By Kevin Dickinson

In the emotionally charged discussion regarding the Black Lives Matter movement, whether it is a political or social movement, or whether or not it puts police officers in a bad light, the question remains as to whether or not the banner that hangs at the City of Somerville’s City Hall building should be there or if it should come down.

At the Cambridge Black Lives Matter demonstration held in Union Square last Thursday evening, I spoke with Cole Parker, who explained that BLM is a political/social movement for expanding and uplifting social and racial justice and that the Cambridge BLM group came to Somerville to show support as a counter to the demonstration at City Hall.

When asked if she knew if the Cambridge BLM group was going to ask the City of Cambridge to hang such a banner, her answer was no, as was the response from the Office of the Manager for the City of Cambridge when they were contacted and asked the same question.

Parker feels that other groups should be allowed to hang their banners from Somerville City Hall as well, as long as the group promoted peace and love.

So who then gets to decide who enjoys freedom of speech and who does not? Parker responded that this question really had nothing to do with the reason why they were there.

I thanked her and left thinking that freedom of speech is what allowed them to be in someone else’s city to demonstrate against something they have no intention of asking their own city to do.

Henry Parker’s grandparents moved to Somerville 125 years ago and he has lived here his entire life, 66 years. He is on the Board of SCATV and feels, as I do, completely blown away that in so many BLM groups and demonstrations you see so many white people, such as the Cambridge BLM demonstration that was 95% white (a conservative estimate).

Parker says that Somerville is not a racist place and has never been. There has never been any violence against black people from the police. He felt that the Somerville Police did discriminate against one of its own (Friday Moore) to the point of taking away the officer’s service weapon and only allowing him to have a night stick while patrolling one of the roughest neighborhoods, and he got roughed up.

When asked about the banner, Parker stated, “I think the mayor is doing an outstanding job and I commend him for putting up the banner.” When asked about other groups, including hate groups, Parker said they should also be allowed to have their banners hang on the outer walls of City Hall.
When asked whether the banner should be left up or taken down, Deputy Chief Stephen Carrabino  of the Somerville Police said, “I am a peace office and I am here to keep the peace, and I’m going to stay in my lane.” He, along with 10 officers from Boston, rode in on motorcycles. He explained that he had been speaking with DiDi Delgado on the phone and that she had explained what they wanted to do and he was just there to keep the peace.