State Election & Politics

Amid 2020 riots, Greg Landsman blasted law enforcement as the ‘evolution of slavery,’ resurfaced video shows

By Breeauna Sagdal | June 04, 2026

A resurfaced video clip of Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman shows the congressman equating modern policing and mass incarceration to the “evolution” of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow amid 2020 protests.

“What we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks is a reminder that the iteration of slavery just evolved,” Landsman said in the Juneteenth 2020 video. “It evolved after slavery. It became segregation and Jim Crow and today mass incarceration, and the over-arresting particularly of people of color. And so, the fight goes on.”

Critics argue that Landsman’s display of moral relativism reflects a long list of soft-on-crime policies, and a history of inflammatory race-based rhetoric that’s both divisive and intellectually dishonest.

Landsman, who represents the Cincinnati area, has a documented record aligning with these criticisms. As a Cincinnati City Council member, Landsman pushed several controversial measures, criticized for “defunding the police.”

In June 2020, amid national protests, he proposed pulling $200,000 from the Cincinnati Police Department. Despite being short-staffed, Landsman pushed to fund the Citizen Complaint Authority, which now investigates complaints against the department.

He also voted to redirect approximately $1 million from a proposed police budget increase to other programs and supported reallocating $9.4 million originally intended for a new police District 5 headquarters.

“It is the duty of lawmakers to embolden and protect our law enforcement officers to keep our cities safe and clean,” Daniel Hils, a retired CPD sergeant, posted to social media. “Landsman has done the opposite.”

In Congress, Landsman co-sponsored H.R. 40 in February 2025, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s legislation to establish a commission to study reparations proposals for the descendants of enslaved African Americans. The move came despite consistent public polling showing a majority opposition to cash reparations.

Landsman’s rhetoric frequently invokes racism and Jim Crow. In May 2026, he called a congressional map “unfair and racist,” claiming Republicans sought to “take America back to Jim Crow.”

In response to state-level voter ID laws, Landsman has co-sponsored the Brennan Center-championed John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which centralizes election authority. The bill, if enacted, would remove states’ rights to conduct their own elections.

Invoking imagery of the Selma bus riots, Landsman called election integrity efforts “voter suppression,” while referring to the issue as a “get on the bus” moment.

Supporters view Landsman’s positions as addressing systemic inequities and promoting accountability.

Critics, including Republicans and Cincinnati police unions, contend that his inflammatory rhetoric is merely a guise for which to justify higher taxes, centralized government, bureaucratic bloat, and authoritarian policies that violate the separation of powers.

The resurfaced clip arrives as Ohio voters weigh two drastically differing economic visions for the future, public safety priorities, and the proper role of government writ large. Landsman’s progressively socialist approach, paired with morally relative historical analogies, remain divisive in the swing district he currently represents.

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