I’d like to thank the Old Saybrook Police Department for showing up today, that’s more than East Lyme PD was willing to do yesterday. I’d also like to thank Chief Spera for having the courage to speak to us today— unfortunately he ended up making it very clear to almost everyone there that he is missing the entire point.
After he was done speaking, Chief Spera proclaimed “Now let’s march together!” as he walked away from the chants asking him to take a knee. After walking about a hundred yards and realizing almost nobody had followed him, he turned around and shouted “Come over here and I will take a knee!” as he knelt nearly alone for his photo op with the organizers, who unfortunately felt obligated to cater to his vanity.
Chief Spera, if we made you uncomfortable by our actions today, consider for a moment how uncomfortable it is to be black in America every day while police officers are rarely held accountable for excessive force and often even murder— disproportionately so against people of color. If you think merely listening to us and banning chokeholds is enough, it’s not. It’s the bare minimum. You are in charge of one of largest police forces per capita in the US. And for what? Too many kids gettin rowdy playing mini golf? The size of your department shows us you clearly recognize the power in numbers.
Well guess what, we recognize that power too.
Check your humility, Chief.
