Minneapolis City Council President Defends Plan to Dismantle Police: Expecting Help Is ‘Privilege’

Monday on CNN’s “New Day,” Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender defended her council’s attempt to disband the Minneapolis police department following the death of George Floyd.

Bender said, “I think in Minneapolis, watching George Floyd’s death, and the actions of the four police officers that were involved has been a huge wake-up call for so many in Minneapolis to see what many already knew, which is that our police department is not keeping every member of our community safe. And so I think step one for us is to tell the truth. Nine council members from communities all across the city of all different backgrounds, standing together, to tell the truth, and say, this system isn’t working for too many of our neighbors for too long. Our reform efforts have failed, and we have done many, many attempts at reform and new leadership in the department and many things, and we still see this tragic death. And so I think the wake-up of our community is what’s driving the city council’s announcement yesterday. And now the hard work begins for us to rebuild systems that really work to keep all of our communities safe.”