Wrong-headed attack

Ecclesiastes advises that there is “…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…” Unfortunately, those purporting to represent the interests of the African American community in recent comments about racial diversity in the Boston Police Department did not know what time it was.

Adequate racial diversity on the police force has been a constant problem. When the Banner was founded 40 years ago, there were probably fewer than 10 blacks on the force. One of the first projects of the Banner was to convince the police department to establish a program at the old Station Nine on Dudley Street to prepare community applicants to pass the civil service exam.

This project was a successful start to more minority police enrollment. One of the graduates of that first program was Bill Celester who rose to the rank of superintendent. However, the rate of minority recruitment was still much too slow.

In 1978 two anti-discrimination lawsuits changed the rate of minority enrollment on the police force. NAACP v. Beecher successfully asserted that the slow pace of minority recruitment was discriminatory. Mass. Assn. of Minority Law Enforcement Officers vs. Boston Police Department asserted that the administration of civil service exams for promotion was also discriminatory. Both suits were settled by consent decrees.

The essence of the consent decrees was that minorities would be hired along with whites until the racial balance of the department was essentially equal to the population mix of Boston. Judge Patti Saris ruled 26 years later on November 24, 2004, that the racial balance set forth in the consent decrees had been attained.

While about 40 percent of the patrol officers are minorities, they are sparsely represented among the numbers of those holding civil service ranks. Only one of 11 district captains is black or minority and there are only eight lieutenants of color.

With a record like that, it is hard to understand how the president of MAMLEO, Angela Williams-Mitchell, would have temerity to complain about the lack of black police officers in command positions. The more important question is why has MAMLEO failed to encourage police officers to stand for promotion exams. MAMLEO should also provide prep courses. If black officers refuse to take advantage of such opportunities, then they should remain as patrolmen.

Clearly, black officers and MAMLEO have decided to enjoy the advantages of the consent decrees without using the opportunity to advance in substantial numbers up the civil service ranks. They frittered away 26 years. This failure is so egregious that so-called community leaders cannot now be heard to complain about Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole’s difficulties in trying to provide racial diversity in the command ranks.

For those who worked hard 40 years ago to increase the number of blacks on the police force, the failure of the younger generation to take advantage of burgeoning opportunities is a major disappointment and an ethnic embarrassment. It is advisable for those so loud in their criticisms of the commissioner to follow the wisdom of Ecclesiastes and “…keep silence…”

Melvin B. Miller

Editor & Publisher
Bay State Banner