The 'Democracy' Funder

In 2020, an entity called the Democracy Fund donated $175,000 to an entity called the Advancement Project. Seeing as no one would ever dream of objecting to “democracy” or “advancement”—which would be like objecting to “ice cream” or “pandas”—the transaction might appear benign: just some democracy lovers funding some advancement-related projects, you see. Sounds so nice.

But to the intrepid researcher, key “advances” of the Advancement Project are available for review. Foremost among them, according to the organization’s beautifully illustrated Annual Report, is that the executive director “did media appearances to join the calls to #DefundPolice.” One such appearance occurred in June 2020 on MSNBC, whereby Judith Browne Dianis announced that the Advancement Project had institutionally endorsed “a platform to defund the police.” Politely asked by the MSNBC hosts to clarify her position—surely she wasn’t calling for the termination of all law enforcement operations in the United States?—Dianis confirmed that “a trajectory toward abolishing the police” is exactly what the Advancement Project sought.

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