Asked whether defunding the police was necessary, Democratic activist Stacey Abrams said it was a “false choice idea.”
Ms. Abrams, a failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate who has campaigned for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination, told ABC that people need to avoid getting bogged down in the rhetoric of defunding police amid nationwide protests about policing and racial justice.
“We have to have a transformation of how we view the role of law enforcement, how we view the construct of public safety, and how we invest not only in the work that we need them to do to protect us but the work that we need to do to protect and build our communities,” Ms. Abrams said. “And that’s the conversation we’re having: We’ll use different language to describe it, but fundamentally we must have reformation and transformation.”
Ms. Abrams said it is time for Americans to take responsibility and have accountability for actions taken earlier in the nation’s history and said the “day of reckoning is going to continue until we actually make change.”
Ms. Abrams has openly expressed her desire to serve as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, but Ms. Abrams said last week that she received no calls from Mr. Biden’s team regarding the running mate role.
