A video has surfaced of the Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, advocating for defunding the police in an interview with a Nation of Islam member.
The interview occurred when Crist was a Congressman in 2021.
New from @EricLDaugh: Video Surfaces of Charlie Crist Meeting with Member of Nation of Islamhttps://t.co/KNGaPQoK2x
— DeSantis War Room 🐳 (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 22, 2022
The interviewer was Brother John Muhammad, who joined the Nation of Islam in 1997.
Muhammad is a community organizer, and the Executive Director of a left-wing nonprofit out of Florida called the Community Development and Training Center Inc.
In the interview, Muhammad asked Crist about the “reallocation of resources” from police into a “program” that supports other methods of public safety.” He gave the example of a program dispatching mental health and social workers instead of uniform officers for those calls.
“I support exactly what the chief is doing,” Crist said. “It isn’t defunding, you’re correct about that. It’s reallocation and making sure there’s a balance to the approach.”
The Nation of Islam, of which Muhammad is a part, has been accused of holding anti-semitic views.
Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, has been called an “antisemite who routinely accuses Jews of manipulating the U.S. government and controlling the levers of world power.” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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Crist has expressed support for defunding the police in previous interviews.
In a March 2022 interview, Crist expressed support for allowing mental health professionals and social workers to take over the roles that police usually play in responding to people with mental health issues.
“It’s also important we recognize that police departments are often not the best suited to handle situations where folks are suffering from a mental health crisis, and are in need of counselors and medical professionals more than anything.” Crist said.
Crist was also a co-sponsor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, which, among other things, assumed that a racially disparate impact in police encounters was evidence of ‘racial profiling.’
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation preventing Florida’s localities from Defunding the Police.
House Bill 1 provides state-level oversight for local police budgets.
Under the law passed by the Florida legislature, the Governor of Florida can override the city’s laws and reinstate funding for the police.
Charlie Crist has not made his position on HB1 clear, though his administration could choose not to enforce it if he was elected.
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