While I appreciate Chief Lawn putting out this letter and congratulate the
Watertown Police department in its efforts to build up Community Policing,
there are some issues with this letter that I found problematic. First, while
according to their letter, Chief Lawn and the men and women of the Watertown
Police Department are deeply disturbed by the recent event, there is no place
where there is any condemnation of the actions that took place. There is also
no sympathy given to the person who was killed, that is to say, murdered, at
the hands of a police officer while three follow officers stood by and did
nothing.
Even in an event such as this, police seem to be unwilling to condemn one of
their own. It seems to me that many times systems of oppression perpetuate
because the system remains hidden and unspoken. This, to me, seems to be one
of these times. While I have empathy for the challenges the police face, the
lack of a clear condemnation of this officer’s actions and the ones surrounding
him along with the lack of empathy for the victim, leaves me questioning if
this letter is just a lot of nice words but not really changing anything for
people of color and other marginalized identities in our community.
These are challenging times and there is a lot of learning (unlearning) that
white people, myself included, need to do about understanding and dismantling
white supremacy. This letter simply does not go far enough in that direction.
It may be a letter that soothes the anxiety of white people but am curious if
people of color are as impressed?
Joseph
On May 31, 2020, at 9:24 PM, Eileen Ryan <eileenelizabethryan@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Dear Neighbors,
In light of the righteous anger and demonstrations that are occurring around
our country in response to continued police brutality and systemic racism, I
think you will appreciate this statement from the Watertown Police Chief Mike
Lawn.http://www.watertownmanews.com/2020/05/30/watertown-police-release-statement-about-george-floyds-death/
<http://www.watertownmanews.com/2020/05/30/watertown-police-release-statement-about-george-floyds-death/>
Eileen Ryan
