Harlem politician SLAMS AOC over her ‘defund the police’ agenda

On Monday, AOC announced that she would be endorsing a number of candidates in the New York Democrat Party's June 28th primaries, with the goal of unseating the incumbents.

One of AOC's targets, Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, slammed the congresswoman for her "defund the police" stance, arguing that New Yorkers by and large support the work of law enforcement.

As the New York Post reports, Dickens accused AOC of being out of touch with the people of the city, namely Harlem, the district she has represented for four terms.

"AOC supports defunding the police. My community opposes defunding the police," Dickens said, adding that with so many shootings occurring in Harlem, residents "are hollering for more police."

Dickens accused AOC of "trying to build a political agenda" that is not in line with the values of the community. "She's trying to take over the Assembly, she's trying to take over Congress," Dickens said.

In recent weeks, as the nation recovers from one shooting after another, there have been calls for more policing to prevent criminals from carrying out their evil deeds.

"She's talking about her political agenda after a subway shooting, after ten people were slaughtered in Buffalo, after an innocent 11-year old was shot and killed from a guy on a scooter," Dickens said.

"Who is going to police us? We can’t have a police-less society," she continued, "unless we have a junta."

When asked what "defund the police" would look like in practice, AOC has repeatedly said that she envisions a community where resources are spent on ensuring residents have what they need to survive and thrive, and that law enforcement would lay low until they were needed.

In practice, however, most attempts to remove policing from communities has resulted in more crime, not less.