It was not just the “status quo” (whatever that means in this case) that was deeply concerned about the ballot amendment to defund the police. (This is an oversimplification of the ballot amendment, but it will do for now.) The ballot amendment deeply split the black and economically-challenged neighborhoods that are actually the ones most likely to be affected by the amendment, because these neighborhoods are not only the most likely to be victims of abusive policing, but also the most likely to be affected by mobile drug dealing, gang violence, etc., etc. The City Council was (rightly, in my opinion) harshly criticized for rallying behind empty “defund” rhetoric without having done the hard work of figuring out what that meant or how they would would keep the most vulnerable neighborhoods safe once they defunded the police and, most egregiously, without seeking any meaningful input from black community leaders in these neighborhoods. It did not help when the City Council president went on CNN and, when asked what people were supposed to when their house was being broken into, responded that this question came from a place of privilege, immediately making her a cartoon meme of the fear-mongering right. It also did not help that she lived in a neighborhood in South Minneapolis far less likely to actually be impacted by home invasions and other violent crime than the city’s north side.
“The debate has also played out among racial and geographical lines — with many Black residents of north Minneapolis accusing liberal White residents of south Minneapolis of supporting ‘an experiment’ that could prove harmful to Black residents as they are trying to be better allies in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.“
https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ot-initiative/
