As liberal leadership indulges in the ‘defund the police’ movement, their colleagues who represent minority districts are urging them to cool it with the anti-police rhetoric. Liberal Democrat City councilwoman of West Bronx Vanessa Gibson said her constituents “want to see cops in the community.” Residents of her district are 40 percent Black and over 50 percent Hispanic.
Gibson said of her constituents, “they don’t want to see excessive force. They don’t want to see cops putting their knees in our necks…But they want to be safe as they go to the store.” Last month New York City passed a budget-cutting $1 billion from the police department budget and reallocated it for education and social services.
“The decision came amid calls from activists to slash even more funding from the police budget and as the city suffers a $9 billion revenue loss due to coronavirus lockdown measures” reports National Review. Unfortunately, it is typical for liberals to legislate on emotion and neglect actual consequences as to the safety of those affected. For them, an appearance of the moral high ground is more valuable than legislative repercussions.
Gibson explains the defund movement does not equate to safety or equality. “I don’t want anyone to misunderstand and think that we don’t care and that we have not been working our behinds off to get to a place of equity,” said Gibson when the budget was passed. However, she added the citizens must not be “left behind with crime, violence, illegal guns in our communities, no programs, no activities, and no hope for a better tomorrow.”
Another councilwoman who represents one of Brooklyn’s poorest neighborhoods of Brownsville, Alicka Ampry-Samuel, brings up the concern she has for the intrusion of added opinions and voices. Ampry-Samuel, a black woman, said “we have fought for police reform and more funding every single budget cycle…This debate is not new to me. What is new are the additional voices of concern added to the conversation, which at times have overshadowed our fight.”
‘DEFUNDED’: Minneapolis City Council Promises to ‘Dismantle The Police Department’
Lawmakers in Minneapolis pledged over the weekend to “dismantle the police department” following the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day.
“Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council announced their support for de-funding the Minneapolis Police Department and replacing it with a community-based public safety model at a rally in Powderhorn Park Sunday afternoon,” reports Fox Minneapolis.
“At the end of the rally, the councilmembers and some community activists committed to ending the Minneapolis Police Department through the budget process. The group also announced its intention to engage every willing community member to ask what safety means to them,” adds the website.
“It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” said one member. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.”
Read the full report here.
‘ENOUGH’: NYC Business Owner SUES Cuomo, De Blasio Over Looting, Claims Police Ordered to ‘Stand Down’
One New York City business owner is telling local leaders he’s had enough of the lawlessness taking control of the region; suing Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio after his store was looted during anti-police protests.
“The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Domus Design Center, an interior design business located on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, also names Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea as co-defendants,” reports Fox News.
“Basically, the city and state government owe a duty to the individual storefronts to protect them,” attorney Sal Strazzullo said Friday on “Fox & Friends.”
“My law firm believes [that] through depositions, through discovery we’re going to be able to find that the city or state had intelligence in regards to these criminals that looted these stores and didn’t do anything about it,” he added.
Strazzullo continued, “The lackeys that are politically appointed in the NYPD probably were told to stand down and basically it is a travesty.”
“The past three-four days since after we filed the lawsuit, other general counsels … I’m not going to name any names at the moment because they have not been retained have reached out,” Strazzullo said.
Read the full report here.