A World Where George Floyd And Ma'Khia Bryant Would Still Be Here Is A World Without Police

[Tom Rinaldo]

42. All or Nothing? What sense does that make?

A world with less cops could be a world that provides the resources necessary to people so that less cops are needed. And then, in a century or two, maybe we could get to that world with "no cops" that you speak of. Meanwhile we live in a world where politics matter. Calls to abolish or defund policing right now lead to the election of more right wing Republicans who then further militarize the police with their votes. We almost lost the House of Reps in the last election in large part due to that. Had the Republicans picked off a relative handful of additional Democratic seats there would be no George Floyd act, period.

Millions of voters watch coverage of mass shootings such as the one at the FedEx facility where a cop got killed rushing in to confront the shooter and they think Democrats who call for "defunding" police are bat shit crazy. Messaging does count. Yes we should be pushing for "public safety" reforms that will lead to all of us being more safe, and some of that means redirecting some funds so that armed police are not always the first responders to non-violent situations. But the wrong use of inflammatory rhetoric and talking points only makes the situation worse