"What does an America with defunded police look like to you?" AOC's BRILLIANT quotable answer.

[LAS14]

Sorry, no link. Not on Instagram. I got this in an e-mail from a friend.

*************************

The other day Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez opened up her Instagram story to answer people's questions, and this one felt profound:

Q: "What does an America with defunded police look like to you?"

Her answer:

"The good news is that it actually doesn't take a ton of imagination. It looks like a suburb.

Affluent white communities already live in a world where they choose to fund youth, health, housing, etc. more than they fund police. These communities have lower crime rates not because they have more police, but because they have more resources to support healthy society in a way that reduces crime.

When a teenager or preteen does something harmful in a suburb (I say teen because this is often where lifelong carceral cycles begin for Black and Brown communities), White communities bend over backwards to find alternatives to incarceration for their loved ones to "protect their future," like community service or rehab or restorative measures. Why don't we treat Black and Brown people the same way? Why doesn't the criminal system care about Black teens' futures? Why doesn't the news use Black people's graduation or family photos in stories the way they do when they cover White people (eg. Brock Turner) who commit harmful crimes? Affluent White suburbs also design their own lives so that they walk through the world without having much interruption or interaction with police at all, aside from community events and speeding tickets (and many of these communities try to reduce those, too!)

Just starting THERE would be a dramatically and radically different world than what we are experiencing now."

[LakeVermilion]

1. I would guess that most urban police officers

apply for suburban jobs. That leaves the violence prone cops in the urban areas. Most suburban police don't have the edge that urban cops have.

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. She is 100% correct.

I'm watching this play out with one of my son's former soccer teammates. If the kid was poor and/or a minority, he'd be sitting in a jail cell for the next ten to fifteen years. Instead, he's starting college and waiting for the pandemic-delayed court system to listen to his expensive lawyer. The local f***ing school system, with no sense of community awareness at all, put the kid on their social media as an example of the best of the graduating senior classes in our county this year.

[MyOwnPeace]

3. Brilliant response!

Someone needs to "help" her with what she says and when, but MAN, is she ever a powerhouse!
Anybody that can PIZZ off that many RepubliCons that fast HAS to be good!!

[NJCher]

6. I don't see that she needs any help

She knows what to say and when to say it.

She is a natural at politics.

We are very lucky to have her.

We cannot be concerned about making republicans angry. Look who they are calling "far left:" Joe Biden. They will call anyone "far left."

[MyOwnPeace]

8. I'm referring to the time when she says things

that aren't necessarily bringing our/her own party together. These comments often cost here some support within the party, especially at a time when it would be more advantageous to be showing a very strong united front.

I agree - we ARE lucky to have her. And she will be even more valuable if we can harness that energy into a common direction for the whole party.

[Mariana]

12. Most of the people who squawk about her timing or choice of words or whatever

never supported her, liked her, or respected her to begin with.

[rickyhall]

14. Right. What & when don't matter. They'd yell anyway 'cause she ain't white.

[Mariana]

15. And she's female, and she's young.

Lots of reasons for the racists, sexists, and ageists to dislike her.

[Throckmorton]

23. She is all those things, and IMVHO, one more,

She is the future that I hope to live to see.

[robbob]

26. I would give most people here at DU the benefit of the doubt.

I don’t think there are a lot of openly sexist, racist or ageist individuals here on DU. AOC represents a new generation of Democrats and she’s not afraid to call out the status quo. I love her for it, but I understand some people who worry it causes division within the party when the times we live in call for a strong united front.

[Trumpocalypse]

38. Most here on DU support AOC

Unfortunately there are a handful that hate as much as any FAUX News host.

[MyOwnPeace]

16. Not here - and that's just too much of a generalized "sweep" to take.

I LOVE her, support her, and truly do respect her.

My point about the "whatever" (as you call it) is - there are times to poke the fire, and times to enjoy the heat.

EXAMPLE: The recent convention:

From the Washington Post: While the address was diplomatic, the New York Democrat — who did not mention Biden once — has been working with liberal groups to oust centrists like Biden in hopes of strengthening liberals’ foothold in Congress next year. And they’re already poised to increase their numbers, expanding their clout as they seek to push the House — and the next Democratic president — into embracing policies such as Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rep-ocasio-cortezs-convention-speech-to-serve-as-warning-to-democratic-establishment-and-biden/2020/08/18/28c3d34a-e155-11ea-8dd2-d07812bf00f7_story.html

Seriously? The convention to nominate the person who will hopefully be our next President and lead us out of this abyss - she never mentions his name?
HEY, this is your/our party! Let's win this and we'll fight on from there!

And before:

From Politico: “She needs to decide: Does she want to be an effective legislator or just continue being a Twitter star?” said one House Democrat who’s in lockstep with Ocasio Cortez’s ideology. “There’s a difference between being an activist and a lawmaker in Congress.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/11/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-democrats-establisment-1093728

Again, come on - we need to work TOGETHER - yes, "old veterans" and "fresh blood" to get this all done.

What you are claiming is really no different the other way - she's had occasions where she's not supporting, liking, or respecting others in her own party.

She can be a powerful and effective member of the party - if she chooses to work with the party to build it up rather than tear it down. And that is an asset that we can't afford to lose - or waste!

[Cuthbert Allgood]

34. So she was tasked with seconding the nomination for Sanders

and she was supposed to talk about Biden in her 90 seconds? That's ridiculous. She did the job given to her and she did it splendidly.

[MyOwnPeace]

37. And the other points - they're "ridiculous" too?

You missed the point about "supporting the party" - easily done in her 90 seconds.........

[Trumpocalypse]

39. She does support the party

Endorsing a primary challenger to an incumbent, as Nancy Pelosi is doing, isn’t not supporting the party.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

40. So instead of saying she nominates Sanders, like they asked her, she should have said:

"Boy that Joe Biden is great. He's the best and he's going to make a great president. Also, I'm so happy that I'm in the Democratic party that I support whole heartedly.

Oh, yeah, I nominate Sanders for out nominee to be president."

Both of those points are just another reason to pile on a young, smart, progressive woman of power that some people don't like for some reason.

[soldierant]

65. I have a progressive friend who dodn't like AOC.

I asked her why and it turned out that - remember that dance video from college? My friend had gotten the idea that AOC had released that as a vanity move. I explained that, no, she never released that, it was just something she did in college, and that Republicans had dug it up to try to make her look shallow. She only said "oh" and the conversation moved. But two weeks later, AOC told Ted Yoho exactly what she thought of him ... and my friend called me just to tell me that she LOVES AOC.

Moral to this story is how easy it is to let Republican lies slip into the brain, even when we shoud know better.

[mdbl]

88. All republican politics is just a hate factory

It started with mush lumpballs and has continued to this day. They hate Hillary, they hate Pelosi, they hate AOC and on and on and on. I hope we are getting to the end of this type of discourse. It really sucks. Obviously the idiocracy still sucks it in enough that Trump has an approval rating. How does that happen? Hate works as a tool to rally very stupid people. I don't care if they don't like the label. They are just stupid. Yes I am talking about people that listen to right wing talk radio, fux news channel and OAN. You people are ignorant idiots!

[Voltaire2]

94. do you have a clue how condescending this is?

[George II]

4. That's actually not correct. I've lived in all kinds of neighborhoods and never saw....

....a significant difference between the police forces except for the number of officers.

[Dem4Life1102]

31. White neighborhoods?

And she is correct

[George II]

32. In some neighborhoods perhaps, as a blanket statement it's incorrect.

[Dem4Life1102]

33. It's not a blanket statement

You're mischaracterizing what she said.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

35. You've lived in "all kinds of neighborhood"

but you never saw a difference in the way police interacted with the population in affluent suburbs vs inner city?

Were you awake when you lived in all those places?

[George II]

42. As I said elsewhere here earlier, in some neighborhoods perhaps....

...as a blanket statement it's incorrect.

As for your sarcastic second question, yes I was.

[uponit7771]

52. That's contradictory response at best, you can't have it both ways either the cops treated folk

... different in different racial make up and affluencey in neighborhoods or they don't

[George II]

54. They do in some, they don't in others. That's exactly my point. It's not valid to generalize this.

[uponit7771]

55. BULL FUCKIN SHIT !!! The cops ... DO ... treat black people different no matter what neighborhood

... I'm black and I lived in extremely affluent neighborhoods that are black and white and that did not matter.

You're black, the cops treat you different based on my skin color ... PERIOD.

No, people are protesting WORLDWIDE ... not because "they do in some, and they don't in other"

[George II]

61. But that has nothing to do with the premise and quote in the OP, which is attempting to....

....differentiate police in suburban areas and those in inner cities - suggesting (and I don't mean the author of the OP, but the person being quoted in the OP) that as a rule suburbans police are different than those in inner cities.

That is simply not true as a rule. It may be true in some suburbs but certainly not all.

I presume this is in reference to the horrible shooting this weekend in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which alone disproves that generalization. Remember, Kenosha is a small town about 30 miles south of Milwaukee and 50-60 miles north of Chicago. People living in Kenosha commute to either Milwaukee or Chicago (less, due to its further distance) By many people's standards, it qualifies as a "suburban" town. And yet the shooting still occurred there.

[uponit7771]

63. My wifes friend lived in Kenosha it's like Topeka and not a suburb of Chi vs it's own city that's

... been sprawled upon by cost of living in Chi.

The cops in Kenosha didn't have body cams, they don't want to spend the money on things that keep people safe.

Kenosha is not a suburb of Chi

[George II]

66. Kenosha is considered a suburb of both Chicago and Milwaukee:

https://getfoodanddrink.com/is-kenosha-a-suburb-of-chicago/#:~:text=The%20short%20answer%20is%20yes,Combined%20Statistical%20Area%20(CSA).

Is Kenosha a Suburb of Chicago?

The short answer is yes, Kenosha is considered a suburb of Chicago. According to the United States Census Bureau, Kenosha is in the Chicago Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The CSA is an area with “economic ties measured by commuting patterns.”

https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/kenosha-kenosha-wi/

Kenosha is a suburb of Milwaukee with a population of 99,810. Kenosha is in Kenosha County. Living in Kenosha offers residents a dense suburban feel...

[uponit7771]

71. As I said it was sprawled on by Chi workers but its 65 miles away from Chi proper, and only ...

... considered chi burb because of the workers not geography seeing again its 65 miles away from Chi proper.

No one in Chi consider Kenosha a part of Chi like Schaumburg Village or no one is LA consider Bakersfield a part of LA metro like Castaic cause Kenosha and Bakersfield are both cities too far away.

Kenosha is a bad example of a suburb in your position.

Grand Prairie Texas would be perfect though, very mixed income but a PD that's resourced and diverse and doesn't treat its citizens like dirt.

Its plurality white cop PDs patrolling plurality PoC areas that are screwing things up no matter what the geographical or income make up of the area

[LAS14]

79. Baloney. Kenosha is a suburb of neither. I grew up one town south and we weren't a suburb either.

[Voltaire2]

97. the poster is never wrong

even when the poster is wrong the poster is never wrong

[George II]

114. .....

[Hassin Bin Sober]

111. Lol.

I’ve been in the Chicago area my entire life. This is the first I’m hearing Kenosha is a suburb of Chicago.

Never fails though in these AOC threads. She ruffles some feathers just by being.

[George II]

115. Lol.

https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/kenosha-kenosha-wi/

Kenosha is a suburb of Milwaukee with a population of 99,810.

https://wgntv.com/news/ask-wgn/where-do-the-chicago-suburbs-actually-end-its-complicated/

....the suburbs end to the west at the Fox River, to the south along the Lincoln Highway, and stretch along the train lines as far south as Michigan City, IN and as far north as Kenosha, WI.

[Lordquinton]

116. I'm missing where in that quote she makes a blanket statement

You're the only one saying anything about a rule here.

[George II]

117. I guess it's all in the way one chooses to read it. As for me a lot has happened since Monday.

[Lordquinton]

120. So you choose to read into it

something that wasn't in it?

[George II]

121. Perhaps that's what you're doing? Seems curious that in a thread that's been dormant....

...you zero in on the 117th post to comment two days later.

[LAS14]

119. She wasn't saying the "police" are different. She was sying the "system" is different.

The police may arrest in exactly equal fashion, but once they get into the system, young people are treated differently. In the suburbs all efforts are made to save them from a life of crime. Not so in the cities.

[oldsoftie]

45. You are correct. She just wants a talking point.

And she ignores the large number of black people who have moved into the suburbs over the past 30 years.

[uponit7771]

51. Based on reality you and the poster are wrong, we can see there's a difference in communities

... and the way people in those communities are treated.

All lives do ... NOT ... matter (black lives mean less to cops) and the communities are treated different by cops, fuck this bullshit

[Lucky Luciano]

83. The intentionally obtuse responses you are getting are less about the topic at hand...

...and more about his vehement animosity towards AOC.

[uponit7771]

49. She's right, you're wrong and the skin color does make a difference based on reality not what

... you or I feel

[George II]

53. It's right in some neighborhoods, but not all. It's an oversimplification overlooking....

....the reality of life in all sorts of communities in America.

What may be seen in some inner city neighborhoods can also be seen in suburban communities. And what might be considered the "norm" in so-called suburban communities could also be seen in inner city neighborhoods.

The United States is a country of 330,000,000+ people, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of communities. To say that something applies to ALL communities of a certain type is incorrect.

But I didn't grow up in an upper middle class town that is about 95% white.

[melman]

56. "But I didn't grow up in an upper middle class town that is about 95% white."

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[George II]

76. Yorktown Heights, a suburb of NYC, is 95% white, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 2% Hispanic.

[Lucky Luciano]

85. I'm quite literally from Yorktown Heights - South Deerfield Avenue!

You are right - super white town. Totally middle class town, especially compared to the rest of westchester county. The upper middle class types were the IBMers working at the TJ Watson research center and the occasional doctor or lawyer. Many of the kids had dads who were cops, firefighters, mechanics, plumbers, roofers, teachers (like my parents), etc. so, it was more affordable than Scarsdale, Bedford, Irvington, etc. Very few homes over $1M on Zillow. The rest of Westchester outside of Peekskill and Mount Vernon is filled with million dollar homes and more. Admittedly, some of those working class people have been pushed to Dutchess county, but plenty of homes can still be had for $350K today in Yorktown. Since it has a lot of white working class, it is a much more Covid-45 friendly town than the rest of Westchester, which my Facebook account confirms sadly.

[melman]

105. So what's your point?

This invalidates everything Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says?

[George II]

107. No one said that at all. I made my point, just read through the thread.

[melman]

109. You said, "But I didn't grow up in an upper middle class town that is about 95% white."

So since Rep. Ocasio-Cortez supposedly did what does this say about her? Please expand on this.

[George II]

110. I made my point, just read through the thread.

[uponit7771]

57. It's a deflection to minimize the overall treatment of blacks to the exception vs obvious rule ...

... treat you different based on skin color.

[George II]

62. But the quotes in the the OP contain absolutely no reference to skin color or race, they refer to...

....types of neighborhoods.

[melman]

67. "But the quotes in the the OP contain absolutely no reference to skin color or race"

"The good news is that it actually doesn't take a ton of imagination. It looks like a suburb.

Affluent white communities already live in a world where they choose to fund youth, health, housing, etc. more than they fund police.These communities have lower crime rates not because they have more police, but because they have more resources to support healthy society in a way that reduces crime.

When a teenager or preteen does something harmful in a suburb (I say teen because this is often where lifelong carceral cycles begin for Black and Brown communities), White communities bend over backwards to find alternatives to incarceration for their loved ones to "protect their future," like community service or rehab or restorative measures. Why don't we treat Black and Brown people the same way? Why doesn't the criminal system care about Black teens' futures? Why doesn't the news use Black people's graduation or family photos in stories the way they do when they cover White people (eg. Brock Turner) who commit harmful crimes? Affluent White suburbs also design their own lives so that they walk through the world without having much interruption or interaction with police at all, aside from community events and speeding tickets (and many of these communities try to reduce those, too!)

Just starting THERE would be a dramatically and radically different world than what we are experiencing now."

[George II]

69. My initial point was that she's generalizing the makeup of "suburbs", which is false.....

Some suburbs are far from affluent mostly white communities, some aren't.

Some suburbs of New Haven CT are a mix of white, black, Hispanic, affluent, working middle class, and poor. They don't fit what she's trying to convince us of.

Same thing for some suburbs of NYC, Boston, Chicago/Milwaukee (of which Kenosha is a suburb), etc.

How did I know you'd chime in and respond to me in minutes?

[melman]

72. Do you still believe 99% of police are good...

...as you said here?

[George II]

73. For the most part, yes. Do you want to defund Chris Swanson?

[melman]

74. Okay

I wasn't aware cops were funded individually. That's interesting.

[George II]

78. If his department is defunded he will be defunded.

[Trumpocalypse]

75. So where are all the good cops

when the bad cops are murdering innocent people?

[George II]

77. We don't see reports on good cops doing their jobs. Maybe we should see more of that.

[Trumpocalypse]

82. Nor do we ever see them stopping

or denouncing the bad cops murdering people.

[Voltaire2]

99. Maybe you could start a Blue Lives Matter group here!

[George II]

100. Please elaborate, why?

[Voltaire2]

101. to keep us informed about all the great things cops are doing!

[George II]

102. My point is, in case you missed it, is not all members of every group are bad because some members..

....are.

I'm not interested in condemning entire groups because of some in those groups.

Are all Presidents inept and corrupt because donald trump is?
Are all governors corrupt because Blagojevich is?

etc., etc.

Your turn.

[Voltaire2]

103. All the more reason why you should start your group.

You need to get the good news out.

[George II]

104. The good news, as you put it, is out there. Some just choose to refuse that it exists.

[melman]

106. There have been protests all summer long...

...do you really think think this was based on 1% of police?

[melman]

108. Ha!

Seriously.

[Voltaire2]

95. OMFG

this post is a keeper!

[George II]

98. You're welcome to add it to your library.

[Grins]

5. Dallas Police Chief agreed

Said police are the go-to for ANY problem because there is no other alternative, because towns and cities don’t want to PAY FOR THEM.

Problem with angry person, elderly, youth, neighbor’s dog - call the cops.

Police station/jails have become hospital wards because the locals don’t want TO PAY THE TAXES for people to get the help they really need. Sound familiar?

[SunSeeker]

44. Yep. nt

[Amishman]

68. We need those services - on top of our current police force

Defund the police is a bad message and a bad concept.

Therapists and social workers are not able the help everyone. We need police too.

[iluvtennis]

7. Right on, AOC. nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

9. Brilliant AOC!

[Lucinda]

10. KNR

[ananda]

11. I believe we have to tackle for profit entities first.

The whole criminal justice system, both the privatized
and the ones funded with the use of military equipment,
depend on the exacerbation of poverty and deep,
systemic racism and xenophobia for their existence.

Many people and corporations are profiting from this
system.

This whole system, including privatized entities and
millitarized ones, needs to be completely dismantled.

[safeinOhio]

13. The fewer incidents of bad policing,

the more dollars for cops. If they pullover and arrest more minorities than others, the fewer dollars. Reward good behavior and raise the pay for good cops.

[budkin]

17. She is AWESOME

Smart and eloquent.

[LisaM]

18. I do not like the phrase "de-fund the police".

While I think we all agree with the basic concepts here, I think it's about the worst tagline ever.

Someone has got to come with a better phrase.

[Efilroft Sul]

20. Neighborhood investment

Or community investment, if you like.

I think that is the gist of how AOC describes suburbs and their emphasis on not making incarceration a priority. Neighborhood investment is about how we want funds to be allocated so we are served better, and are made safer in the process.

[LisaM]

21. As I said, I think we all basically agree.

But that framing just plays into conservative hands, IMO.

[Efilroft Sul]

25. It might, without a proper defense.

I think any rebranding of de-fund the police risks conservative manipulation — even something like "police accountability," because conservatives don't want the police to be held accountable for killing black people and beating up protestors.

Gotta admit, though, I'm almost curious to hear conservative arguments about why they wouldn't want to invest in their own communities. I'd like to know why they wouldn't want to end the opioid crisis that ravage their voters, or why they don't care if rural hospitals shutter their doors for good. They need to tell us why they don't want to address the problems they were elected to solve for their communities. We need to put them back on their heels so everyone knows them for what they really are, instead of worrying about how they'll reframe our better solution. So, I'll stick with neighborhood investment.

[Dave Starsky]

29. I frankly think that term is being pushed by the RW.

I agree that it's a stupid way to frame it and just provides red meat for the GOP.

[melman]

43. In my opinion what plays into conservatives' hands

is backing away from important things because we're worried about what conservatives will say.


Defunding is the right thing to call it because that's what it is. That's exactly what needs to happen.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

36. Well, the goal would be to take funds from the police

and give said funds to organizations that can do the job better.

Sure, it's not a great 2-second phrase, but it's a complex process.

[mjvpi]

46. Bad framing. Great point

It’s too easy to write off as a move towards chaos

[George II]

50. To many it has the wrong connotation. It's the wrong word to use, and now it's being used....

....to mean different things.

Its been reduced to a buzzword.

[eilen]

92. Agreed. Words mean things. nt

[yonder]

19. What a great response. That one can be taken to the bank.

[Cattledog]

22. K&R!!!!!

[Johnny2X2X]

24. So true

As someone who grew up in a diverse neighborhood with public school kids, but went to a private school, the difference was very clear to me. Suburban friends vs urban friends I had lived completely different lives for the most part. Suburban kids got breaks and chances when they screwed up, urban kids doing the same things saw the inside of juvenile detention and their lives getting ruined.

No difference in the character of suburban vs urban kids, different environment and different consequences are what lead to the different outcomes.

[Hekate]

27. She is eloquent, & gives voice to ideas that allow others to understand...

...if they have even a sliver of an open mind for the light to come in.

[lunatica]

28. There she goes being a nasty woman again.

Trying to upset god’s plan!

SOCIALIST!!!

[oldsoftie]

60. HA!

[Mossfern]

30. I think it's a misleading slogan

It's the justice system, not necessarily the police. I live in a small suburban town and our police budget is outrageously high. It's a judge who can send a kid to rehabilitation or to fulfill public service or send him/her to jail. Not the police. I would like to think that the police where I live cost so much because of all the training they get. IMHO "defunding the police" will lead to less training.

Yes, I understand the issue. I worked for the County in our equivalent of the Welfare to Work program; most clients from "black and brown" communities.

[LAS14]

80. She's not saying it's the police. She's saying it's the allocation of resources. Resources...

... to give young offenders a chance.

[Mossfern]

84. I agree, therfore

the slogan "defund the police" is misleading.
We have to be very careful about how the message of slogans may be perceived.

[LAS14]

86. I agree. But the phrase isn't hers. She was answering a question. nt

[Mossfern]

87. True

and that gives her the perfect opportunity, every time that slogan is mentioned, to clarify.

[Volaris]

41. Well that's a homerun ball on a hung pitch lol!

Good on her!

[oldsoftie]

47. She's ignoring the fact that "the suburbs" have become increasingly mixed over the past 30 yrs.

Blacks have moved into the suburbs continually since the 80s. And in the South especially.

[uponit7771]

58. ... and blacks get treated different there too. WTF !? I'm one of them, they don't give a fuck if ..

... I'm one of the different ones or whatever their racist azzes want to call someone.

One time a cop stopped me cause my car looked good, fuck him ... it doesn't matter ... its my skin color

They'll murder me in front of my kids too.

[Voltaire2]

96. the cops would never do something like shoot somebody in the back in a car full of kids.

never.

[SunSeeker]

48. She is comparing downtown/East LA and the Orange County suburbs perfectly, I must say.

A group of teens caught trespassing late at night on private property in downtown LA will be arrested for trespassing and suspected of being gang members.

In my white neighborhood in the Orange Country suburbs, the cops just have the white kids call their parents to come pick them up (happened to my son and his friends, swear to God!). And you wonder why white people love cops? The cops in my neighborhood actually protect our kids and their futures. But then again, we're white.

The Latino folks I worked with in downtown LA? Their sons never got a break. And their neighborhood was crime infested. So they distrusted cops because cops didn't seem to be helping them in any way.

[George II]

89. But she's painting ALL suburbs with the same brush, which is entirely incorrect. For example....

...out of curiosity I looked up the demographics of NYC suburbs that I lived in over the years, they are entirely different.

In chronological order (with % of white, Black, Asian, and Hispanic):

Fort Lee NJ (just across the Hudson) - 40, 2, 43, 15
Yonkers NY - 55, 20, 6, 19
White Plains NY - 61, 11, 8, 20
Carmel NY - 77, 3, 7, 13

And then Yorktown Heights NY, where she grew up - 94, 1, 3, 2

Five suburban NYC communities, ALL entirely different. So claiming that "suburbs" as a whole are this, that, and the other is incorrect. Each and every one has a different demographic, economic level, etc. No two are alike and they should not be lumped into the same category.

[SunSeeker]

91. True. There are certainly suburbs of LA that get treated differently than Orange County.

And not so coincidentally, those other suburbs are further inland, poorer, and more diverse.

She goes on to indicate that the suburb she has in mind is an "affluent white communit(y)," but certainly not all suburbs fit that description.

[progressive nobody]

59. She is Amazing. she is absolutely right.

[cstanleytech]

64. Answer is not to defund them rather to reform them and a very aggressive reform at that.

First steps would be halting any new hires while the training and selection process is revamped to weed out as many problems as possible before they ever hit the streets.
To make sure though that this is done nationwide and is the same in each state it needs to be by a set federal standard and any states that refuses gets its federal funding and spending cut in half.
Next should be a complete and through review of current officers and any that have a substantial number of recent complaints over a 48 month period or have been reprimanded should be taken off the streets and put on permanent desk duty if not fired.
Then there is the area of reviewing the actions of officers and complaints against them the reviewing of should be taken away from the police themselves and given to some sort of independent citizens review type board (from which former and current law enforcement officers are barred from ever serving on) that has the power to suspend and even fire an officer.
After that we should then go after the prison system and other areas such as reform of the judicial system itself.

[zentrum]

70. AOC 2028!

[BeckyDem]

81. She is brilliant and determined to make this stinking world much better.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

90. Excellent. Reminds me of how people have an entierly different response to people rioting

in reaction to sporting events. I mean full scale rioting and looting because their team either won or lost an important game which never raise widespread calls for the same sort of consequences as are called for in relation to perceived riots related to protests against injustice.

[eilen]

93. I think that is a bit disingenuous

In two weeks there were 8 murders in the city of Syracuse. Not even a gunshot in the nearby suburb I live in. The police in the city are dealing with a level of violence and crime not seen in my suburb. We have a similar demographic to the suburb that AOC grew up in. Syracuse has a higher poverty rate 32.4% as compared to the Town of Clay which is 6.5%.

In every category, Syracuse crime rate is almost or more than 2x of that of the national average. The people committing these are most often gang members. For the families of Syracuse, I hope they catch the gang members who do these crimes and get convictions and long prison sentences.

[link:|]

So I don't think the police in Syracuse can approach criminal investigation and arrest in the same way. There are more people wielding deadly weapons and willing to use them.

This is the same table as above but for the Town of Clay:
[link:|]

We don't want to defund the police here. We want a decently funded police dept., we want to keep the special squads for SWAT and Drug Investigative Units and we want a Community Oversight Committee as well as require city employees (city government, police, teachers, admins, fire fighters, lawyers etc.) to live in the city. Our police dept. website has a map where people can research the crime in neighborhoods-- how many of each type has been reported. Our city (Syracuse is the county seat) has a lot of problems and many of us grew up there and have good memories and it is sad to see it decline. Mostly the factories closing are what caused people moving, and higher poverty. Good paying jobs like at Carrier, Chrysler are a couple in recent memory.

[LAS14]

112. Her point is that the violence and crime would be less in the city if the response..

... was more like it is in the suburbs in the first place. Do everything possible to get young offenders on a better path. She describes how that is different in cities and suburbs eloquently.

[Alex4Martinez]

118. Brilliant! K/R nt

[Klaralven]

122. She is wrong about suburbs supporting housing.