On July 28, 2017, Donald Trump gave a speech at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island to a group of area law enforcement officers. The audience were in uniform and they uniformly embraced the president’s words of encouragement and support.
Unfortunately, those words encouraged the gathering to “not to be too nice.” They were told to be “rough” when tossing a citizen “into the back of a paddy wagon.” The leader of the free world supported the idea that when guiding an arrestee into the squad car not to worry about them hitting their head. “You can take the hand away,” Trump said. The crowd laughed and cheered, unabashedly.
Three years later, after the lynching of George Floyd at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, I attended a large demonstration at Pulaski Park in Northampton where the signs read “Defund the Police,” “Who Do You Protect, Who Do You Serve?” “Divest From Police,” “Abolish,” and simply, “ACAB.” One that really struck a personal nerve read “Good Cops Quit Their Job.”
For most citizens of our community it is not OK for cops to not be too nice. Within a week of the local protest, the City Council in Northampton sliced 10% of the police department budget, causing the loss of five full-time officer positions.
Five decades ago, I enrolled in the Police Science program at that very same community college where Trump stoked the assemblage, where I shared classes with a contingent of uniformed police officers. My goal was to eventually join them — to make a positive difference in my community.
However, my classmates in blue — all men, all white — continually bragged about “busting heads” and “kicking ass.” After several weeks enduring their crass talk, I decided to forego my dream of joining the force, and eventually gravitated to a career in human services and education. I quit my law enforcement job before I even had it.
It is well overdue that, as a society, we actually do something significant about the systemic racism, unnecessary violence and militarization of our police. It is beyond sad that it took the excruciating 8 minute and 46 second video of execution of an African American for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill to have us seriously consider a policing paradigm shift.
Whatever actions our society considers, they must go beyond “reforms” such as body cameras, chokehold bans, review of qualified immunity, certification of officers and citizen review boards. We need a seismic shift in the way we think about ensuring public safety.
The Pulaski Park protesters all understood this. We have been enacting police reforms since well before my college days and yet today, we march holding signs with the names of those lost unnecessarily at the hands and knees of those sworn to protect and serve us.
Derek Chavin murdered George Floyd despite attending a court-ordered restraint-safety training, a reform that emanated from a $3 million lawsuit over the 2010 death of David Smith — a 28 year-old mentally ill black man who perished at the knee of a Minneapolis cop. It’s no wonder the fed-up city recently decided to disband their police force.
The institutional racism and systemic violence of police throughout the nation obviously preceded Trump’s arrogant and embarrassing regime. The enthusiastic embrace of the president’s speech at my alma mater reinforces what we already know: our democracy has a long way to go to create a more just, safe and kind community, truly protected and served, free of racist and violent practices.
A small budget cut is a start. Reforms are nice. We have so much more that needs to be done.
Dave Madeloni of Northampton is a teaching coordinator at the Worcester Recovery Center.