Police rally as mayor says Black Lives Matter banner stays

Mayor Joe Curtatone, a white Democrat, said it’s “OK to disagree” and the only way to resolve the impasse is through an “open dialogue” about race.

“That sign is not coming down,” he insisted while standing in front of City Hall flanked by the police chief and two deputy chiefs.

The Somerville Police Employees Association was among the unions represented at the opposition rally Thursday evening outside City Hall. Its president, Michael McGrath, said his officers support the “core goal” of the Black Lives Matter movement but believe the banner sends an “exclusionary message” and had become “offensive” to them after this summer’s fatal attacks on police in Dallas and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“The banner implies that Somerville police officers are somehow responsible for racially motivated decision-making against minorities,” he said.

As the police rally was breaking up, some Black Lives Matter supporters held signs saying “All lives can’t matter until black lives matter” or thanking the mayor for his stand.

City resident Roy Pardi, who’s white, said some people who don’t understand what Black Lives Matter means.

“Black Lives Matter doesn’t stand for harming police, and it doesn’t stand for other people’s rights not being considered,” he said. “It’s just right now we’re focusing on black lives. It’s pretty basic.”

But Jay Colbert, a white local firefighter standing nearby, was unconvinced and said activists were inciting people to take up arms against police.

“Someone hijacked that movement,” he said, “and now it’s almost synonymous with killing cops.”

Curtatone, the son of Italian immigrants and the mayor since 2004, has argued that standing up for minority residents and supporting police aren’t “competing interests.” He noted the city has hung a banner at police headquarters honouring the officers slain in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

When asked whether he thought it was appropriate to place the Black Lives Matter banner on a government building, he replied: “No one can sit out this conversation. Where this is happening is in cities. This is the grassroots level.”

Curtatone hung the 4-foot-by-12-foot banner over City Hall’s main entrance in August 2015 at the request of a local Black Lives Matter chapter. He said then it was meant to recognize that “structural racism” exists in society and stressed it wasn’t a criticism of his police department.

The police banner hangs over the police headquarters entrance and says, “In honour and remembrance,” with an image of the Dallas Police Department badge and a black band across it.

Last week, the city police union called on the mayor to replace the City Hall banner, which says “#BlackLivesMatter,” with one that states “All Lives Matter,” a phrase some civil rights activists complain diminishes their concerns about the killings of black men and boys at the hands of police.

In response, police Chief David Fallon, who supports keeping the banner over City Hall, chided the union for getting involved in the debate.

Curtatone said opposition to the banner wasn’t shared by all police officers. He also said he’s “proud” of the response from residents, community leaders, faith-based leaders and activists, and he rejected the notion officers would face reprisals if they attended the opposition rally.

Somerville is a city of more than 80,000 residents that borders Boston and Cambridge and is home to most of Tufts University’s campus. It is about 74 per cent white, 11 per cent Latino, 9 per cent Asian and 7 per cent black, according to 2010 U.S. Census data.

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Follow Philip Marcelo at http://www.twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/philip-marcelo

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Police rally as mayor says Black Lives Matter banner stays

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