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Majority of Blacks want 'Good Police' not calls for De-funding

A new Gallup poll conducted June 23 – July 6, shows an overwhelming majority of Black Americans, 81 percent, support either the same amount or increased police in our communities.

The surveys show 61 percent of Black Americans supported police spending the same about time in our neighborhoods, while 20 percent wanted law enforcement to spend more time on our streets. Nineteen percent said police should spend less time in our community.

The Martin Luther King Republicans support public safety and the majority of 'Good Police' in our community.

"Our police are overworked and overwhelmed. They need to be supported and not 'De-Funded', said Jimmy Lee Tillman, II, founder and president.

A recent article in Newsweek, Joycelyn Grzeszczak, writes the poll's results come amid continuing nationwide protests over police brutality and systemic racism. The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which activists founded in 2013, has led the U.S. to its largest collective push for civil rights since the 1960s.

Calls to de-fund and even abolish entire police departments are popular talking points among BLM activists. Miski Noor, an organizer, and activist with Black Visions Collective in Minnesota, recently told WBUR that abolitionists "100 percent" mean they want no more police officers.

On May 30, five days after George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, BLM called for the of de-funding police in a statement on its website.

"We call for an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and our lives to be taken," according to the statement. "We call for a national de-funding of police. We demand investment in our communities and the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive.

"While de-funding police departments wouldn't necessarily mean that fewer police officers are out on the streets, data from the Gallup poll suggests a majority of Black Americans still want a continued police presence in their communities.

The poll found that the biggest racial gaps were concerning police fairness and perceived bias. Just 18 percent of Black Americans said they felt "very confident" that local police would treat them with courtesy and respect during an interaction—a number vastly lower than the national average. The majority of U.S. adults polled (48 percent) said they were "very confident" their interaction with police would be positive.

https://www.newsweek.com/81-black-americans-dont-want-less-police-presence-despite-protestssome-want-more-cops-poll-1523093

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