The Emerald City, one of the most liberal in the nation, has been a hotspot for violent protests, rioting, and calls for defunding the police. Since the May 25 murder of George Floyd, Seattle has been under siege from protesters and agitators bent on destruction and mayhem. Several blocks were taken over and dubbed the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), where police officers were not allowed. This move didn’t work out too well for the occupiers after people started getting murdered. Yet, the city council in all its ignorant glory is not only working on cutting police department funding by half but also creating a civilian-led group to take over. And if that isn’t enough, the staff told white employees they need to work on undoing their whiteness.
Abolish the Police
Democratic councilmember Kshama Sawant’s proposed cuts are extreme, to say the least. She wants to cut $85 million from the SPD’s remaining 2020 budget of $170 million. Another $69 million in cuts would result in “across-the-board reductions in patrol and other operations” and would abolish the Navigation Team as well as programs to sweep homeless camps. Here’s a look at how she plans to spend all that extra money:
- Affordable housing for those facing displacement and gentrification: $34.7 million.
- Unfunded city services related to the deficit: $16.3 million.
- Transferring the 911 call center to civilian control: $14.7 million.
- People of color restorative justice: $15.5 million.
- Black and brown community groups and public safety models: $3 million.
- Residents (renters) organizing and eviction defense: $700,000.
- Green New Deal Oversight Board: $80,000.
Unfortunately, there is enough support for the proposal that it is virtually veto-proof. Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) and SPD chief Carmen Best haven’t agreed on much lately, but they did both warn Sawant of the dangers of moving too quickly to cut the police funding.
The councilmember argued there was no time to waste, and the department had had enough time to reform. She claimed that 19 of the top 200 highest paid city employees are from SPD. But then, why wouldn’t they receive some of the higher pay considering they put their lives on the line every day? Chief Best is concerned about such a drastic cut and estimates that reducing the budget by 50% would mean 681 of its 755 patrol officers would have to be let go, leaving only 74 law enforcement officers to watch over a city with a population of around 775,000 people.
City councilmembers have not shown the greatest track record of respecting their police officers, and Sawant in particular. As Liberty Nation’s Jeff Charles reported, she and councilmember Mike O’Brien called two officers murderers right after they were involved in a shooting, and “Seattle’s leaders also pressure officers to let certain low-level offenses go.”
Even more alarming, Christopher F. Rufo obtained documents suggesting the abolishment of the city’s police department and replacing it with civilian-led personnel. In a tweet, he shared the worrisome proposal, saying, “They want to replace the police force with nonprofit programs and ‘community-led activities.’”
Your White Skin is Offensive
When it comes to the Emerald City, we are rarely surprised by liberal laws and attitudes that promoted homeless camps, parks for heroin users, and supporting illegal aliens. Lately, however, the city’s lawmakers have outdone themselves with perpetuating the pandemic fear, calling a seized section of the town overran with hoodlums a “summer of love,” and trying to defund the police. The recently-resurgent Black Lives Matter movement has so excited these progressive leaders that they can barely contain themselves. Imagine, if you will, a city where the staff holds a meeting only for its white employees to basically tell them their skin color is a crime, it is offensive, and they need to work on undoing their whiteness.
Tucker Carlson reported on this staff meeting at the beginning of July. While some may consider this old news, it is a reminder of the left’s curious fondness for using racism as way of supposedly combating racism. Even more, it’s extremely dangerous. Had black employees been signaled out and told the same, the whole nation would be burning down in outrage and protests. But this is Seattle, run by politicians who think they are above the law. Fighting against racism is one of the city’s most prominent projects. Remember the councilmember who claimed it was racist to power wash the sidewalk, even though said walkway is regularly polluted by human feces and other health risks.
Racism is racism, no matter the skin color of the people being targeted. These elected leaders are telling their constituents to be ashamed of who they are just because they were born with white skin. Meanwhile, with the city under constant attack from looters and riots, these same politicians are moving warp-speed to get rid of trained law enforcement to replace them with civilians. Only those blinded by progressive mania fail to see the dangerous situation they are creating.
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Read more from Kelli Ballard.
