CT Representative Josh Elliott Believes in Mission to Abolish Police & Vaccine Exemptions
Connecticut State Representative Joshua Elliott has posted on his Facebook page the following: It isn't discomfort about addressing the issue of abolishing the police on its face. After enough conversations with folk, I believe in the mission.
Elliott has lead the charge to abolish the religious vaccine exemption in Connecticut. If he'd only been able to do away with the police in Hartford, perhaps one of our finest advocates and attorneys would not have been ARRESTED for raising her voice in the legislative building during a peaceful protest. Vaccine rights and the right to protection by the police are two pretty different topics. But here we will find more people to share common ground (not to be confused with Elliott's Common Bond natural food market a few miles from my home) who realize that there are some politicians who see a very different path forward than many of us.
There are parallels between the BLM movement and the autism community. Hear me out. We ALSO see our loved ones secluded, restrained, shocked with electricity (hello Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts) and choked to death. We understand the worry a mother feels sending her son out into the world. We know the pain. We want TRAINING. UNDERSTANDING. Benefit of the doubt. full disclosure: I am a white, middle aged woman. Named KIM. Not Karen.
A quick aside: In 2020, 2 masked men broke into my home while I was alone working. I dialed 911 and let me tell you, I didn't want a social justice advocate sauntering down the street to help. I wanted Batman, Superman, The Hulk and the men and women of my town police force. And when my daughter Isabella was assaulted by a bus aide over and over? It was a Police Detective who worked like a dog to bring her assailant to justice - and by doing so - protect others from ever having to work with the young monster because she is now a felon, unable to work with disabled or elderly above the table.
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I will be going hard on this issue this election cycle (and beyond, but it's during election cycle that I'm out at people's doors having many one on one conversations.)
First, it's important that I admit discomfort. It isn't discomfort about addressing the issue of abolishing the police on its face. After enough conversations with folk, I believe in the mission. It's the fear of not being taken seriously by people - something that folk who push the narrative have to face day in and day out.
Black Lives Matter may not have started as a full-throated movement a few years ago while organizers, activists, and advocates began to coalesce their numbers, strategies, and narratives. Now it is, and it is taken seriously by everyone.
Abolishing the police, as a movement, is in a similar position.
I know my discomfort isn't special. That is, if we examine whether or not my white colleagues would be willing to take the position that advocates and activists are taking, I would be surprised if many of them would use the same verbiage.
It has been my consistent belief that my role as a white legislator, representing a majority white district, that my priority cannot simply be getting re-elected or saving myself from difficult conversations - and then sometimes voting right. It is my priority to lead with the advocates and activists and push my constituency in difficult ways - in the same way that I push myself.
Again, the biggest fear is that of not being taken seriously. This fear pales in comparison to the fear of being at the mercy of police in any situation, regardless of how successful, talented, hard working, or perfect you are - if you are a person of color.
I only say these things because I understand how hard it must be for colleagues to also take this position - that of abolishing the police. And to be clear, abolishment is not the whole argument - setting up services so that we have a true reduction in crime is the other half of abolishing the police. We need to create a system that helps people.
I look forward to continue listening to the advocates and being pushed, shamed, and strong-armed into adopting the vanguard of social change.
As always, check me. I put myself out there to be challenged, not to be challenging, and so that I can most accurately represent where the movement is going.
Will just leave the uncalled for disrespect in the bin where it belongs please.There are plenty out there that you should be directing it at, but not Bob,Kim et-al.Were with you, were ALL annoyed too,but not with the people on here who try night and day to solve the problem.
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | June 18, 2020 at 04:13 AM
Hi Will,
I think you will find the main reason that Kim got justice for her daughter was because there was video evidence.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/post_701_b_685954
From the article
"Police said they then obtained DVD copies of the bus videos for April 27, April 29 and May 19. "
Video is perhaps the ultimate tool in giving voice to the voiceless, the disabled, and the unheard.
Many of the parents of non verbal children have had, or fear, the kind of issues you mention.The voiceless are rarely heard unless their is outside evidence to support them. It is why so many parents of non verbal family members fear what will happen to them outside the home.
Also, please don''t call Bob names. If you disagree on a topic, please just talk about what you think is right. it makes for a kinder situation, all the way round.
Thank you
Hera
Posted by: Hera | June 17, 2020 at 05:55 PM
@ Bob Moffit
I agree that ad hominem attacks are not acceptable. If someone disagrees with a post, they should limit their comments to what has been said. I am responding to your first post in that spirit.
Given the current context, I assumed that the killing of 2 NYPD police officers you referred to had happened recently — I was surprised I hadn't heard about it. However, a quick search revealed that this incident occurred in 2014. The perpetrator was mentally ill, and had already shot his ex-girlfriend before attacking and killing the two police officers. His actions were not representative of BLM, and indeed were disavowed by the organizers of the march.
“On behalf of the Millions March NYC, we express our deepest condolences to the families of the officers who were killed on Saturday. Our march last weekend was a peaceful outcry that senseless violence in our society is harmful to trust, community, and security. This tragedy is in no way connected to our march, or ongoing protests against police brutality, discrimination, and profiling – and we condemn, and are disappointed with any entity that would try to imply such connection. As New Yorkers, we will continue to march for a peaceful society, where trust between communities and law enforcement is finally achieved.”
The vast majority of people attending that march marched peacefully. What they were demanding is what everyone is entitled to under the law: equality and justice.
Btw you can find the mission of BLM on their website: "to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes."
It is disingenuous to ask if white (or "blue") lives also matter: of course they do. They just don't matter any more than other lives do.
Posted by: Cait | June 17, 2020 at 04:22 PM
Be inspired by what is happening in CA to push back against sinister men like Josh Elliott:
1. Victory in Orange County against wearing masks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ao6tx5aCxQ&feature=emb_logo
Website mentioned in this video: https://www.thehealthyamerican.org/how-to
2. June 23rd event in Sacramento..."A Call for Change"...get your sign now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEZ7NsCTDdg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1kiZsVukl8BoE9oQLoR3UiPwDizNvX-MbFgCabGAWZyykd3YJoc5GByEg
Posted by: Laura Hayes | June 17, 2020 at 02:54 PM
Thanked, not tracked. No, I said, TRANKED. The cell phone keeps changing it.
Posted by: Cia | June 17, 2020 at 12:02 PM
I wasn’t sure last night if I should say why I called the police once in 2005, but, like Kim’s experience, it shows why we have to have police. They should think about what policies and regulations they have and when to follow them them. I know they already do; the crushing restraint measure used on George Floyd should be banned and already has been in many places.
I had left the garage door open by about a foot so that our cat could come in, and forgot to close it when it got dark. In the middle of the night, I woke up to hear someone making noise in the garage directly below my bedroom. I called the police, and they were here within five minutes. It had been my next door neighbors’ youngest teen-aged son, sliding into our slightly open garage door. When he heard me get up, he went through the side door to return to his house a few feet away. The police said there had definitely been someone in my garage, and that he had “ tracked,” (trancado) the garage door, jammed it, making it impossible to open or close until it was fixed. There were two officers, both very calm, polite, and concerned. On another occasion the kid put human poop in our BBQ grill on the deck. On another, he tried to break into our downstairs room through the ground-level window, bending the metal frame of the window screen. The kid already had a long police record at 15.
So what happens if you defund the police and dissolve the police department? Chaos, anarchy, tribalism, violence. The end of the US as a developed nation. Is a neighborhood conflict resolution committee going to come in to protect our lives and property in the middle of the night?
Josh is just trying to profit from current issues, without thought or reasoning. Is he getting vaccine industry payments to try to vaccinate as many as possible in this brief window when the going is still good? Probably. With 50% expressing severe reservations about the Covid vaccine, I am sure that vaccine mandates do not have majority support. But no one on the vaccine-critical side is going to give him any kickbacks.
Posted by: Cia | June 17, 2020 at 12:00 PM
@ Will
"That "dead cops" rant video clip from a few years ago was altered. Even Alex Jones admitted that. But of course neocon bigot Bob will not admit that."
Won't bother responding to your ad hominin attack .. will let readers of AOA judge for themselves as to the merit of your comment.
(Ad hominin … definition of an argument or reaction .. directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining)
Posted by: Bob Moffit | June 17, 2020 at 07:48 AM
Most police officers are decent people doing a difficult job under very stressful conditions. Our society would crumble without them. Most people respect and trust them. I’ve called them to our house a couple of times and they were polite and kind and did their best to help us. There are bad people in every profession, every walk of life. Think of the teachers, the priests, the doctors, who commit horrendous crimes against those in their charge. The mother who drowned her children in the bathtub, the one who deliberately drove into a lake to drown her children. But most of us do not impugn the sins of a few to everyone in the group.
We have to have the police. Without the police, who are you going to call when you hear someone breaking into your house? Sure, without the police, more people would get guns and training. I would not physically be able to, and would have to trust that others in my neighborhood would keep order. In some places, gangs and warlords would step into the gap. There would be no safety, no security anywhere, and anything of value would be stolen. Even now, truckers are refusing to deliver goods in areas with no police protection. Why would they? I wouldn’t.
All lives matter. But I value the rule of law, respect those who try to protect the innocent from being harmed by the violent. I ordered a shirt this morning that says Blue lives matter.
Posted by: Cia | June 16, 2020 at 11:07 PM
If Congressman Josh Elliot really cared about Black Lives Matter, he would NOT take away religious exemptions to vaccines. If he bothered to watch "Vaxxed" From Cover-up to Catastrophe he would learn that just one particular vaccine given to black children before age 3 yields a 265-365% increase in black children developing AUTISM and this study was done by the CDC around 2004. The CDC trashed the study as it conflicts with their owning vaccines or making yearly profits from vaccines. White children also die or become autistic from these poisons but the CDC study focused at that time on black children. Really Josh, shooting kids with Neurotoxic Aluminum (Alzheimer's ready) Cancer causing FORMALDEHYDE, Tumorigenic Aborted Human Fetal Cell DNA, Peanut oils leading to anaphylactic shock and deaths from Foods, cells of Pigs and Dogs are not healthy for ANYONE. Someone in Conn. must know Josh and be able to share the Documentary filled with Science Facts?
Posted by: Shelley Tzorfas | June 16, 2020 at 05:04 PM
That "dead cops" rant video clip from a few years ago was altered. Even Alex Jones admitted that. But of course neocon bigot Bob will not admit that. This post has very little or nothing to do with "autism" . The reason Mrs. Stagliano got her daughter's abuser prosecuted is because she is a wealthy white female. Imagine if the abuse victim was a native or African descent male. If that minority male was verbal disabled person there would be allegations of lying against him or that the relatives did the abuse and blamed a school district or non profit organization to sue for money and attention. If he was non verbal disabled person there would likely be no criminal case. Obvious racism and hypergamy there.
Posted by: Will | June 16, 2020 at 03:52 PM
President Trump needs federal control over the states' inability to defund police.
Who is running against Josh Eliiot? This man must go.
Posted by: Sharon DeNunzio | June 16, 2020 at 12:00 PM
Rep Joshua Elliot: "It isn't discomfort about addressing the issue of abolishing the police on its face. After enough conversations with folk, I believe in the mission."
I would ask Rep Elliot to define BLM's "mission"? Has Rep Elliot asked BLM if they disavow the "mission" of the mob of BLM protestors marching through NYC city chanting "WHAT DO WE WANT? DEAD COPS. WHEN DO WE WANT THEM? NOW." Or the "mission" of crowd of BLM protestors chanting "PIGS IN A BLANKET, FRY THEM LIKE BACON"?
I have never heard BLM spokesmen disavowing either of those public protests asking for DEAD COPS? Indeed, within days of those demonstrations two NYC police officers were assassinated in their patrol car in broad daylight .. and .. five Dallas police officers were also targeted and killed? As a former NYC police officer I would like Rep Elliot to at least ask BLM organizers if they disavow those assassinations or not? I mean at least ask the question during the 'conversation" you say you want to engage, no?
Rep Elliot continues: "It has been my consistent belief that my role as a white legislator, representing a majority white district, that my priority cannot simply be getting re-elected or saving myself from difficult conversations - and then sometimes voting right. It is my priority to lead with the advocates and activists and push my constituency in difficult ways - in the same way that I push myself."
Will Rep Elliot ask BLM if "all lives matter or only black lives"? I assume merely asking THAT question will result in him being called a "racist" merely for asking it. Perhaps Rep Elliot truly believes that only 'BLACK LIVES MATTER …. and … if so … Rep Elliot should inform his "majority white district" the lives of themselves and their children do NOT MATTER AS MUCH AS BLACK LIVES.
I would also hope our elected representatives eager to DEFUND THE POLICE .. remove all police security protection for themselves and their families if presently assigned them … same for their 24/7 security for their legislative offices and building. After all .. we live in the United States not on Orwell's ANIMAL FARM .. where "all pigs are equal .. except .. some pigs are more equal than others".
Posted by: Bob Moffit | June 16, 2020 at 08:49 AM