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To the Somerville Police Employees Association:

Yesterday I read your letter to the Mayor of Somerville, asking that the “Black Lives Matter” banner on City Hall be taken down and replaced with one that says “All Lives Matter.” As a fellow citizen of Somerville, I wanted to write to you and explain why I think the banner should stay, why I’m proud that it’s hanging, and why I hope you’ll consider changing your position and supporting it as well.

I have immense respect for and gratitude towards those many officers of the law who labor day and night to keep our city safe. I’m grateful for Detective Mario Oliveira, shot but thankfully not killed while serving an arrest warrant, and former auxiliary officer Sean Collier, killed by the Boston Bombers while patrolling for the MIT Campus Police. For Officers Domenic Pefine and James Slattery, who rescued a fleeing suspect who had fallen through the ice of the Mystic River. For the everyday actions of officers like Sean Sylvester, who has worked out of hours to improve the crossing guard program, or Ashley Catatao, who sent flowers to a woman she had pulled over for speeding after learning the woman’s mother was dying. I know I’m far from the only one in our community who appreciates the contributions of officers like these.

The phrase “Black Lives Matter” isn’t a denial of these officers’ efforts, but a commitment to maintain the high standards they represent. It’s not an accusation, but an affirmation.

That affirmation is sorely needed as the list of tragic deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police grows longer. Tamir Rice, the twelve-year-old shot and killed while playing in a park in Cleveland. Eric Garner, choked to death on a New York sidewalk while being arrested for selling loose cigarettes. John Crawford III, shot and killed in a Dayton Wal-Mart after picking up a toy BB gun being sold there. It’s hard to come away from these incidents without believing that black people are dying too easily at the hands of police.

These events don’t represent Somerville’s officers. But in the face of tragedies elsewhere, many of Somerville’s citizens want and need to know that the city is doing all that it can to prevent something similar from happening here. The banner is the first step, a recognition of a problem that specifically affects the lives of our black citizens, one that requires specific focus and resources. If the banner no longer referenced black lives, it would lose that recognition and focus, and thus fail to serve its purpose.

Saying Black Lives Matter shouldn’t and doesn’t prevent us from also recognizing that the murder of police officers in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and elsewhere are terrible, reprehensible crimes. The perpetrators, had they lived, should have faced the full weight of justice. Anyone who kills in the name of Black Lives Matter is betraying the movement’s core aim by spreading violence instead of ending it.

I don’t say Black Lives Matter because I am anti-police; I say it because I believe in the police’s mission of protecting us all. In the banner, I see the fulfilment of our city’s motto—”Municipal Freedom Gives National Strength”—the idea that good government begins at home, and that we can be a model for the rest of the country. If you were to support the banner, it would send a powerful signal to Somerville and to the nation that there doesn’t need to be any conflict between concern for black lives and concern for the lives of our men and women in uniform. That message matters, too.

Sincerely,

Alexander Sayer Gard-Murray

Somerville