it sounded like the long form explanation of what some people may mean when they saydee fund the police. let s listen to it. our society is straining the police profession by turning to law enforcement to address a wide array of social problems. too often we ask law enforcement officers to be the first and last option for addressing issues that should not be handled by our criminal justice system. this makes police officers jobs more difficult, increases unnecessary confrontations with law enforcement, and hinders public safety. jelani, evaluate that. does that make sense to you? not only does it make sense to me, but, ali, the first person who ever said anything to me that conformed to the idea of defund the police, the first person i ever heard say that was a newark police officer. he simply said exactly what merrick garland has said, that people are putting police in
officer in ferguson, missouri, outside of st. louis. it happened just eight days after michael brown graduated from high school. it was the second killing of an unarmed black man by police. it made national news and launched protests across the country that marked the beginning of the black lives matter movement. later, eric garner video was released of him stating i can t breathe while in a police choke hold. the justice department launched its own investigation into the city s police department leading to a scathing report that found a pattern of civil rights violations by the ferguson police department. neither officer involved in michael brown or eric garner s deaths were charged. in contrast, when unarmed george floyd died after repeatedly telling minneapolis police officer derek chauvin he couldn t believe chauvin was charged tried and convicted by a