Few events are more solemn than the funeral of a loved one or of a respected member of society. The situation requires appropriately decorous behavior. Police officers violated that code when they protested during New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s formal condolences to the family at the funeral of their fellow officer, Rafael Ramos, who was murdered by a deranged killer. With this protest, the police terminated an opportunity for a détente in the conflict between blacks and the police. In fact, the callous insensitivity of the protest assured blacks that their conflict with the police is justified.
For many years there has been an ongoing conflict between African Americans and police officers across the country. Black men believe, and with good reason, that the police and the criminal justice systems violate their constitutional rights. Protests erupted in many cities when grand juries in Missouri and New York failed to find policemen criminally liable for essentially executing two unarmed black men, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.
Many blacks now believe they can be victimized by the police with impunity. Even Mayor de Blasio, who has a black son, has to be concerned about Dante’s welfare. De Blasio’s sensitivity to the issue of racial discrimination by the police has enraged some members of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the patrolman’s union. Their disapproval of the mayor’s sensitivity to the “black lives matter” protests, was so great that they insulted the family of slain patrolman Ramos when they turned their backs at the funeral during de Blasio’s condolences.
The New York police force could have taken the national lead in healing the racial conflict and establishing the concept of the police as outstanding public servants. Now it is up to the Boston police force to lead the way.
