On Tuesday, Sept. 8. Rev, Al Sharpton said defunding the police is “latte liberal” ideology, and called for the nation to “reimagine how we do policing.”
During a segment about crime and policing in New York City on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Sharpton said that people in “blacker and poorer” areas witness more gun violence and are more likely to support and embrace “proper policing.”
New York City has experienced a significant uptick in crime over the last year. So far, there has been an 87 percent increase in shootings around the city in 2020 as compared against 2019.
“We’ve always heard about the tale of two cities. On the side of the city that I come from, which is Blacker and poorer, we’ve seen more in terms of gun usage. I got a lot of attention when I did the eulogy for George Floyd’s funeral, but I also, a month later, preached [at] a 1-year-old kid’s funeral in Brooklyn who was killed by a stray bullet,” Sharpton said, referring to the shooting death of Davell Gardner, who was killed at barbecue in July.
He also referenced a Labor Day shooting in Brooklyn that left six people injured.
“I hear the fears that defunding the police, or cutting the police budget by $1 billion in New York City will disproportionately impact the poorest people in the city and people of color,” said host Joe Scarborough.
“To take all policing off is something that I think a latte liberal may go for as they sit around the Hamptons discussing this as some academic problem, but people living on the ground need proper policing,” Sharpton responded.
In July, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio cut the police department’s budget by $1 billion dollars for 2021.
“We are reducing the size of our police force by not having the next recruit class. We are reducing our overtime levels. We’re shifting functions away from police to civilian agencies,” he said.
An August Gallup poll found that Black Americans generally want police to retain their current presence in their neighborhoods. “Most (81%) want police to spend same amount of or more time in their area,” the study said.
