Kennedy framed the central question bluntly: who pays the price when experiments fail and accountability is deferred indefinitely.
This confrontation did not end the debate over policing, nor did it resolve questions of justice or reform.
What it did was strip away insulation, forcing ideas into daylight where they must answer not to intention, but to impact.
The “defund the police” agenda was not erased in that moment, but it was exposed, challenged publicly, and denied the protection of ambiguity.
Once words appear on the screen unchanged, explanation becomes secondary and outcomes take center stage.
And in that shift, the entire debate cracked open, leaving voters, activists, and leaders facing a question no slogan can outrun.
