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A slew of pampered celebrity elites like singer John Legend and nasty woman Megan Rapinoe, neither of whose homes have yet been targeted for looting, ransacking and burning, have reportedly signed a letter calling to “defund the police.”
“John Legend, Common, the Weeknd, Lizzo, Jane Fonda, and others have signed a new open letter urging local governments to decrease police budgets in favor of spending more on health care, education, and other community programs,” Rolling Stone magazine reported Tuesday.
“Others to sign the letter include Megan Rapinoe, Yada Shahidi, and Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU.”
Some of these wealthy elites have also encouraged their millions of social media followers to join this growing movement to #DefundThePolice.
Look:
I signed on to #DefendBlackLives and to push to #DefundThePolice. Join our 5 days of action with @Mvmnt4BlkLives. pic.twitter.com/Sgbwtm6S2S
— John Legend (@johnlegend) June 3, 2020
The “defund the police” letter was reportedly written by Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, an irrational “loon” who once called former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly “anti-black” for speaking some truths about black criminality and who’s repeatedly compared President Donald Trump to deceased Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Not surprisingly, the letter contains many falsehoods, including this one: “Black communities are living in persistent fear of being killed by state authorities like police, immigration agents or even white vigilantes who are emboldened by state actors.”
That’s a blatant lie. Police killings of blacks are extremely rare, and when they do occur, they’re usually — but not always, as evident by the killing of George Floyd — justified.
“The central claim advanced by those defending the riots is that ‘they are killing us,’ that blacks are ‘hunted’ by racist police departments and are in danger every time they leave their homes,” John Hirschauer of the National Review Institute notes.
“The evidence simply doesn’t back that up. And as stores are burned and livelihoods destroyed, churches desecrated and precincts set ablaze, evidence is something we must insist on.”
Some of the evidence can be seen below:
Since the Washington Post’s statistic that only 9 unarmed black people were shot and killed by police in 2019 has gone viral, it’s worth making a thread examining the circumstances of these deaths. (1/n) https://t.co/wB6h4E27ZS
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
1. Prosecutors declined to bring charges against Officer Dylan Williams for killing Channara Pheap after five witnesses corroborated his story that “Pheap choked him, grabbed his Taser and used it on him during a struggle at a local apartment complex” 2/n https://t.co/HKej3UC8xk
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
2. Officers shot Ryan Twyman, under investigation for illegal gun charges (but not armed at the time), after he backed up his car into the deputy. You can watch the video, it’s a bit unclear just how much danger the deputy was in from the vehicle. 3/n https://t.co/vQUHHg5OKI
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
3. Police shot Atatiana Jefferson through the window of her home. Not sure why it’s categorized as the killing of an unarmed person, since she apparently did have a gun and according to her 8 year old nephew pointed it at the officer. https://t.co/yX28I9FoAx 4/n
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
4. Deputy Glen Sims (pictured) shot Christopher Whitfield. According to the deputy, he shot Whitfield “accidentally” during a scuffle. The officer has at least 3 convictions in his past. 5/n pic.twitter.com/GFt9s1wVz0
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
5. Two officers in Oklahoma shot Isaiah Lewis. He was running naked and charged an officer, beating him unconscious, after which his partner shot and killed him. 6/n https://t.co/W1cHbk4XpK
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
6. Officers shot Marcus McVae, a “renowned criminal” with a long list of violent felonies in his past, after chasing him into the woods “where an altercation ensued”. 7/n https://t.co/U8DEV1TCLQ
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
7. Marzues Scott attacked a store employee. He then attacked a female police officer, knocking her to the ground, who then shot and killed him. 8/n https://t.co/tY0ctIpcsd
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
8. Police killed Kevin Bruce Mason after a standoff with officers he threatened to kill them if they came any closer. In 1980, he exchanged fire with police officers, injuring one. 9/n https://t.co/n18h3Gho5B
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
9. Officer Jovanny Crespo (pictured) shot and killed Gregory C. Griffin after a high speed car chase. You can see in the video he shouts that the suspects have a gun but the windows are tinted. 10/n https://t.co/Hk1cjC9hwq pic.twitter.com/VLh5cZKDlC
— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
Two caveats to add about this list:
1) The Washington Post database might not find all police related deaths. George Floyd and Eric Garner, for example, weren’t shot.
2) This thread is not meant to imply that officers are always justified in shooting people who are armed.— Noam (@NoamJStein) June 2, 2020
The letter by Cullors continues by arguing that the police need to be defunded so that the “profiling, harassment, terror and killing of Black communities” can end.
“According to the Urban Institute, in 1977, state and local governments spent $60 billion on police and corrections,” it reads. “In 2017, they spent $194 billion. A 220 percent increase.”
“Despite continued profiling, harassment, terror and killing of Black communities, local and federal decision-makers continue to invest in the police, which leaves Black people vulnerable and our communities no safer.”
The publication of this letter and its endorsement by numerous high-profile figures comes as looters and rioters across the nation have used the killing of George Floyd to justify burning down businesses, looting struggling business owners and literally killing people, including blacks like David Dorn and Dave Patrick Underwood, among others.
As seen below in the responses to singer John Legend’s “defund the police” tweet, some suspect these high-profile figures would feel differently if they were forced to come face-to-face with these looters and rioters and their homes and businesses were targeted for destruction, and their family members targeted for death:
Who will you call if someone tries to break into your home or who will you call if someone is hurting your family! I understand being mad at the bad ones, but we still need the good ones and that is the majority of them. Why not push to make some real change? 1/2
— Carey Shope (@hpshope) June 3, 2020
Easy to say living in a gated community with security guards
— George Bracco (@GeoB003) June 3, 2020
So rioting thugs, go to John’s house and ransack it. He will not call the police because he does not believe in them.
— Linda Barker (@LblLondon) June 3, 2020
How dare you! The gall of you to even suggest defunding police departments let alone sign a petition. This is out of control & you are part of the problem. While you sit in your Hollywood home w/ your security gates & security team, who is protecting the rest of us?! Despicable
— Missy (@melissa_U25) June 3, 2020
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