The mayor of a MA city says he won’t remove a Black Lives Matter banner hanging over city hall even as police officers from across the state intend to rally against it.
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Boston.com reports (http://bit.ly/2aq9KQj) the officers say they’re protesting the banner’s “disrespectful” message.
A statement from the Somerville police union says protesters will “demonstrate the solidarity of police organizations in MA to the exclusionary message that the banner sends”.
Mayor Joseph Curtatone has declined multiple requests from the city police officers” union to replace the sign with one that instead reads “All Lives Matter’.
“It is inconceivable to us as it is demoralizing that our city would propagate its support for this movement while standing silent over the seemingly daily protest assassinations of innocent police officers around the country”, he wrote last week. Many held signs saying “Cops lives matter” and “Support your local police”.
The police chief of Somerville, David Fallon, came out in support of the banner.
“The banner implies that Somerville police officers are somehow responsible for racially motivated decision-making against minorities”, he said.
Most of the police officers and their supporters seeking to remove the banner are white men.
“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”, he said in a statement.
The banner has been hanging outside city hall since August 2015, CBS Boston reported.
The Democratic mayor says standing up for black residents and supporting police aren’t mutually exclusive.
The police station in Somerville is also host to a banner, one that honors the fallen officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge and according to Curtatone, the conflict arose because there is a belief that the two ideas are competing with one another. It is a violence that tests us in every community, demanding we either come together or break apart. He notes the city also honors officers recently slain in Texas and Louisiana with a banner over police headquarters.
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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.
