“Defund the Police” Will Not Lose Steam Until Cops Stop Killing Black People

Democrats want to get tough on crime again, while doing nothing about police brutality

Lavish Mack (L) chants during a racial justice march for Amir Locke on February 5, 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community leaders called for reform in the city after Locke was killed by the Minneapolis Police Department during a no-knock raid in which Locke was not the target of a warrant. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

During a recent appearance at the headquarters of the New York City Police Department, President Biden offered statements that will likely only haunt him in the coming months. Because it’s not as if the police have stopped killing people. Look at what happened to Amir Locke.

Now consider the likelihood that at any given moment, a Black person no matter their background can fall victim to a police officer’s gun. One would think that a politician like Biden, who claims to have the backs of Black voters, might factor that into his political calculus when speaking about policing in the wake of Democrats failing to pass any legislation for police reform in the wake of George Floyd’s death. That he would perhaps aim for nuance on the subject versus sounding emphatically pro-police.

Yet, only days after Locke’s shooting in downtown Minneapolis, Biden flatly declared that law enforcement needed more, not less money.

“The answer is not to defund the police,” Biden said. “It is to give you the tools and training, the funding to be partners, to be protectors and [the] community needs you,” he added. “It’s…