And the Newton police appreciate it…
We feel so grateful and blessed, by those who dropped off food, flowers and words of appreciation. #Weloveyou❤️ pic.twitter.com/0Q7jnFRtgD
— Newton Police (@newtonpolice) July 9, 2016
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We are so fortunate to have a superb police department in Newton. It’s truly heartwarming to see this kind of support for the department from Newton residents.
One thing I’ve been wondering – have our police officers been given the kind of de-escalation training that the Boston and Dallas police are now getting?
As discussed in the recent Globe Spotlight article on mental health, even in places with low crime levels like Newton, this training can be crucial for safely dealing with mentally ill people in crisis. I know our Newton police have the best of intentions, but are they being given the training they need so they will know how to defuse dangerous situations with unstable people? If they aren’t, I’d like to see our City Councilors push for the PD to have the funding to allow officers to have the 40 hour course that’s necessary.
I’ve heard there may be some sort of rally to show our Newton police how much we appreciate them on Monday at 5 p.m. in West Newton. If anyone can confirm or has details please share them here.
This is the latest information I’ve received:
Note the time change: 5:30 (not 5:00 as originally planned) on the common next to the Newton Police Department.
Please come wearing blue.
Thanks to Terry Sauro and Ginny Gardner for organizing this event.
Tomorrow night at 5:30 we will be having a support rally for our Police. We will meet at the common along side of the Newton Police Station. Please wear Blue! We will be finalizing everything with the Chief tomorrow. The agenda so far: We will have the Police Honor Guard followed by singing of the National Anthem. After the Anthem, Paul Pasqurosa will lead us into the Pledge of Allegiance. Terry Sauro will say the Policeman’s Prayer and Ginny Gardner will do opening speech as well as some other speeches. We will end with singing “Let there be Peace on Earth” followed by the playing of the bagpipes. Hopefully everything will turn out okay as where Ginny and I have tried to do this in two days. Terry Sauro
I hope this rally draws more people than the one after Ferguson. I was there. The Newton police, and all police deserve better.
And I hope Howard Haywood doesn’t speak this time. He was the organizer of the Black Lives Matter march here after Ferguson, and is a reason why people have been encouraged to be angry at police. As black Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke calls them “Black LIES Matter”.
Of all the bigoted, ignorant, clueless, and homophobic posts by Barry Cohen, I think this is one that most makes me want to reach through the internet and punch him in the face.
In this terrible time of uncertainly and upheaval, when it seems like we never know what might happen next, we can at count on Barry Cohen stepping up to say something like this.
And I can count on lefties like you to attack me, Tricia. “Hands up, don’t shoot” “No justice, no peace” You love that stuff, I guess.
Thank you to Terry and Ginny for organizing this event on such short notice.
Gail,
What exactly is wrong with you? What at truly stupid comment.
If you want to punch someone in the face, go to a BLM march and punch some cop, because, after all, they are all just out to murder black people, and we can’t let that happen.
@Barry,
What is wrong with me is that I don’t think I’ve ever been more worried about the state of our country, and I’m tired of keeping quiet when I see people who are so insular that they blame the victims all the time. I know you can’t understand what I’m saying and that you’ll twist my words to suggest that I think all blacks are victims and all police officers are evil. Rational people reading this, however, will know that’s not what I’m saying.
I’m not going to punch anyone. Lashing out physically has never been my style. But using my words to suggest you shut the f*ck up — rather than attack people like Howard Haywood — is exactly what I’m distraught enough to be doing right now.
Gail, let me rephrase that.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more worried about the state of our country, and I’m tired of keeping quiet when I see people who are so” prone to stoke the flames of racial division as BLM. I sympathize with the black people who are killed. But it doesn’t justify the national outrage, anger, demeaning of police, and destruction that follows it. Innocent people are affected by lootings, burnings, road closings, etc., but these idiots don’t care. They care only about themselves. They are dangerous.
Look at what happened after Rodney King, a common thug, was assaulted by LA cops. Half of south-central LA was burned down. I drove through there. It was ugly. Is this what you call “justice”? This kind of mob mentality is extraordinarily dangerous, and you and Howard Haywood, your hero, are contributing to it. That unity around anger, blown out of proportion on a national level, and simple stupid slogans that serve only to ignite passion are a real threat to all of us. Mob mentality is a terrible and frightening thing.
For Barry.
When my church, the First Unitarian Society in Newton (FUSN), decided to join other UU churches in the Black Lives Matter movement and put up a banner, since the police station is right across the street from the church, the minister asked me how to approach the police department about it. I suggested she contact Chief MacDonald and explain what the church was up to in order to reassure him that it was not intended as an affront to the Newton police.
What grew out of this meeting was a joint service at the War Memorial between FUSN, Myrtle Baptist Church, and the police department. The ministers, musicians and choirs of both churches, as well as the Mayor, the Chief of Police, the President of the City Council, the head of the Clergy Association, and myself participated in the service, which was organized to demonstrate unity and that we were all on the same side. These two congregations, with the support and blessing of the NPD, marched from Myrtle Baptist Church to FUSN in a show of unity against the killings of unarmed black men at the hands of police in Ferguson, New York City and elsewhere last year. The joint service was about unity and peace, and it exceeded all of our expectations in terms of the positive reactions of our respective congregations, the other members of the public who showed up, and the participants themselves.
This morning, our minister shared with our congregation on Facebook a message she had recently sent to Chief MacDonald, expressing our gratitude, support, condolences and prayers for the Newton Police Department and officers’ families and friends, in light of the tragic events in Dallas. I haven’t yet gotten her permission to reprint it here, as she is out of town, but if and when I do I would be happy to share it.
Blue Lives Matter, just as Black Lives Matter. Instead of letting these senseless shootings divide us, we need to come together as one community and all support one another. One of my favorite UU hymns is “We Would Be One,” sung to the tune of Finlandia. It best expresses my thoughts and beliefs on this important issue:
Last evening, on a New York City AM station, I heard one of those right wing talk radio clowns claim that the President’s “rhetoric” contributed to the carnage in Dallas. I flipped the dial before I could determine which one it was.
We should be mourning both the police officers killed and wounded in Dallas and the motorists slain in Minneapolis and Baton Rouge and extend this mourning to all victims of police brutality and police forces across America that are often horribly outgunned by the weaponry that terrorists and lone wolves can lay their hands on.
I remember having a nice feeling when several Newton police officers marched with us to the Myrtle Baptist Church during Henderson, Missouri.
@Ted: I thought it was Chief Mintz that was leading the March?
Rev. Howard Haywood and others at Myrtle Baptist organized the march, but you are correct that Chief Mintz was right there with us at the front. He also coordinated with the Turnpike Authority and other local and state officials to make sure that marchers could safely walk from Myrtle Baptist Church, down Washington Street, over the Turnpike, past Capt. John Ryan Park and into the First Unitarian Society in Newton. It was a quiet, peaceful march, and it meant a lot to have the Chief of Police marching along with us.
@Ted. I so focused in on “We Would Be One” done to Finlandia that I didn’t read the first part of your post about how the march to and service at Myrtle Baptist Church came about. It was a moving and remarkable day and I’m pleased to know that you had a lot to do with making it happen.
@Gail. I was kind of missing Barry until he showed up again.