‘Squad’ member Jamaal Bowman says he’s not anti-cop after advocating for defunding the police

PHILADELPHIA — Rep. Jamaal Bowman is backtracking from his defunding-the-police rhetoric and blaming Republicans for utilizing the slogan as a “fear-mongering tactic.”

Mr. Bowman, the latest and solely male member of Congress’ far-left “Squad,” mentioned his and his colleagues’ help for stripping funding from police wasn’t about eliminating the police however about discovering good fixes to a damaged prison justice system.

“Nobody is anti-police, a minimum of I’m not,” Mr. Bowman instructed reporters on the annual Home Democrats’ retreat that’s being held this 12 months in Philadelphia, the place an ongoing crime wave features a surge in homicides. “We’d like a wiser method. I don’t need any police to be killed.”

Mr. Bowman accused Republicans of distorting the defund-the-police motion for political achieve.

“Republicans are all about worry, fear-mongering techniques, they usually’re pushed by that worry and that anger and rage and that concept that the Democrats and this multiracial society is coming to take America,” he mentioned. “So, we’ve acquired to come back with reality, and we acquired to come back with love.”

Mr. Bowman mentioned he nonetheless desires to see police reform efforts get completed on the federal stage.

The congressman, who’s backed by the far-left Justice Democrats political motion committee, has advocated for a racial justice overhaul of police and courts. He mentioned he additionally desires extra sources directed to social providers businesses to deal with home and psychological well being subject that usually falls on regulation enforcement.

A Pew Analysis Middle ballot discovered the vast majority of People needed to extend police funding in 2021, regardless of numbers that confirmed extra help for stripping monies from regulation enforcement in 2020.

The ballot discovered solely 23% of Black respondents supported efforts to defund the police, which dropped 42% from 2020 — the 12 months George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer.