In an interview with Peter Hamby of the Snapchat news show Good Luck America, former President Barack Obama warned young, progressive activists to steer clear of using “snappy” slogans such as “Defund the Police” when fighting for equality. When asked what advice he’d give to advocates of movements such as Black Lives Matter that still believe in that slogan, Obama said that young people “[lose] a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done”.
In an attempt to rationalize his remarks, Obama suggested approaching the slogan and its “radical” cause from a more moderate standpoint.
“If you instead say, ‘Let’s reform the police department so that everybody’s being treated fairly,” he continued. “Suddenly, a whole bunch of folks who might not otherwise listen to you are listening to you.”
“Defund the Police” became part of the call for change during large-scale Black Lives Matter protests this year after the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other innocent Black people. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the idea of ‘Defund the Police’ calls for a relocation of “the astronomical amount of money that our governments spend on law enforcement and give that money to more helpful services like job training, counseling, and violence-prevention programs.” “Defund” advocates typically want to see police departments’ budgets decreased and diverted to causes necessary to heal the racial divide. Funneling so many resources into law enforcement instead of education, affordable housing, and accessible health care has caused significant harm to communities, according to the ACLU.
Twitter users immediately swarmed the platform to express their feelings about the former president’s words. .
I need Barack Obama to leave the sloganeering to the movement.
Defund. The. Police.
We are keeping it. We are demanding it.
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) December 2, 2020
obama is right. y’all need to stop saying defund the police when we mean abolish the police
— anti-lawn aktion (@antihoa) December 2, 2020
Obama is right – if you have to explain your slogan, you’re already losing.#DefundThePolice supporters say it doesn’t mean to stop all police funding, just to reallocate a portion of it to alternative, preventative measures.
But it’s not what you say, it’s what people hear. 👂🏻 https://t.co/JQegqmGSnQ
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) December 2, 2020
Minnesota congresswoman and member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ Ilhan Omar chimed into the conversation on social media, offering rebuttals that were emblematic of the views of many Gen-Z progressives.
“We lose demand in the hands of police. It’s not a slogan but a policy demand,” she tweeted.
We lose people in the hands of police. It’s not a slogan but a policy demand. And centering the demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country gets us progress and safety. https://t.co/Vu6inw4ms7
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 2, 2020
Meanwhile Cori Bush, the newly elected congresswoman from Missouri, also tweeted her opinions on the matter.
With all due respect, Mr. President—let’s talk about losing people. We lost Michael Brown Jr. We lost Breonna Taylor. We’re losing our loved ones to police violence.
It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive. Defund the police. https://t.co/Wsxp1Y1bBi
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) December 2, 2020
Many were left feeling disappointed and confused by the former president’s comments since he still holds substantial influence within the Democratic party. In the same interview, Obama went on to express the importance of listening to the more progressive members of the party, saying that “new blood is always good.” Still, others were not so shocked by his stance on the slogan since President-elect Joe Biden, Obama’s former VP, has previously said he does not support defunding the police
The news of Obama’s condemnation of “Defund the Police” was released in conjunction with an announcement on Thursday morning stating that he, along with former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have volunteered to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on camera. Once deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the three will attempt to promote and gain trust from Americans who are unsure of the vaccine’s safety.
Although all former presidents were praised for their efforts to spread a powerful message of a potential Covid-19 vaccine’s effectiveness, others were reminded of a similar “stunt” by President Obama in 2016. At an event in Flint, Michigan, the former president took a sip of the city’s contaminated lead water halfway through a speech praising volunteers who helped with the enduring water crisis, an action not received well by local residents.
President Obama went to Flint where Black parents were complaining that lead was filling the bodies of their Black babies and he drank a glass of water in front of their faces as a political stunt. please stop listening to him
— derecka (@dereckapurnell) December 2, 2020
Remember the last time Obama performed publicly?
It’s been over 2,400 days and Flint, MI still doesn’t have clean water…. pic.twitter.com/UUPniHOnmI
— 🟢dev DECKER ™️ ✊🏽 (@dev_decker) December 3, 2020
Obama’s slamming of “Defund the Police,” as well as his collaboration with George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on camera, are all examples of how he may be at odds with many defining characteristics of the young, progressive movement within the Democratic Party.
