Racism in the Brookline police department?

Jason Lee

History 242

3/3/2016

                                                Racism in the Brookline: police department

            Growing up in Brookline Massachusetts my whole life, I have been fortunate to have been exposed to racism on a minimal level. I attended Brookline high which is an extremely diverse high school of about 2000 kids, and in general the high school was extremely accepting of all backgrounds.  In fact, it was something that the high school took great pride in. This is why when news broke out about racism in our very own police department, it quickly became a huge topic of controversy.  This is an excerpt from an article describing the accusations of a Black police officer on the Brookline police department.

BROOKLINE — Town officials will hire an independent investigator to review complaints made by two Brookline police officers who say they have been the targets of discrimination within the Police Department.

The officers told the Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations Commission about their experiences during a meeting last week, said Board of Selectmen chairman Neil Wishinsky.

 “This is something we take very seriously,” Wishinsky told the Globe on Wednesday.

In a video of the meeting posted to Twitter, Officer Prentice Pilot told the commission that on Dec. 4, a commanding officer used a racial epithet and told him to do “jumping jacks for me, and I’ll put in a good word for you.” Pilot has been on the force for at least 16 years.

Pilot said he was in uniform and had pulled up in his police cruiser alongside the commanding officer to speak with him when the comment was allegedly made.

(Boston Globe)

My overall opinion on the matter is very mixed, simply because I don’t know who to believe on the matter.  I want to believe that this incident didn’t happen between the officers but I know that we unfortunately live in an unsheltered world.  We can’t be oblivious to racial discrimination regardless if it was between employed officers.  This incident was all over the Boston Globe and it ultimately created a division between two views.  One side thought officer pilot was making accusations in order to get a promotion and the other side believed it was an act of discrimination.  I believe this is just a small snapshot of the type of division that people in this country deal with on an everyday basis. Although I am unsure what to think on this matter, there is never a place where discrimination doesn’t occur on some small level.