By Julia Marsh
A political newcomer who’s likely to take over the Harlem City Council seat long held by Bill Perkins believes the NYPD is a “white supremacist institution” and wants to cut its budget to $0.
“Police in this country began as slave patrols. It’s a white supremacist institution at its core,” Kristin Richardson Jordan tweeted on July 13.
“We’re going to defund the police down to zero dollars and make public transit free for everyone,” she added.
The 34-year-old poet who ran on “disrupting the district with radical love” is a Democratic socialist.
The MTA’s operating budget is $17 billion and half of its revenue comes from customer payments including tolls as well as subway, train and bus fare.
The NYPD’s budget is $6 billion. This year Mayor de Blasio and the City Council added $200 million to the department’s coffers after cutting $1 billion in response to the ‘defund the police’ movement.
Jordan, who was backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, currently leads Perkins by just over 100 votes for the City Council’s 9th District. A manual recount is likely. Perkins, who has health issues, has held the seat off and on for over 11 years.
Would-be council colleague Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) said Jordan needs a history lesson — and a reality check.
“This isn’t just historically inaccurate, it’s hysterically cynical,” Borelli told The Post about her tweet.
“Our police department is proudly majority minority and the men and women of the NYPD do a tremendous job, especially in her district. I’m sure we will have lots to talk about when she takes office,” Borelli said.
“For the record the Dutch had a law enforcement officer called ‘Schout,’ since 1625,” said Borelli, who authored the book “Revolutionary Staten Island: From Colonial Calamities to Reluctant Rebels.”
If Jordan ultimately wins the Harlem seat and joins the council next year she’ll be one of at least three Democratic socialists in the body. The two others are public defender Tiffany Caban from Queens and public education advocate Alexa Avilés from Brooklyn.
“The next City Council is going to be unlike any we have ever seen before,” said former councilman and current Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx).