After the horrific death of George Floyd there is a call for major cities to defund its police departments. Recently nine members of the Minneapolis city council announced they intend to defund and dismantle the police department. That would be a great start given the current circumstances with that particular police department.
But wait, what exactly does it mean to defund a police department? Believe it or not, Grammy award- winning artist John Legend breaks it down through Twitter:
"I know this word 'defund' has caused some controversy, even from some who are inclined to agree with a lot of the underlying arguments. Some hear that word and envision The Purge, some dystopian descent into anarchy." He went on to say that "some are looking to intentionally cast the argument in the extreme to score political points," so he asked if Americans would engage in a thoughtful conversation about the topic. In a nutshell, he broke down the meaning even further, tweeting:
"This doesn't mean there will be no police; it means there should be significantly fewer police and more professionals of other types with expertise in their fields, whether it's social work, health care, conflict resolution, drug treatment, etc."
Get it now?