Relatives of George Floyd have repeatedly contributed to Chinese Communist Party-run media programs pushing for defunding police in the U.S.
Floyd’s aunt, Angela Harrelson, appeared on a China Global Television Network (CGTN) documentary “Police Brutality Victims Call For Police Reform” following an exclusive interview with the outlet in July 2020. A registered foreign agent in the U.S., the network is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, airs forced confessions, and actively spreads propaganda to discredit credible accusations of genocide in the country’s Xinjiang province.
“First thing I did was yell Perry because it’s like where am I at, what am I seeing? And then everything came together, and I heard those words “mama, mama.” I just dropped,” Harrelson recounted in one of the documentary’s opening scenes. “I believe, like, a modern-day lynching just took place. That’s how I felt, like it was a modern-day lynching,” she expressed before adding that she felt “like the Fugitive Slave Act is in place when it comes to police.”
“I feel like they think that it’s still going on, that when they see black and brown people, they’re going after a runaway slave,” she added. Harrelson also appeared to express support for defunding the police in the U.S., commenting “We just need to start over, clean house, and get new people with a new vision.”
The documentary featuring Harrelson also included an exclusive interview with Justin Blake, the uncle of Jacob Blake, who was shot while carrying a knife during an interaction with police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“People are fed up, and if it can happen to little Jake and it can happen to Mr. Floyd and it can happen to Breonna Taylor, then it can happen to you. And that’s what people keep telling us,” the uncle told the CGTN interviewer.
Justin Blake also calls for defunding the police in the interview:
“They continue to want more money to build a bigger machine to jail more of our people? Stop it. It’s 2021. We’re not going for it. You’re dealing with an educated, mature crowd of people, and we know that if we bring that money to the community, educate the littlest people, employ some of the older people, and do some initiatives, the number of policing would decrease dramatically. We know that. […] When you’re talking about defunding the police, yeah. Take a chunk out of their money to give to the community you’re over-policing.”
The documentary, released May 17th, 2021, also includes interviews with other relatives of individuals shot by police, including the daughter of Lionel Lewis who asserts “I believe that the police should be defunded.”
