WSU hosts BLM activist who tells students police should be defunded, wants GOP forced 'into non-existence'

Washington State University hosted Black Lives Matter activist Bree Newsome Bass, who spoke about defunding the police, noting that the funding should be shifted to housing programs and social work.

Bass kicked off the event, hosted by WSU’s Martin Luther King Jr. and Common Reading programs on Jan. 21, by sharing how she got involved with activism by her focus on “disparities in education,” and her position in having a confederate flag removed from the South Carolina State House. 

She went on to describe police behavior and what defunding the police should look like, according to the Daily Evergreen.

For defunding the police, Bass suggested that it is not actually defunding, but it is instead “about changing where we source things.” Bass, like many other Black Lives Matter activists, proposed that police involvement is the source of issues, rather than those who solve issues. 

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Her suggestion to defund the police includes reallocating funding to housing needs and social work programs. Bass’ idea to lessen police involvement would in turn allocate more responsibility to social workers. Bass also suggested that social workers should be sent to domestic altercations instead of police.

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Bree Newsome Bass is also the co-host of a talk series called When They See Us Vote, an activist group that frequently partners with Black Lives Matter activists to discuss Black Political Power. 

The day after her appearance at WSU, Bass tweeted that the Republican party needs to be forced into ”non-existence.”

“Forcing the Republican Party into non-existence is absolutely necessary because they remain a fascist party that seeks to prevent free & fair elections. It doesn’t mean having one-party rule under Democrats but allowing room for the emergence of more political parties,” she tweeted on January 22.

Washington State University GOP Chairman Geordy Bryant Greene told Campus Reform that the speaker’s ideas on police reform “solves nothing.”

“Her definition of allocation is essentially defunding. Taking funds away from the police, let’s say at a state level, is defunding, even if they repurpose those funds to a different department,” Greene said. “Removing police [sic] our communities and using those funds for federal housing solves nothing when it comes to police brutality or misconduct between police and the black community.”

Greene added that he could get behind her idea for reallocation, but only if it takes place within the police department itself. 

”For example, if they reallocated funds they already receive towards more educational training and simulation trainings, I can more than get behind those ideas. But taking funds away from the police only results in inexperienced police which will ultimately lead to more incidents we have seen,” Greene said.

Washington State University did not respond to a request for comment. 

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