Speaking with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on Monday morning, the president of the Minneapolis City Council, which has stated it intends to “dismantle” the city’s police department, was asked what a citizen should do if an intruder broke into their house in the middle of the night and there were no police to call. In response, she blithely suggested that the opportunity to call police “comes from a place of privilege,” adding that those citizens should “step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm.”
“We have a state action against our police department, which gives us legal mechanisms in the very short term, you know, there is (sic) lessons from all over the country, all over the world that we’re looking to take immediate steps while we work toward building the systems that we would need to imagine that future,” Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said to Camerota.
“Do you understand that the word ‘dismantle’ or ‘police-free’ make some people nervous?” Camerota asked. “For instance, what if in the middle of the night, my home is broken into? Who do I call?”
Bender answered, “Yes, I mean, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors, and I know, and myself too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done.”
CAMEROTA: "What if in the middle of the night my home is broken into. Who do I call?"
BENDER: "Yes, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors. And I know — and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege." pic.twitter.com/WhubQ9yJIf
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) June 8, 2020
On Sunday, as The Daily Wire reported, a “veto-proof majority” of the Minneapolis City Council announced they intended to disband the Minneapolis Police Department.
Bender told CNN that nine of the city council’s 13 members were in favor of disbanding the police department and would do so by shifting the department’s funding to other needs.
“We’re here because we hear you,” she said. “We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police. We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe. Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period.”
Bender continued, “Our commitment is to do what is necessary to keep every single member of our community safe and to tell the truth that the Minneapolis Police are not doing that. Our commitment is to end our city’s toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it, and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”
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