Biden op-ed on police funding, housing and opportunity

[jon bones]

Biden: We must urgently root out systemic racism, from policing to housing to opportunity

Federal dollars should not go to departments that violate people’s rights or turn to violence as a first resort, Joe Biden says in an USA TODAY op-ed.

www.usatoday.com

Key points on how to more effectively use funds instead of growing police like a military:

we need to prevent 911 calls in scenarios where police should not be our first responders. That means making serious investments in mental health services, drug treatment and prevention programs, and services for people experiencing homelessness. That may also mean having social service providers respond to calls with police officers.

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If state and local governments fail to make necessary changes, the Department of Justice must have subpoena power for pattern or practice investigations into systemic misconduct by police departments and force these departments to reform.

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and other good notes:

We have to give local officials the tools to combat gentrification, end discriminatory lending practices, and eliminate exclusionary zoning laws designed to keep low-income people and people of color out of certain communities.

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We should be working with state, local and tribal school leaders, as well as the presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Minority Serving Institutions to develop plans for improving teacher diversity, solving the student debt crisis, and investing in these historically-underfunded institutions that are critical to our national success.

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[Vilix]

Sounds good. My only concern is that I hope he's up for the challenge. He seems feeble in his old age. My hope is that he will surround himself with capable people who aren't stooge yes men.

 

[Servbot24]

Slightly off topic but op-eds and scripted videos will be the best strategy for Biden until the live debates. His team knows what he needs to say, he just needs to avoid blunders that make him look either senile or overly sympathetic to Republicans (to the degree it will piss off Progressives - some Centrism is inevitable).

 

[GuiltyGB]

That's really great stuff and a positive step forward. I'm a black guy from the UK but this really does say something to me to see a candidate say something like this.

We'll see what happens once he gets in office though... show me not tell me.

 

[jon bones]

Sounds good. My only concern is that I hope he's up for the challenge. He seems feeble in his old age. My hope is that he will surround himself with capable people who aren't stooge yes men.

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seems that way:

Nothing about this fight will be easy. Institutions resist change. Racism has been a fixture in our society for hundreds of years. It will take leadership at the highest levels of our government — and sustained grassroots pressure from communities who will no longer stand by silently when injustices are inflicted on people of color. And, vitally, it will require all of us to examine our own conduct, our deeply ingrained habits, and our own thinking.

I'm ready to do that work, starting on day one. Nothing less is acceptable from an American president.

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[Volimar]

I think his heart is in the right place, but police departments are old hat at twisting things around to their purposes. If he wants to put more funds for community policing it needs to be strictly defined as to what the money can be used for.

 

[TraderPoe]

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

That's why I'm proposing an additional $300 million to reinvigorate community policing in our country. Every single police department should have the money they need to institute real reforms like adopting a national use of force standard, buying body cameras, and recruiting more diverse police officers.

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[Heromanz]

Now this is some funny shit. A man make his whole career over fucking over black people writing all this. You can't even make this up.
So many politicians right now

"I've always loved black people".

 

[Maxim726x]

That's really great stuff and a positive step forward. I'm a black guy from the UK but this really does say something to me to see a candidate say something like this.

We'll see what happens once he gets in office though... show me not tell me.

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He is going to need a complicit Congress... Which you will not get even if the Dems take the Senate.

Unless they finally kill the filibuster.

 

[Deleted member 23212]

Sounds good. My only concern is that I hope he's up for the challenge. He seems feeble in his old age. My hope is that he will surround himself with capable people who aren't stooge yes men.

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He's not. The United States was founded on racism, the only way to end systemic racism is by eliminating the United States. In being president, the goal would obviously be the opposite of that. So he'd only be sanitizing it.

 

[Volimar]

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

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That's already his stated position.

 

[Schreckweg 5000]

And here I am noticing that the current President never wrote and never will write an editorial.

 

[Volimar]

And here I am noticing that the current President never wrote and never will write an editorial.

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He's tried, but the sharpie fumes from his furious scribbles eventually knock him out.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

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There IS a way to fund the police in a beneficial way but it would basically mean that $300 million in funding needs to be tracked like nobody's ever tracked funding before and ensure that it's spent on actual reform and improvement, not just stockpiling military hardware like the police usually do.

If Biden can find a way to fund ACTUAL police reform and ensure that precincts and departments don't just make said funding vanish, then I don't see a problem with this. The question is if he's capable of that.

 

[GuiltyGB]

He is going to need a complicit Congress... Which you will not get even if the Dems take the Senate.

Unless they finally kill the filibuster.

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For sure not even Obama could get most of what he wanted. We'll see if great to hear him say this though, Biden is definitely better in paper than in person... lets hope he can get better on camera.

 

[RailWays]

While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments that are violating people's rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police. The better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms.

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This doesn't make much sense to me. Why give police any resources up front? If you believe they should prove meaningful results to receive federal funding then doesn't that seem counterproductive? Unless said "resources" aren't monetary.

 

[Richiek]

Sounds good. My only concern is that I hope he's up for the challenge. He seems feeble in his old age. My hope is that he will surround himself with capable people who aren't stooge yes men.

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Are we still seriously continuing this narrative of Biden's age and mental ability??

 

[Cerulean_skylark]

Sounds good. My only concern is that I hope he's up for the challenge. He seems feeble in his old age. My hope is that he will surround himself with capable people who aren't stooge yes men.

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I mean, do you think presidents typically do all this stuff alone?

 

[Eeyore]

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

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Ugh.

 

[captmcblack]

Redlining and discriminatory renting/home ownership practices need to get smashed. A good way to help with that is to extend some additional favorable loans to help Black people afford property and start amassing some generational wealth without needing to trap them with subprime shit? I dunno. I just want some help buying a damn house/condo, lol

 

[GuiltyGB]

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

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This was never, ever, ever going to happen. If you want actually change and reform it means spending more money to provide REAL training and REAL measures. That stuff does not come cheap.

 

[Dartastic]

"And so for that reason, I'm going to give police MORE money!"

This was never, ever, ever going to happen. If you want actually change and reform it means spending more money to provide REAL training and REAL measures. That stuff does not come cheap.

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Or, hear me out here, we could listen to the main demand of the black people leading this movement and defund the police and put that money into our communities. Just a thought.

 

[Deleted member 8644]

what if instead of defund the police fund the police

 

[Schreckweg 5000]

There IS a way to fund the police in a beneficial way but it would basically mean that $300 million in funding needs to be tracked like nobody's ever tracked funding before and ensure that it's spent on actual reform and improvement, not just stockpiling military hardware like the police usually do.

If Biden can find a way to fund ACTUAL police reform and ensure that precincts and departments don't just make said funding vanish, then I don't see a problem with this. The question is if he's capable of that.

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America is not enough of a dictatorship just yet that the entire budget oversight falls exclusively under the Presidents hands.

Give Trump 4 more years.

 

[Jiraiya]

Not mad at his position on social services and the police. Their unchecked power and lack of any accountability is far more damaging than the money they get. That also goes for white folk using the police as their on call enforcers.

 

[Eeyore]

This was never, ever, ever going to happen. If you want actually change and reform it means spending more money to provide REAL training and REAL measures. That stuff does not come cheap.

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I stand by that giving more money to a racist institution to ask them to train, when they've clearly shown they only attend trainings they agree with (see Grossman's predator vs. prey violent training that police around the country attend) is the wrong idea. You see it with mayors around the country, they do not hold their police and their police unions accountable whatsoever. They have no power over them. By reducing the amount of money into the police and investing more in the community you send a clear message what your priorities are. Police and their unions have refused over decades to reform themselves. I'm not sure why more money would entice them to do so.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

America is not enough of a dictatorship just yet that the entire budget oversight falls exclusively under the Presidents hands.

Give Trump 4 more years.

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The President obviously doesn't have the power to directly oversee the national budget, that's right.

However, the President isn't a magician and isn't expected to do this shit alone. The whole point would be to work with the other branches of government to ensure that the national budget is used in the right way instead of just throwing money into a black hole that produces tanks and body armor.

 

[CesareNorrez]

There need to be even bigger protests should Biden get elected. He needs to see the people that voted for him out there on the streets demanding change. He can see and say it's what the people want. Also call your elected officials pushing them to vote for bills.

 

[Elegant Weapon]

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

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yeah, This reminds me of Obama's blue lives matter bill. It's not a good thing for black Americans.

 

[Humidex]

Decent words. Any word on his VP pick yet?

 

[turtle553]

And here I am noticing that the current President never wrote and never will write an editorial.

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He wrote one, although I don't think it ran in the op-ed section:/

 

[Deleted member 198]

Ah gotta love people not reading the initial purpose of the money going to other social programs, not reading this op-ed, and then showing their ass about both

 

[Xando]

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

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This was never gonna happen otherwise you can just give trump the WH.

 

[Dartastic]

I stand by that giving more money to a racist institution to ask them to train, when they've clearly shown they only attend trainings they agree with (see Grossman's predator vs. prey violent training that police around the country attend) is the wrong idea. Police and their unions have refused over decades to reform themselves. I'm not sure why more money would entice them to do so.

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100%. The only additional money I want to see go towards the police at this point is money to help them find a new job when we lay them off.

 

[jon bones]

There need to be even bigger protests should Biden get elected. He needs to see the people that voted for him out there on the streets demanding change. He can see and say it's what the people want. Also call your elected officials pushing them to vote for bills.

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100% agree this doesn't end just by getting rid of Trump. That's only the first, critical fight we need to have to move forward.

Missing a big part here. No defunding, giving the MORE money

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Your options are that or 4 more years of Trump. "Defunding the police" will kill a campaign reliant on getting a chunk of suburban white votes.

Ah gotta love people not reading the initial purpose of the money going to other social programs, not reading this op-ed, and then showing their ass about both

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That old study was true - you show people facts, and they just dig their heels in further.

Decent words. Any word on his VP pick yet?

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No, but I think it's Harris.

 

[GuiltyGB]

"And so for that reason, I'm going to give police MORE money!"

Or, hear me out here, we could listen to the main demand of the black people leading this movement and defund the police and put that money into our communities. Just a thought.

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I honestly don't think that's how it works though.. they will have a community budget and a police budget and I doubt they will move money from one budget to another. The best push is to get them to spend more on both.... maybe I'm cynical.

But I do agree that it's all down to putting more into communities and into people.

 

[Elegant Weapon]

I stand by that giving more money to a racist institution to ask them to train, when they've clearly shown they only attend trainings they agree with (see Grossman's predator vs. prey violent training that police around the country attend) is the wrong idea. You see it with mayors around the country, they do not hold their police and their police unions accountable whatsoever. They have no power over them. By reducing the amount of money into the police and investing more in the community you send a clear message what your priorities are. Police and their unions have refused over decades to reform themselves. I'm not sure why more money would entice them to do so.

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At some point, we have to assume that people who expect the police to reform themselves do not have the best intentions for black Americans

100% agree this doesn't end just by getting rid of Trump. That's only the first, critical fight we need to have to move forward.



Your options are that or 4 more years of Trump. "Defunding the police" will kill a campaign reliant on getting a chunk of suburban white votes.

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Either way, more white supremacy. Excuse people if we don't eat shit with a smile

 

[GuiltyGB]

I stand by that giving more money to a racist institution to ask them to train, when they've clearly shown they only attend trainings they agree with (see Grossman's predator vs. prey violent training that police around the country attend) is the wrong idea. You see it with mayors around the country, they do not hold their police and their police unions accountable whatsoever. They have no power over them. By reducing the amount of money into the police and investing more in the community you send a clear message what your priorities are. Police and their unions have refused over decades to reform themselves. I'm not sure why more money would entice them to do so.

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I agree. They haven't shown us anything which deserves merit on these issues... but. To rip up the paper and start again takes resources.. new bodies and new staff to keep everyone in check. Even just adding more body cameras and reducing fire arms on all police would cost a hell of a lot. I think it can work... but it'll only work with transparency. Maybe their should be a national vote on how to make the reforms?

 

[Dodongo]

He wrote one, although I don't think it ran in the op-ed section:/

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Even now we've got drive-by posters taking shots at Biden and trying to lock us into four more years of Trump.

 

[discotheque]

While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments that are violating people's rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police. The better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms.

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So he's not cutting the police a blank check. The money is to be used for reform efforts, and if those reforms are not completed the PDs will be cut off from other federal funds. Sounds reasonable.

 

[Sou Da]

Someone make the more relevant thread about Joe proposing to give the cops more money before I do with a title that y'all won't like.

 

[TraderPoe]

This was never, ever, ever going to happen. If you want actually change and reform it means spending more money to provide REAL training and REAL measures. That stuff does not come cheap.

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The police are already getting the majority of funding in their respective cities. Why do they need more? You can re-allocate budgets to do this AND still defund them by 50%.

This was never gonna happen otherwise you can just give trump the WH.

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Your options are that or 4 more years of Trump. "Defunding the police" will kill a campaign reliant on getting a chunk of suburban white votes.

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Stop fearmongering. We can modify a policy without fear of "just having trump". You're fabricating an ultimatum that doesn't actually exist right now. Republicans create and pass unpopular legislation all the time.

 

[NCR Ranger]

Far better than Trump, but you are still shit Biden.

I get you ain't going to say "Defund the Police", but you could at least run with the ideas if not the phrase. Instead, you keep pushing the dumb shit idea that the police just lack the money to change. Fuck that.

 

[TraderPoe]

Seattle has had police reform, and we still have issues, look at what's happening. Do you think we can just throw some money at the police to re-build a systemic culture of racism? That is extremely naive and shows that you have not been paying attention.

 

[maxxpower]

Great, more money for the police. Fuck that noise. How about you stop hiring white supremacists.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

"That's why I'm proposing an additional $300 million to reinvigorate community policing in our country. Every single police department should have the money they need to institute real reforms like adopting a national use of force standard, buying body cameras, and recruiting more diverse police officers."

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Body cameras and use of force standards are all well and good but they already exist in plenty of places and aren't enough as it is.

Recruiting more diverse officers means nothing because as we've seen countless times, blue is blue. These are things people have been doing for years now and are ultimately tiny little ticks on the scale, if that.

These are not real reforms. They're the same BS we've been seeing for like decades now.

As others have said, Police Unions can and will just ignore whatever comes down on them. The system is fatally BROKEN.

 

[Schreckweg 5000]

Far better than Trump, but you are still shit Biden.

I get you ain't going to say "Defund the Police", but you could at least run with the ideas if not the phrase. Instead, you keep pushing the dumb shit idea that the police just lack the money to change. Fuck that.

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While you might not say the truth, I might not be able to back up the first part of the sentence.

 

[GuiltyGB]

The police are already getting the majority of funding in their respective cities. Why do they need more? You can re-allocate budgets to do this AND still defund them by 50%.

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Yes. I agree. I'm just cynical, I expect that most unions won't agree to a change of funding in certain areas from the start, change is never so easy. You would have needed Sanders to get such radical change. I'm trying to put things into context since Biden is much more moderate.

 

[medinaria]

Stop fearmongering. We can modify a policy without fear of "just having trump". You're fabricating an ultimatum that doesn't actually exist right now. Republicans create and pass unpopular legislation all the time.

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nope, everything joe biden says is how it Must Be

he has looked through all possible futures, and arrived at the only one that allows anyone to beat trump. we must uncritically support literally everything he does, or else we will lose the election and, by extension, all of america forever

 

[msdstc]

I hated biden in the primary, he's still so ridiculously far from ideal, but given the contrast to trump he has me downright giddy for election day