Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Senate candidate, recently addressed previous statements he made that appeared to advocate for "defund the police" initiatives. The discussion occurred during a Sunday broadcast interview where he was questioned about these remarks.
A resurfaced radio interview from the period following the 2020 George Floyd protests was brought up, in which El-Sayed seemingly called for divesting from police departments.
"I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating or killing them on the streets," El-Sayed stated during that interview. He continued, advocating for "investing more in the means of educating and empowering, engaging communities with the means of being able to take on systemic poverty, that we’ve allowed systematic racism to allow to fester in too many communities."
During the recent television appearance, the interviewer confronted El-Sayed about these past comments, noting his earlier claims of never supporting the movement to defund law enforcement.
El-Sayed responded, explaining his definition of the phrase. "You know, what's interesting about that comment is I go as far as defining what I mean by that," he said. "Do you disagree with investing in libraries and public services and social services? You fixate on the word 'defund,' but what I’m talking about is war material that we made too much of during the war in Iraq. And then, because we had too much of it, we had to find somewhere to sell it. So we sold it to a whole bunch to local police departments."
He further elaborated, stating, "I believe in investing in retention and retirement for law enforcement. I've done work with law enforcement during my time in Wayne County —"
The interviewer then interjected, asking, "But wouldn't that ... wouldn't that issue of defunding the police become an electability issue in November?"
"Let me finish my answer, Manu," El-Sayed replied. "I actually don't think it is. I think the vast majority of people agree that they want to get home safely every night. I think the way that we have thought about law enforcement is we answer every social problem with somebody with a gun, and you talk to folks in law enforcement with whom I've worked very closely, they'll tell you they don't want to go on those runs where they know that somebody is in mental crisis."
Rethinking Public Safety Approaches
El-Sayed continued to outline his vision for public safety.
"So maybe instead of investing in war material for police, we invest in a safe retirement for them," he suggested. "And then, instead of sending a guy with a gun, we actually send a trained mental health professional."
He reinforced his interpretation, asserting, "That‘s what I‘m talking about. That's what I defined. And I think that's exactly what people want. Now, if you want to keep talking about one particular word that was in vogue that I tried to define at the time, sure. But I think if we're having a serious conversation about public safety, you'll see that my perspective is in keeping with exactly what most people who are rational about this question are talking about, and what they want."
Past Social Media Activity and Current Stance
Before launching his current campaign, El-Sayed reportedly deleted several social media posts that were critical of law enforcement.
One such post from June 2020, weeks after George Floyd's death, read: "Most major US cities spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty & WAY TOO LITTLE on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, & housing to eliminate poverty. Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is about."
When questioned earlier this month about these deleted posts, El-Sayed denied actively participating in efforts to defund the police.
"Judge me by my work, I funded the system because it needed to be funded," he stated. "Too often the conversation we have is fund or defund. The question that we don't ask is, what kind of system do we really want? I want us to be investing in the kinds of interventions that actually protect people."
