Letters to the Editor: Karen Bass knows ‘defund the police’ is a fringe idea. Her leftist critics don’t

 A woman in a blue pantsuit addresses people in a park. One person in the crowd is holding up a 'Karen Bass for mayor' sign.
Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) addresses constituents and volunteers for her mayoral marketing campaign in Pan Pacific Park on Feb. 12.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)

To the editor: Democrat Karen Bass is my consultant in Congress. I voted for her in 2020 and would enthusiastically achieve this once more. Nonetheless, being mayor of Los Angeles requires totally different expertise, and I've not selected the mayoral race but.

The Occasions’ article on her failure to draw full help from “the left” quotes Melina Abdullah and Patrisse Cullors (described as longtime leaders of the Black Lives Matter motion) as decrying Bass’ “pandering to prosperous white Westside and Valley voters on the expense of Black, Latinx and working-class ones.”

As a type of white, Westside liberals, I've to chortle at their vanity and presumptuousness.

Polls that I've seen prior to now few years present, first, little or no help amongst Black voters for the concept of “defunding” the police if which means eliminating the police and even reducing again on the crimes to which officers reply; and second, that the time period “Latinx” is seldom used amongst Latinos.

I may very well be improper, however I'm not shopping for that Cullors and Abdullah communicate for a good portion of the citizens.

Andrew E. Rubin, Los Angeles

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To the editor: After the homicide of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer in 2020 in addition to different civil rights violations and acts of violence dedicated by police in opposition to Black individuals, I too felt that we must always defund the police.

I used to be improper. I now agree with Bass that we must always not defund the police. We should always, in reality, rent extra cops.

My Citizen app beeps all day about crime in my South Los Angeles neighborhood. For these advocating for defunding the police, I usually marvel the place they stay. Who do they counsel we name as an alternative of the police? The native gang leaders?

Bass is being real looking about crime and policing, and she or he ought to be Los Angeles’ subsequent mayor.

Rosilyn Clayton, Los Angeles

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To the editor: As a lifelong Democrat, I’m glad to listen to that the “progressive critics” who've denounced Bass’ smart approaches to the homelessness disaster haven't broken her marketing campaign for mayor.

Clearly, some homeless encampments current excessive danger to outreach employees. Absent the police safety Bass proposes, it could be solely a matter of time earlier than an outreach employee was attacked, maimed or killed.

Bass ought to stand robust and ask, “Why would we deny our metropolis outreach employees safety when they're working for the good thing about all of us, housed and unhoused?”

Critics of the kind talked about within the article ought to learn the Jan. 28 piece by The Occasions’ David Lauter, “Progressives mislead themselves about recognition of their plans.” Simply as this phenomenon performs out on a nationwide degree, it performs out in a lot the identical means regionally.

If these critics power Bass or some other candidate to undertake their insurance policies, they may get up the day after the election to seek out the brand new mayor is somebody whose insurance policies are even farther from the “progressive” positions they need their candidates to embrace.

Michael Krumme, Los Angeles

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