We are writing in response to the recent incident during the Brookline Police Reform Committee on September 16th where, on video, the Select Board Chair and Chair of the Police Reform Committee, Bernard Greene made a gesture of choking himself, gagging, and then laughing while turning the committee discussion to the banning of police chokeholds. Chair Greene then made a brief apology on video; “I know it wasn’t funny,” he said. Chair Greene also wrote a brief apology the following day in the Brookline Town Meeting email group where he described his behavior as “a lapse and I apologize.” He then went on to accuse those complaining about his cruel behavior as “weaponizing” his actions. This is no apology, and it pivots to an imagined status as victim.
Since then, the Town’s Select Board, with the exception of Dr. Raul Fernandez, has sought to minimize his behavior. Moreover, the local Brookline group PAX expressed their support for Mr. Greene’s continuation of chairing the Police Reform Committee and then admonished town “anti-racist activists” for “severely overreacting” and urging the “resignation of our first … African-American Select Board member.” This largely White organization then accuses Black residents of bullying, and “near-mimicking of ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.” In effect, PAX is supporting racist behavior by their complicity and the words “bully” and “weaponize” are in danger of becoming meaningless hyperbole in Brookline.
What if, instead of making a chokehold joke, Chair Greene had mocked a disabled person, said something homophobic, anti-Semitic, or Islamophobic? The fact that Mr. Greene is Black should not mean that he can say something that hurts Black and Brown people. For many people of color, a police chokehold is not a laughing matter. No one should ever forget George Floyd and the countless other Black people killed by a police chokehold.
We do not view Mr. Greene’s “chokehold joke” as a “lapse” or a forgivable gaffe. Instead, we view this appalling “joke” as only the most recent example of Mr. Greene’s insensitivity to Black and Brown Brookline residents’ and visitors’ numerous complaints over the years about racism and unfair practices in the Brookline police department. Many people are capable of writing the chokehold ban Greene says he has worked on since June; his doing so confers no proof of impartiality or great effort. And what policy matters when the practice is abnegation of police oversight, as practiced by Police Commissioner Greene?
As a police commissioner and Select Board Chair, Mr. Greene’s joke and apology are not enough. We ask PAX members and those who support their statement to step back and imagine the harm this “joke” inflicted on Black and Brown people in our community and how this continued support of Chair Greene only contributes to their pain. Think about the many people that his gross insensitivity hurt. What Mr. Greene did was wrong and unforgivable.
Note that it is Mr. Greene’s actions that exacerbated our concerns and it is Mr. Greene who should be held responsible. He should step down at once from Chair of the Police Reform committee and also step down as Chair of the Select Board effective immediately. One’s race should not be a justification for allowing unconscionable behavior. And one’s willingness to hide behind race only lengthens the struggle for Black and Brown people in this country, and in this town.
Respectfully,
Deborah Brown, Donelle O’Neal Sr., Raj Dhanda, Arthur W. Conquest III, Savyon Cohen, Adena Gabrielle Walker, Zahriyannah Karakashian-Jones, Jaymmy Colon, Luciana Schachnik, Mariela Ames, Josh Anyaosah, Cece Huggins, Scot Huggins, Anne Weaver, Miriam Aschkenasy, Bonnie Bastien, Ryan Black, Laura Bradford, Abby Erdmann, Martha Gray, Anne Greenwald, Kendall Harcourt, Donna Healey, Eric Hyett, Lara Jarrell, Robert Lepson, Kim Loscalzo, Jessica Morris, Emma Nash, Maya Norton, Elaine Shannon, Naomi Sweitzer, Emy Takinami, Ean Towsner, Kea van der Ziel
The Link LonkSeptember 29, 2020 at 10:24PM
https://ift.tt/3cFY7U6
OPINION: Guest Column: Chokehold joke is no joke - Wicked Local Brookline
https://ift.tt/2BsGM2G
Joke
No comments:
Post a Comment