"Defund The Police" RIP

[stevenkesslar]

Mamdani backs away from ‘out of step’ defund the police posts

Quote

At the height of the Defund the Police movement in 2020, Mamdani made repeated calls to slash the NYPD’s budget.

“We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD,” he wrote on X that year.

Quote

Mamdani distanced himself from the posts. When asked if he regretted the statements, he said they were made “amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd.” He also said multiple times that the posts were “clearly out of step” with his current view of policing and his campaign platform.

 

 

Other than having had ESP so he would have known an immigrant cop would die while he was on vacation, I am not sure what Mandami could have done better.  After landing he went directly to the home of the slain officer to grieve with his family.  He stood with the police association and union that represented the victims.  Most importantly, he ate his tweets.

"Defund The Police" is no doubt the most self-destructive thing elected Democrats said in 2020.  And I say that tongue in cheek.  Because very few elected Democrats ever said "defund the police".  Joe Biden ran away from the phrase, which is partly why he won the nomination.

So it's now up to New Yorkers to judge how they view Mamdani's words, past and present.  And the most important thing we don't know is whether Mandani, if elected, is good at governing.  But the optimistic slant on this is it sets up a good opportunity for Democrats to move on from past excesses in a Democratic bastion.  Eric Adams, a former cop who is a centrist by NYC standards, had his chance to do so and blew it.  I hope NYC gives a democratic socialist a chance.

I do think some good came out of all the craziness and protest.  

I remember reading a long and moving essay by a Black Oakland cop who was nearing retirement age right in the middle of the 2020 protests.  He talked about how he'd became close friends with fellow White cops.  Their kids played together.  They were decent people.  And you get further by trying to get along than by calling each other names.  He talked about how he got hired after a similar period of racial strife and protest in Oakland in the early 1970's.  And about how working together was better than fighting.

All excellent points.  But the one excellent point he left out is that lots of Black cops got hired right around when he did precisely because of those protests about racism and the lack of representation.  Who knows?  Maybe he was a DEI hire before anyone even knew what DEI was.  It was affirmative action back then, right?  Lots of stories about Islam have described how he offered the NYC Muslim Bangladeshi community exactly the same kind of representation.  They clearly  grieve losing it, as well as the man.

So I don't particularly regret "Defund The Police."  Even though the net effect is it was a way for Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot.  And it may still cost Mamdani the election  But if he gets elected, it is a chance to move on.

 

[RockyRoadTravel]

15 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

Mamdani backs away from ‘out of step’ defund the police posts

 

 

Other than having had ESP so he would have known an immigrant cop would die while he was on vacation, I am not sure what Mandami could have done better.  After landing he went directly to the home of the slain officer to grieve with his family.  He stood with the police association and union that represented the victims.  Most importantly, he ate his tweets.

"Defund The Police" is no doubt the most self-destructive thing elected Democrats said in 2020.  And I say that tongue in cheek.  Because very few elected Democrats ever said "defund the police".  Joe Biden ran away from the phrase, which is partly why he won the nomination.

So it's now up to New Yorkers to judge how they view Mamdani's words, past and present.  And the most important thing we don't know is whether Mandani, if elected, is good at governing.  But the optimistic slant on this is it sets up a good opportunity for Democrats to move on from past excesses in a Democratic bastion.  Eric Adams, a former cop who is a centrist by NYC standards, had his chance to do so and blew it.  I hope NYC gives a democratic socialist a chance.

I do think some good came out of all the craziness and protest.  

I remember reading a long and moving essay by a Black Oakland cop who was nearing retirement age right in the middle of the 2020 protests.  He talked about how he'd became close friends with fellow White cops.  Their kids played together.  They were decent people.  And you get further by trying to get along than by calling each other names.  He talked about how he got hired after a similar period of racial strife and protest in Oakland in the early 1970's.  And about how working together was better than fighting.

All excellent points.  But the one excellent point he left out is that lots of Black cops got hired right around when he did precisely because of those protests about racism and the lack of representation.  Who knows?  Maybe he was a DEI hire before anyone even knew what DEI was.  It was affirmative action back then, right?  Lots of stories about Islam have described how he offered the NYC Muslim Bangladeshi community exactly the same kind of representation.  They clearly  grieve losing it, as well as the man.

So I don't particularly regret "Defund The Police."  Even though the net effect is it was a way for Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot.  And it may still cost Mamdani the election  But if he gets elected, it is a chance to move on.

 

I regretted the "Defund the Police" phrase as soon as I heard it thinking, that's a slogan that the worst of the law and order crowd are going to misinterpret. When I listened to what people were saying on the street, I thought for a lot of people it was about our shredded social safety net and they wanted to "re-fund supports and crime prevention." Yes they wanted police budgets reduced, because they were as concerned about crime in America as anyone else was concerned and wanted that money reallocated to initiatives that might have  more impact on reducing crime levels and/or supporting victims of crime. But I was working with the police at the time so I saw reactions first hand to "defund the police".  The gun nuts have made America a cesspool of gun crime, defunding the police, at this moment, with these gun non-laws is not an option. (North Carolina MAGA legislature this week tried to override the Governor's veto of a law to allow concealed handguns without a permit - it's insane.) 

[Suckrates]

23 minutes ago, RockyRoadTravel said:

I regretted the "Defund the Police" phrase as soon as I heard it thinking, that's a slogan that the worst of the law and order crowd are going to misinterpret. When I listened to what people were saying on the street, I thought for a lot of people it was about our shredded social safety net and they wanted to "re-fund supports and crime prevention." Yes they wanted police budgets reduced, because they were as concerned about crime in America as anyone else was concerned and wanted that money reallocated to initiatives that might have  more impact on reducing crime levels and/or supporting victims of crime. But I was working with the police at the time so I saw reactions first hand to "defund the police".  The gun nuts have made America a cesspool of gun crime, defunding the police, at this moment, with these gun non-laws is not an option. (North Carolina MAGA legislature this week tried to override the Governor's veto of a law to allow concealed handguns without a permit - it's insane.) 

As long as you have "Thoughts & Prayers", you are Covered !