A group of activists have sparked the local media to note the rampant bigotry in the Boston Police Patrolman's Association's official newsletter, The Pax Centurion. (A small sample of offensive content from just one issue.)
I wrote about why Occupy could see this as an important piece of fighting oppression, yesterday. This isn't just about words in a newsletter. It's about a bigoted culture in our police force.
Today, I simply want to remind you all that the meeting is this evening at 8pm and it would mean a lot to the MA Minority Law Enforcement Officers, women, people of color, those who are not hetero-normative, immigrants, Muslims and just about any group in Boston who is not white, Christian, cis-male to see people there in solidarity. Will you please join us?
On the agenda are the discriminatory practices inside the police department itself.
Some questions to ponder:
- Why are the police, who are paid by every citizens tax dollars to treat all citizens equally, using their position of authority, while they carry guns and badges, as a mouthpiece to propagandize for a political agenda?
- Why have the Boston police gotten away with spewing hateful disdain for so many in their newsletter for so long?
- Why doesn't the Conduct Unbecoming code apply to what we see in this newsletter?
- Why don't the demographics of the Boston Police Department even come close to resembling the demographics of the city?
- Why are there no women or people of color as Captains in any of the Districts?
- Commissioner Ed Davis says that the only reason there isn't more diversity at the officer or command levels is all due to testing. Can that be possible? How does the subjective interview scoring impact promotions?
- Why does the police union let 54, overwhelmingly white male, members make all the decisions for the union?
- Why are the committee positions in the union held by even fewer people and do they actually control all the union activity?
- Why are our police officers working without a contract?
- Why is Commissioner Ed Davis working without a contract?
- How much power does Mayor Menino have over the inner workings of the police department if the Commissioner is working at his pleasure? (The position of Commissioner is appointed by the Mayor.)
- If the Mayor and the Commissioner really wanted an anti-oppressive culture at the BPD, couldn't they make it happen?
- How do we get answers to these questions?
- How do we get the citizens of Boston to recognize the toxic nature of this culture and how it impacts all of Boston?
- How do we generate the political will to demand and effect change?
Please add your own questions!
Please join us tonight to ask them!
What: Town Hall meeting
Why: To discuss discrimination in the City of Boston
When: Sunday, August 5, 2010, 8-10pm
Where: Global Ministries Church 670 Washington Street, Dorchester Ctr, MA 02124
travel directions can be found at the
Clean Up BPPA blog post.