Connecticut CEOs joined a call for Congress to adopt a compromise on national police reform. But local Black Lives Matter leaders are skeptical of the idea.
The group called Business Roundtable proposes half a dozen ways Republicans and Democrats could compromise to limit deadly use of force in policing. It would include a ban on chokeholds, like the one police used to kill George Floyd, except when use of deadly force is warranted.
Bishop John Selders founded Moral Monday CT, a group leading Black Lives Matter protests in the state. Selders says he is a bit suspicious of the CEO proposals.
“They’re not in the business of social conscious raising. That some businesses and corporations have a social consciousness, well isn’t that nice and sweet? But that isn’t what they’re in business to do. All of those are helpful if we’re talking about lessening the blow of what police do in communities. I will reiterate, however, that what I am angling for is for us to have a full-throated conversation about the end of policing as we know it.”
Selders says he wants to reimagine policing – not reform it. He says that means police would show up only to mediate an issue peacefully, no matter if Black or white residents were involved.
