Sunny Hostin on Obama’s ‘defund the police’ comments: ‘He’s wrong’
'Defunding the police does not mean eliminating police departments.'
On Wednesday’s episode of The View, co-host Sunny Hostin slammed Barack Obama’s opinion about the “defund the police” movement.
The former president contends that broad rallying cries such as this contributed to losses in the 2020 elections cycle. During an interview with the Snapchat original show Good Luck America, Obama said “snappy” slogans can alienate people, theGrio previously reported.
“I guess you can use a snappy slogan like ”defund the police,’ but you know you loss a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely you’re going to get the changes you want done,” Obama said.
READ MORE: Obama: Candidates lose support with ‘snappy’ slogans like ‘defund the police’
Hostin responded to Obama’s comments by noting that “I’m always loathe to criticize President Obama because I’m such a fan, but I do think he’s wrong here.”
She added, “When you think about ‘defund the police,’ that’s not a term that was crowdsourced or tested in focus groups. You know, that’s a term that was born, a rallying cry, out of this over-policing of Black and Brown communities.”
Hostin then explained that “Defund he police” does not mean “eliminating police departments, stripping agencies for all of their money,” she said. “It’s the reimagining of policing in this country to address systematic racism.”
READ MORE: Barack Obama’s memoir sells over 887,000 copies in 1 day
“We defund school programs all the time, and they call it defunding school programs, yet no one seems to have a problem with that, but people all of a sudden have a problem with defunding the police,” Hostin continued, making clear that the movement should not welcome people who suggest changing its tone.
She reminded viewers that Obama was once a community organizer before entering office, so he ought to known better.
Obama is currently on a media tour promoting his memoir titled “A Promised Land,” which sold more than 887,000 copies on its first day of release.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!
