“The rally will be peaceful and respectful, but will demonstrate the solidarity of police organizations in MA to the exclusionary message that the banner sends”, officer Michael McGrath, Somerville Police Employee’s Association president, said.
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The protest, which is taking place outside the City Hall at 5:30pm local time, will involve police officers from across the state.
“In the face of the continuing assassination of innocent police officers across the country…it is irresponsible of the city to publicly declare support for the lives of one sector of our population to the exclusion of others”, Michael McGrath, police union president, said in a statement earlier this week this week.
Curtatone has since said he’ll also seek to equip officers with body cameras, something some civil-rights activists have called for in the wake of the police-involved killings. He said he supported keeping the banner over city hall.
Mayor Joe Curtatone, a white Democrat, said Thursday afternoon it’s “OK to disagree” and the only way to resolve the impasse is through an “open dialogue” about race.
Police Chief David Fallon supported the mayor’s decision during a press conference July 21.
There will be counter protests, as well, according to a statement from Curtatone.
Ask yourself: If you don’t like “Black Lives Matter” but this is OK – “All Lives Matter” – and this is OK – “Blue Lives Matter” – then the operative word is “black”.
He noted the fact the city has another banner that hangs above the police station in tribute to officers who lost their lives in Texas and Louisiana recently.
Curtatone, the son of Italian immigrants and the mayor since 2004, has argued that standing up for minority residents and supporting police officers aren’t “competing interests”.
Both of those banners are hanging for the same reason: too many people have died in a cycle of violence that needs to be stopped.
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Police agencies across the nation are understandably on guard after receiving threats of violence following the shootings of two black men, a sniper attack that left five cops dead in Dallas and an ambush in Baton Rouge, La., that claimed the lives of three officers. We’ve also heard from our own police that the letter sent by that one officer does not represent their views on this matter and that they were not consulted before it was penned. We can stand together for the principle that every person who leaves their home and every officer who heads out to do their job should return safely.
