Black Lives Matter (BLM) founder Patrisse Cullors has accused Democrat President Joe Biden of “deep cowardice” for failing to follow through on his promise to defund the police.
In a new interview with The Guardian, Cullors says Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and other top officials are cowards because they caved to political pressure.
Cullors claims that BLM helped “Joe Biden get into office” because he allegedly promised the Marxist organization that he would slash police budgets once in the White House.
Biden and Democrat officials are allowing money to continue to go to law enforcement due to a “failure of leadership” and “deep cowardice,” Cullors argues.
“[T]he people who hold the power have chosen not to wield it on behalf of black life,” she claimed.
“They’ve chosen to side with violent police forces,” Cullors said.
Cullors argued that the recent death of Tyre Nichols, who was killed by five black police officers, was indicative of “a failure of leadership at the highest level, all the way up to our president.”
She said the incident is especially disappointing because it was the Black Lives Matter organization that helped Biden become president.
The activist, who calls the abolition of the police “her religion” on Instagram, co-founded the leftist group BLM in 2013 along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.
“This movement was able to help get Joe Biden into office,” Cullors said, “and yet in his first State of the Union address, he yelled: ‘Fund the police.’”
During his State of the Union address last year, Biden received applause from both parties after he endorsed the police.
“We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police,” Biden said to a standing ovation from members of Congress in 2022.
“It’s to fund the police.”
“Fund them. Fund them,” Biden repeated.
“Fund them with resources and training.”
But Cullors said that Biden’s words were a “direct affront to the movement that called for resources out of policing and into social services.
“Our elected officials have decided to abandon a movement that could have saved the lives of the people who have died.”
Cullors also targeted Buttigieg.
She said that the transportation secretary called her to apologize for news of her cousin’s death in an incident with a police officer in Los Angeles, California.
“I couldn’t really think about it then, but I’ve been thinking now about how he’s the secretary of transportation, and this is a powerful opportunity where he could be helping lead a conversation about what federal dollars could fund programs to remove law enforcement from traffic stops.”
The activist claims that tying police officers’ hands by ending routine traffic stops is an important step toward “safety.”
“We have to get cops out of traffic stops.”
“It’s one, very reasonable demand,” she added.
Cullors is a self-described Marxist who has also faced criticism for buying up several multimillion-dollar homes across the country.
She has been accused of using BLM donation money, which was supposed to be used to fight racism, to buy luxury mansions for herself.
She stepped down from her position as executive director of BLM amid controversy around her finances in 2021.
