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FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is releasing another children’s book with illustrator Kitt Thomas after Thomas shared a post saying, “F— the police” during the George Floyd unrest of 2020.
“Pigs hugging and kneeling with protesters is a counterinsurgency tactic designed to quell and neutralize rebellion. Do not fall for it,” reads an image shared by Thomas on June 2, 2020.
“They are kneeling and then shooting, beating, and tear gassing people right after the photo op is done. F— the police,” the post read.
Abrams hailed Thomas as “wildly talented” after they released the children’s book “Stacey’s Extraordinary Words” in late December.
Stacey Abrams speaks onstage during the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 2, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Essence)
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“Such deep gratitude to the wildly talented @kitt_thomas_art who gave texture, dynamism and fun to this story about perseverance & speaking up,” Abrams tweeted.
Abrams and Thomas have another book coming out on Dec. 13 called, “Stacey’s Remarkable Books,” which is geared toward readers ages 4-8 and is “based on a true story from Stacey Abrams’ childhood” about the “life-changing power of books.”
In the same 2020 post, Thomas, who recently won the 53rd NAACP Image Awards for “Stacey’s Extraordinary Words,” shared an image that read, “Your silence is complicit and anti-black.”
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“Times are especially hard for us black folk right now so, non-black friends- please keep this in mind,” Thomas wrote. “Your black friends are collectively experiencing TRAUMA. Check up on them but dont be so careless without asking if THEY are comfortable first and foremost. But at the same time, don’t use this as an excuse to remain silent. The black community needs you right now, and we need you to help us create long lasting change. I also encourage brands and companies I’ve worked with to also speak up. Enough killing us, enough complicity.”
Abrams has tried to distance herself from the Defund the Police movement after initially supporting it in the wake of the Floyd protests in the summer of 2020. She told Fox News Digital earlier this month, “I do not and never have supported efforts to defund the police.”
Stacey Abrams, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia, speaks during a campaign event in Reynolds, Georgia, US, on Saturday, June 4, 2022. (Photographer: Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Notably, Abrams tried to rebrand the “defund” aspect of the defund the police movement as being one in favor of the “reformation and transformation” of law enforcement, instead of the outright abolishment of policing. But Abrams also currently serves as a board member of the Seattle-based Marguerite Casey Foundation, which tweeted #DefundThePolice as recently as March of this year and #AbolishThePolice as recently as February. Abrams has received at least $52,500 in income from the foundation, according to her financial disclosures.
Stacey Abrams, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia, speaks during a campaign event in Reynolds, Georgia, US, on Saturday, June 4, 2022. (Photographer: Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Carmen Rojas, the foundation’s president and CEO, is also a donor to Abrams’ campaign and has repeatedly voiced support for abolishing the police and prison systems.
Abrams’ campaign has said she disagrees with the foundation’s position on defunding the police, though Fox News Digital recently revealed that she supported the group’s expanded anti-police efforts through its “Answer the Uprising” initiative in late May 2021.
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An Abrams campaign spokesperson issued a statement Monday to Fox News Digital slamming Abrams’ opponent, Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, for opposing a minimum wage for police officers.
“Stacey Abrams does not and never has supported efforts to defund the police,” the spokesperson said. “But unlike her opponent, who has called base pay for law enforcement officers ‘bad policy,’ Stacey firmly believes in investing in law enforcement to ensure that no one is working in public safety without fair compensation – while also making sure we improve accountability and build trust within Georgia’s communities.”
