EXCLUSIVE: Activist Tamika Mallory Explains Term “Defund The Police”: There’s A Big Difference Between Abolishment And Defunding

EXCLUSIVE: Activist Tamika Mallory Explains Term “Defund The Police”: There’s A Big Difference Between Abolishment And Defunding

In the reawakening of civil unrest in 2020, a light has really shone on impactful activists who are on the frontlines working for equal rights of Blacks in the United States.  Tamika Mallory, in particular, has played an integral part in voicing the demands of the community, such as defunding the police.

In an exclusive interview with theJasmineBRAND, Tamika Mallory explains her stance on the term “defund the police,” and how it differs from abolishing the police.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by the Jasmine BRAND (@thejasminebrand)

She explains,

“So, I definitely support the term ‘defund the police.’  I am not the author of it, but I have adopted the language…especially thinking about Black Lives Matter and the organization and the movement of Black lives and others who have really coined the phrase and have been pushing it out there.  I support it 100%.”

Tamika Mallory continued,

“Number one–it’s not what I think defund means, I know what it means, because there’s a big difference between abolishment and defunding. Abolish police would be to get rid of police forever, right?  And, I am an abolitionist, and there are many who are, who believe that one day we could get to a place where we have a different system for addressing, you know, rape, and murder and things that require people who might not be able to function in society with the rest of us…to put them somewhere or deal with them in some way. Which, I also believe that if you back up and deal with the mental health issue in our community, you may actually be able to reduce some of even the rape and the murder and other things, because we’re passing down generational trauma, and that has to be addressed. So I do believe that one day we can abolish police.”

Blacks across the nation have been killed, both on and off camera at an alarming rate to which Tamika Mallory says “we are in a state of emergency.”  To the point of defunding the police, she says that

“There are billions of dollars in blown up budgets being spent with police every single year.”

She continued to explain that defunding simply means to “take some of that money away,” and apply it to issues like mental health, poverty, drug use and gun violence.

Do you agree with defunding the police like Tamika Mallory?  Write your thoughts below.