Amid the ongoing protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd, calls to defund the police have grown increasingly loud — particularly among the activists who are taking to the streets to urge politicians to act.
On Sunday, nine members of the Minneapolis City Council, the city where Floyd died, pledged to “begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department.”
While those moves are unlikely to impact the political futures of either de Blasio or the Minneapolis City Council members — both are in strongly liberal enclaves — the push for defunding the police following Floyd’s death carries massive political risk for Democrats more broadly.
“You have to look at that on a case-by-case basis,” said New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, on CNN Sunday when asked whether he backed defunding the police in New York state.
— and while some activists are writing it on a city street in Washington — it is likely that what most people involved in these protests want is not to take all money away from police departments and get rid of cops.
