Brookline's Bernard Greene To Stay On Policing Committee

BROOKLINE, MA — The Brookline Select Board decided not to vote Tuesday as to whether it should ask the chair of the Select Board's Committee on Policing Reforms to step down from that role over a gesture he made in reference to choke hold bans at a committee meeting earlier this month.

In introducing his own proposed ban on police use of chokeholds during a meeting, Select Board Chair Bernard Greene asked if the committee was ready for the next topic. And as he did, he reached up with a hand and placed it around his neck, as if he were choking himself. He started to laugh before apparently realizing what he had done. He said quickly: "OK, that wasn't funny. I know."

The meeting went on, but a clip circulating online sparked debate, with some people asking Greene, who is Black, to step down from his role as chair of that committee. Others compared him to the KKK and yet others stepped up to defend him, saying he has a tendency to make awkward jokes.

Last week Select Board member Raul Fernandez suggested the select board vote to see whether Greene should step down from the policing reform committee. Select board members John VanScyococ and Nancy Heller defended Greene, while vice chair Heather Hamilton said she would reserve judgement to hear how the committee felt.

The policing reform committee that Greene chairs voted to keep Greene by a vote of five in favor, five abstaining and one opposed. While VanScyococ described the vote as as "Substantial amount of confidence," Fernandez described the vote of confidence as "tepid."

"While I still have principled concerns," said Fernandez Tuesday backing off from the vote, while still critical of Greene's behavior that he said threatened to undermine the policing reform committee's work. "I haven't fought this long and marched and protested, written and organized so that I could be distracted from the important work that so many of us know is necessary. I've got work to do and so does this board so I suggest we get back to it."

Fernandez made it clear that although some community members have asked for Greene to step down from his leadership role on the Select Board, Fernandez has not endorsed those calls so far.

Previously:

Should Brookline's Greene Step Down After Chokehold Joke?

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