Gallup Poll: 81% of Black Americans Want Same Level or More of Police Presence

Kamala Harris may be able to make these black voices matter.

Gallup’s numbers speak for themselves:

Like other Americans, Black Americans want police protection despite the fact that only 61% of Blacks are very or somewhat confident that they will be treated with courtesy and respect by police compared with 91% of Whites. Understandably, 88% of Black Americans say major police reform is needed while only 51% of Whites feel the same way.

There is national agreement that we need better policing, not less of it. People who live in crime-ridden neighborhoods need effective policing more than those in low-crime neighborhoods; and so they are hurt more when police unions protect incompetent, brutal, or racist cops from discipline (just as the people with the worst schools are hurt worst by teachers’ unions protecting incompetent teachers). Trouble is it’s hard to have the national discussion we need to have about reform – including reform of municipal unions – in the din of “defund the police”.

A Black woman police chief, who has done as good a job as she possibly could among the chaos of Seattle, has just resigned because the City Council unanimously supports drastic cuts to the police budget and refused to denounce people threatening violence at her home. Nationally the murder rate is rising alarmingly; it’s rising the most, not surprisingly, in the places which need better policing.

Kamala Harris was a pretty tough as Attorney General of both San Francisco and California, some say too tough. The leftwing (and libertarian) rap on her is that she prosecuted too many people and too few cops. She was an anti-drug warrior. But Harris, half Black and half Asian, can’t be shouted down as a spokeswoman for male white privilege. As the Vice Presidential candidate (and certainly as Vice President), she’ll be able to make the case for better police protection for Black Americans.

According to Gallup, better protection is exactly what most Black Americans want despite the hue and cry for “abolishing the police”. It took Nixon to make an opening to China and Bill Clinton to enact major welfare reform. I hope Harris can help us achieve more effective policing.

See also: ALL Black Lives Should Matter