Protesters paint ‘Defund the Police’ on DC street next to mayor’s Black Lives Matter mural
Some protesters who descended on Washington, D.C. Saturday defaced public property by painting “Defund the Police” next to the Black Lives Matter mural added to 16th Street earlier in the week.
The demonstrators in the nation’s capital were part of several others around the country meant to draw continuing attention to the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of police.
The painting of ‘Defund the Police’ was captured on video by a number of bystanders, including “gender and family issues” reporter for the Washington Post, Samantha Schmidt.
Black Lives Matter organizers are painting “Defund the Police” in yellow paint on 16th Street right now pic.twitter.com/62zFMPXXOo
— Samantha Schmidt (@schmidtsam7) June 7, 2020
Here is another view:
The scene here on 16th st down the block from the White House. #GeorgeFloydprotests #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/NlPT922QuA
— GOBA (@kadiagoba) June 7, 2020
The street is located near the White House.
The Guardian claimed in a report earlier this week that there is an “unprecedented” movement growing nationwide to ‘defund’ police departments, most generally in favor of repurposing those funds for social engineering:
For years, activists have pushed US cities and states to cut law enforcement budgets amid a dramatic rise in spending on police and prisons while funding for vital social services have shrunk or disappeared altogether.
Government officials have long dismissed the idea as a leftist fantasy, but the recent unrest and massive budget shortfalls from the COVID-19 crisis appear to have inspired more mainstream recognition of the central arguments behind defunding.
“To see legislators who aren’t even necessarily on the left supporting at least a significant decrease in New York police department [NYPD] funding is really very encouraging,” New York state Sen. Julia Salazar, a self-identified Democratic Socialist, told the Guardian. “It feels a little bit surreal.
“This is unprecedented in our movement, but it is a natural consequence of where we’ve been over the last five years,” Tony Williams, a member of MPD150, a group that seeks to build a “police-free” future, told The Guardian.
Some cities are already responding. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to cut $150 million from the LAPD’s budget in the coming fiscal year, though Left-wing activists say that’s not nearly enough.
“It is time to move our rhetoric towards action to end racism in our city,” Garcetti said. “Prejudice can never be part of police work…It takes bravery to save lives, too. We will not be increasing our police budget.”
Earlier, reports noted that Garcetti had called for a 7 percent increase for the LAPD to pay for raises and bonuses for most of the nearly 10,000 rank-and-file officers, but that plan has now gone out the window.
By comparison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, was booed off the street on Saturday for telling an angry crowd he does not support defunding his department.
**Warning: Language
This is important because it illustrates how the far left always eats their own. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has groveled and virtue signaled to the far left constantly but it will never will be enough. The Democrats created this and it will destroy them. pic.twitter.com/zer7OlRo0O
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) June 7, 2020
After talking about his own “shortcomings,” Frey, surrounded by a crowd, told a woman holding a microphone that “the systemic racist system needs to be revamped. The police union needs to be put in its place. We need to make sure that everything from the union contract to the way that the arbitration functions, to the way that our officers in the department behave.”
But he also said, “I do not support the full abolition of the police,” according to reports.
“Go home, Jacob, go home,” the crowd began chanting, as the mayor recreated through the crowd.
Mayor Frey @Jacob_Frey says he doesnt want to defund the police. So the crowd led by @BlackVisionsMN tell him to leave. pic.twitter.com/DaJHJXPwRm
— CTUL (@CTUL_TC) June 6, 2020
While the defund movement is in the spotlight now, rational minds know that getting rid of police forces would lead to sustained chaos. Police would be replaced by heavily armed National Guard troops and, most likely at some point, regular military units.
The radical-left formally divorced itself from America last night. They are domestic terrorists and enemies of the United States. They should be treated as such. pic.twitter.com/GOA3msSOb6
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) May 31, 2020
Jon Dougherty
Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years’ worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
