From the Streets, Even Protesters Say, 'Don't Say Defund the Police'

As marches and tributes to George Floyd have continued over the last 48 hours in communities across the nation, there has been a dramatic change in the rhetoric of the protesters—specifically involving the phrase “Defund the Police.”

Over the weekend, Newsmax found that a common theme of the marches — and of many a picket sign — was just that: “Defund the Police.” 

Some big-city politicians picked up the phrase themselves.  The city of Minneapolis, where Floyd died in police custody, is moving toward ending and rebuilding its police force.  During an interview with CNN Monday night, Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said her vision is of a “police-free society.”

But others are increasingly wary of that goal and that phrase.  The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, California Rep. Karen Bass, for instance, said this of the concept: “I think it can be used as a distraction.”

That’s what some protesters told Newsmax when we covered their march Monday on Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of the White House.

“I don’t like the expression ‘defund the police’ because I think it fuels the right and fuels Trump and I think he’s going to use that to throw meat at his base,” Jeffery Jackson, a marcher from D.C. who is white, told Newsmax. 

“I believe we have to have police because we have some really bad people around,” Iris Vaughn, a protester from New Jersey who is black, told us, “But we need police that are not racist.  You’re not going to defund the police.”