Although there is no intrinsic contradiction between the three most-voiced demands of the current movement—community control of police, defunding the police, and abolition of policing as we know it—only proposals for community control of the police directly confront the issue of power in the here and now, and also address demands for direct democracy and Black self-determination.

Although community control of the police is within reach of becoming law in Chicago, a majority Black and Brown city with the second largest concentration of Blacks in the nation, the demand has gotten less traction in nationwide demonstrations than the call for defunding the cops, or eventual abolition.

However, Black Lives Matter is more a quilt than a monolith, and many BLM chapters and individuals also support community control of the police, while CPAC activists also back defunding and abolition of the cops as a logical outcome of community control.

The elements of Black Lives Matter that are resistant to community control of police are those under the influence of hashtag founder Alicia Garza, who is now a Democratic Party political player and go-to person for corporate philanthropy.

Therefore, community control of police advocates would be in principled agreement with the Los Angeles Movement 4 Black Lives position: “The most impacted in our communities need to control the laws, institutions, and policies that are meant to serve us—from our schools to our local budgets, economies, and police department.”

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