The first backlash was the one the Coalition for a Better Oakland was proud to be part of: a massive, nationwide protest against the idiocy of the “defund the police” movement. Ordinary citizens like us were appalled by “defund,” which was being advanced by ideological radicals who didn’t seem the least bit concerned that crime was rampant. When we first began criticizing “defund,” we were a lonely voice in the wilderness. But we knew that many others, probably a majority, agreed with us—only they had no formal mechanism to express their support for the police. The Coalition gave them that mechanism in Oakland.
By this past winter, we knew that we had been triumphant: “defund the police” was utterly repudiated by the people of America, from Boston and New York City to San Francisco and Seattle. For a while, it seemed that our local defunders—extremists like Cat Brooks and Carroll Fife—had been tossed on to the ash heap of History. But sadly, that hasn’t been the case.
The defunders, you see, are fighting back—they are the backlash to our backlash. The latest evidence of this, on a national level, came last month, when President Biden gave an amazing State of the Union speech in which he declared, “The answer [to crime] is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them.”
I have to admit that, when I heard those words, I stood up in front of my T.V. and applauded. I was so grateful that the President of the United States, and a Democrat at that, expressed that sentiment. But almost immediately, the backlash against Biden—against us—began. Congresswoman Cori Bush, who represents St. Louis, tweeted, “With all due respect, Mr. President. You didn’t mention saving Black lives once in this speech. All our country has done is given more funding to police. The result? 2021 set a record for fatal police shootings. Defund the police. Invest in our communities.”
A leader of the Black Lives Matter, Deray McKesson, tweeted, “[Police] are already well funded & not accountable to anyone.” Black Lives Matter, as an organization, tweeted, “No, we don’t all agree. We still say #DefundThePolice and hold killer cops accountable.” Also on Twitter, a Black activist named Raheem said, “We spend $107,575,000,000 more on police than on public housing. Police are funded. Our communities aren't.” Another activist, Maurice Mitchell, who’s with the Movement for Black Lives, told the Washington Post,
“I think some Democrats [i.e. Biden] are operating from a place of fear and are getting sucked up based on reliable Republican talking points… running away from ‘defund the police’ does not take you closer to that goal [of public safety]. And I think it’s actually a political mistake.”
I myself don’t think that “running away from ‘defund the police’” is a political mistake. It’s good politics. The best-known poll on the subject, from Ipsos/USA TODAY, found that only 18% of Americans support “defund the police,” and only 28% of Black Americans support it. So to be in favor of “defund the police” is actually bad politics.
We’ve won, but in this crazy, fast-moving world, our victory can only be considered temporary. The other side is tenacious and unreasonable. They’ll never stop trying to abolish the police. We’ll never stop supporting cops. That’s how politics goes, one election at a time.
Steve Heimoff