During the Black Lives Matter protests and riots in the summer of 2020, then-Senator Kamala Harris expressed her support for the “defund the police” movement. In a New York radio interview, Harris endorsed the BLM movement’s critique of large allocations to police departments at the expense of social services like education and housing.
When asked about the “Defund the Police” movement, Harris emphasized the need to “reimagine how we are creating safety” within the police system. She argued that simply increasing police presence in dangerous cities would not effectively reduce crime and noted that suburban neighborhoods benefit from broader access to public health and mental health services.
“This whole movement is about rightly saying, we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities,” Harris remarked, suggesting that cities were “militarizing police.”
She continued, “We need to have this conversation and critically examine and understand this is not working. It’s not working. So, this is an important conversation and not just a conversation – cause to your earlier point, it can’t just be about talk. It has to be about forcing change.”
Harris also highlighted the importance of activism, saying, “This is why, you know, I was out there with folks and we’ll, any movement, any progress we have gained has been because people took to the streets.”
Harris’ comments came shortly after the death of George Floyd, which led activists, particularly in Minneapolis, to call for defunding the police and reallocating those funds to social services. She also praised Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for his decision to cut $150 million from the police budget.
However, when Joe Biden chose Harris as his running mate for the 2020 presidential election, the campaign sought to clarify her position on police funding. In October 2020, the campaign press secretary stated, “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris do not support defunding the police, and it is a lie to suggest otherwise. Throughout her career, Sen. Harris has supported increasing funding to police departments and boosting funding for community policing.”
As Harris accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, her past remarks on police funding are likely to resurface. Despite her continued support of the BLM movement, the organization has criticized Harris, particularly for her nomination without a public voting process following Biden’s announcement not to seek re-election.
“Installing Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee and an unknown vice president without any public voting process would make the modern Democratic Party a party of hypocrites,” BLM stated.