John,
After I was cut off from broadcast last week, I was invited back to CNN today to talk about the Biden-Harris transition and the "defund the police slogan".
Thankfully, no "technical difficulties" cut me off this time around. I was finally able to talk a bit more about what it truly means to defund the police, because I'm concerned that recent dialogue around the topic has been focused on all the wrong things.
Right now, only 5 percent of policing is focused on violent crime like rape, homicide, and aggravated assault. The other 95 percent of what policing currently covers can be handled by other agencies like domestic violence counselors, mental health professionals, and social workers.
So when we say "defund the police," we don't mean abolish the police. What we mean is for current police budgets to be re-distributed to the communities — particularly Black and brown — that need it the most.
In some cities, up to 40% of the entire city budget goes toward policing. Just imagine what it would be like if we took that money to create jobs in our communities, support our schools, and tackle hunger and housing insecurity. Imagine what our communities could look like if we made this reinvestment.
But right now, as leaders, we're not talking about the actual steps we need to be taking to uplift our communities. We're talking about the "branding" and "messaging" of the "defund the police slogan" — all while communities and lives are on the line.
We cannot allow the establishment to flip a talking point on its head. We have to stay focused. It's why I ran for Congress — to do something different and cause problems for the status quo.
Peace and love,
Jamaal Bowman
