On Tuesday's Inside Politics, CNN host John King marked the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's death with a panel segment that was divorced from any attempt to unify the country as panelist LaTosha Brown of Black Votes Matter alleged that policing is premised on "state-sanctioned violence" with officers longing for the ability to "inflict more pain" and "put more" racial minorities "in jail" and thus must be treated like weeds that have to be killed in order for a yard to grow.
And because the country has spent parts of the last year discussing police reform, Brown insisted this was a sign that the defund the police movement has had success and borne fruit.
King gave Brown the floor with an open-ended question about "where are we" as a country, so Brown immediately launched into how she's disgusted with how Americans have "hidden behind this context of -- of American exceptionalism" and thus escaped talking about "the systemic issue" of racism and the entire policing profession.
Arguing that law enforcement is in of itself racist, she argued that policing and racism have to be exterminated like weeds in a yard (click "expand"):
I think it's wonderful that we've seen policy; the truth of the matter is we have not dealt with a systemic issue or while structural racism has been part of the development, you know, has meant part of the creation of police. And so what we're seeing now is we're continuously every two days, there's another video that comes out where there's an abuse of power with state-sanctioned violence. And so I think if we want to take this opportunity, yes, there are small steps that have been made, but we are not uprooting. It's kind of like having weeds in the yard, you can cut the weeds down. You know, when you're mowing the grass, but until you uproot, or kill the weeds, it will still -- it will still take over your yard. And so what we're seeing right now, we have got to deal with the systemic, ongoing structural issue that is dealing with policing in this country, the --- the context of it, even we're saying not just an issue of equity, but an issue of humanity. That at the end of the day, what we saw with George Floyd, what we see with numerous other cases, has really been a fence on the humanity you know, of --- of --- of our country, of people in general. And so, I think that that's what we have to look at this. We can have both, yes, in the midst of there being some progress that we have to really recognize that there's been --- we're still fighting the same battle that we've been fighting in this country for over 400 years.
A few minutes later, King asked what politicians should do at the moment given that, "you hear a number of Republicans now saying 'you see crime statistics going up,' this is going to become a refund the police debate."
Brown didn't so much as answer the question as launch into a long and nonsensical diatribe about policing and the criminal justice system. First, Brown defended calls to defund the police, because at least they sparked a conversation: "[W]hat I think is important is that defund the police for all its critics, the bottom line is we are talking about police reform. For a number of years we could not even have that conversation."
She credited that movement with raising important issues worthy of debate:
[B]ut I also think that the underlying issue that creates this in the first place is that we have a problem in this country around not really dealing with the problems in community and addressing the communities but just these punitive measures that's really based on how we punish, how we can inflict more pain, how we can put more people in jail, how we can actually put more harsh sentences, that instead of having a -- a society that we're building, that really is about redemption, and how can we actually build our communities stronger, then we have this approach that the way we'll solve any problem is just being punitive. That's not worked well for us.
Making yet another insane claim that would sound like something from communist China and other countries like Iran and North Korea, Brown insisted the United States is "actually the most violent country in the -- in the world and so we have to really take a look back at really what is the core issue of what we're debating here."
The U.S. is not the most violent country in the world, but it's possible Brown meant to say most violent developed country, although it is more complicated than that. Either way, such violence would seem to suggest that severely cutting or outright abolishing the police would be incredibly dangerous.
She then concluded (click "expand"):
BROWN: We should not, at some point, we are actually politicizing, over-politicizing people's lives. Now it's a question of who is in control. Who can the police control? They're going to get those bad people out of here. So we walk around that we're fearful of our neighbors instead of literally using the resources and really taking a step back to moving beyond this political context to really think about how can we build a society that people are respected and honored and that we are less violent. Instead, our approach to violence is let's create more violence, let's give more violent tools to the police, so I think this is a debate that is really far beyond politicizing as a policy issue. This is really centered in a values issue. What kind of nation are we attempting to build?
KING: Ms. Brown, grateful for insights.
This segment was sponsored by Expedia. Their contact information is linked.
Here is a transcript for the May 25 show:
CNN's Inside Politics with John King
May 25, 2021
12:09 p.m. EasternJOHN KING: LaTosha, one year after the murder of George Floyd, where are we?
LATOSHA BROWN: You know, I think that when we're talking about progress, that's part of what I think has been the problem in America. I think we've all hidden behind this context of -- of American exceptionalism, that if we can see a little progress, then we can ignore the systemic issue that has really not been addressed, that as we do see some of the level and elements of progress. I think that is wonderful that the family is meeting with powerful -- some of the powerful folks in this country. I think it's wonderful that we've seen policy; the truth of the matter is we have not dealt with a systemic issue or while structural racism has been part of the development, you know, has meant part of the creation of police. And so what we're seeing now is we're continuously every two days, there's another video that comes out where there's an abuse of power with state-sanctioned violence. And so I think if we want to take this opportunity, yes, there are small steps that have been made, but we are not uprooting. It's kind of like having weeds in the yard, you can cut the weeds down. You know, when you're mowing the grass, but until you uproot, or kill the weeds, it will still -- it will still take over your yard. And so what we're seeing right now, we have got to deal with the systemic, ongoing structural issue that is dealing with policing in this country, the --- the context of it, even we're saying not just an issue of equity, but an issue of humanity. That at the end of the day, what we saw with George Floyd, what we see with numerous other cases, has really been a fence on the humanity you know, of --- of --- of our country, of people in general. And so, I think that that's what we have to look at this. We can have both, yes, in the midst of there being some progress that we have to really recognize that there's been --- we're still fighting the same battle that we've been fighting in this country for over 400 years.
(....)
12:12 p.m. Eastern
JOHN KING: How would you say, Latasha, as someone who organizes voters, how has the conversation both from an animated to vote, people animated to vote because the issues are front and center in their mind, so from the voter perspective and from the politicians perspective, you hear a number of Republicans now saying “you see crime statistics going up,” this is going to become a refund the police debate.
LATOSHA BROWN: You know, it is -- you know, we're -- we're really in the space that I feel like we've often go through the hamster wheel. You know, what I think is important is that defund the police for all its critics, the bottom line is we are talking about police reform. For a number of years we could not even have that conversation. Not in a way that we're really talking about policy that would change the nature of policing in this country and so the fact that we're talking about it, the fact that it is on the surface right now, and that it is a debate, and that it is a key issue, actually says something and I think that that speaks to kind of the organizing and the movement work that was happening but I also think that the underlying issue that creates this in the first place is that we have a problem in this country around not really dealing with the problems in community and addressing the communities but just these punitive measures that's really based on how we punish, how we can inflict more pain, how we can put more people in jail, how we can actually put more harsh sentences, that instead of having a -- a society that we're building, that really is about redemption, and how can we actually build our communities stronger, then we have this approach that the way we'll solve any problem is just being punitive. That's not worked well for us. To be this country that has this police force, we're actually the most violent country in the -- in the world and so we have to really take a look back at really what is the core issue of what we're debating here? We should not, at some point, we are actually politicizing, over-politicizing people's lives. Now it's a question of who is in control. Who can the police control? They're going to get those bad people out of here. So we walk around that we're fearful of our neighbors instead of literally using the resources and really taking a step back to moving beyond this political context to really think about how can we build a society that people are respected and honored and that we are less violent. Instead, our approach to violence is let's create more violence, let's give more violent tools to the police, so I think this is a debate that is really far beyond politicizing as a policy issue. This is really centered in a values issue. What kind of nation are we attempting to build?
KING: Ms. Brown, grateful for insights.
