The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on blue city crime policy veered into theater on Tuesday when Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) put Gregory Jackson Jr. — the former deputy director of President Biden’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention — on the spot over a line in his organization’s own report.
The report in question, A Policymaker’s Playbook to Reduce Gun Violence Without Policing Communities, was produced by Jackson’s Community Justice Action Fund. In it, lawmakers are encouraged to finance “safe space initiatives led by lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, trans and gender non-forming [sic] people.” Hawley zeroed in on one phrase: “two spirit.”
“What’s two spirit?” Hawley asked.
Jackson stumbled. “Well, look, I don’t know exactly. You guys are pulling some interesting quotes.”
But the quote wasn’t pulled from thin air — it was his own organization’s report. Hawley pressed the point: “You say that you shouldn’t invest in the police, but we ought to invest in two spirit community programs. What is that?”
Jackson tried to pivot, claiming the report’s larger aim was to avoid discrimination and fund outreach workers, victim services, and violence intervention programs. But the senator wasn’t letting go. “What is two spirit?” Hawley repeated.
Jackson eventually conceded: “Honestly, I’m not completely aware of the language or the spirit of how that was written.” At one point, clearly rattled, Jackson shot back that he felt like he was looking at a “two-faced individual.”
That line only sharpened the exchange. “Oh no, sir,” Hawley fired back. “You’re looking at somebody who’s reading your own words. And I’d like to hear an answer. Here’s the answer. The answer is you don’t have any solutions. You want to invest in gobbledygook and take away money from police officers who actually keep our communities safe. And when you’re called on the record, you deny it. It’s all there in black and white. And your record is there in black and white. And it’s a disgrace!”
Jackson defended his work, saying his efforts had helped reduce homicides by 31 percent, adding: “And as someone who’s been shot and nearly killed, I take offense that you would think that.” But Hawley cut him off, saying the real offense was Jackson’s refusal to define the very policy language he was advocating.
Hawley’s conclusion landed like a hammer: “Frankly, sir, your policies are absurd.”
For many watching, the exchange crystallized what happens when progressive buzzwords collide with real-world crime policy — and when the authors of those words are pressed to defend them under oath.
