Dear Union Chief Mike O’Meara, I Edited Your T̶a̶n̶t̶r̶u̶m̶ Speech For You: The New Blue Line
By: Heather M. Edwards
Tags: Culture, BlackLivesMatter, Medium, Politics, Racism

All rights © Alec Favale. Edits mine. New York

As the President of the Police Benevolent Association of New York, I stand before you today, hat in hand, to grieve for all of those killed by officers who’ve betrayed their oath and our calling. We recognize and honor the tragic and preventable grief of the families left behind. We mourn the empty chairs around family dinner tables all over this great country of ours.

It is my great honor to serve in this role. Make no mistake, I am a public servant. I represent public servants. I represent you. But I am also a leader. And I’d like to take this pivotal moment in time to solemnly swear to the good people of New York that you will never be unduly punished by the people paid to protect you without swift and severe consequences.

I will not offer thoughts and prayers alone.

I will never ask you to condone or overlook the brutality of a “few bad apples”. I stand before you today to swear that one is too many. Many cliches are rooted in truth: we are only as strong as our weakest link. And our weakest links have broken promises. We are ready to mend them.

Respect is earned. Trust is earned. And when a law enforcement officer betrays the trust of the people it is not the responsibility of the people to reassure law enforcement that they are not “disrespecting” all of us. Rather, it is our responsibility to regain your trust.

Please forgive us for not policing ourselves.

You deserve to feel safe. You deserve to breathe without fear. You deserve the right to trust in us.

Just like the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, in which organizational leadership not only failed to prevent the predatory betrayal of priests against children, they covered it up. Then they perpetuated it.

I am disgusted by anyone who abuses a power differential and inflicts brutality on innocent people. I am disgusted by the prevalence of racial profiling. I am disgusted by homicidal men who sully the badge and everything it represents. I am disgusted by the good ol’ boys who protect themselves instead of the people they are paid to serve and protect.

George Floyd did not choose to be a martyr. His family did not offer him up as a sacrifice on the American altar of racial inequality.

Therefore we would like to express our disgust at the betrayal by any law officers using excessive force, begrudging personal matters, abusing the badge, and indulging racial biases and harmful stereotypes. You disgust me. I am disgusted by what you have done while in uniform to the American people.

Today I stand before you, unified in purpose, without kevlar, without riot gear, with Sheriff Chris Swanson, a third-generation police officer of Flint, Michigan. I will walk with you.

I stand with Bend, Oregon Police Chief Jim Porter.

I stand with the Tennessee National Guard who laid down their riot shields.

I kneel with Santa Cruz Police Chief Andy Mills.

We will demilitarize.

We will end qualified immunity.

We will lobby for increased funding for mental health specialists. We will collaborate with organizations like Cahoots. We will deescalate.

And we are proud to announce that we are the first law enforcement agency to officially adopt the evidence-based 8 Can’t Wait principles.

All rights © 8 Can’t Wait

Any officer caught violating these principles will be immediately suspended without pay. They will be investigated with the assistance of a citizen review board within 30 days of the incident. If they are found guilty of criminal negligence by a joint panel of their supervisors and citizen reviewers we will terminate their contracts and they will not be able to serve as police officers in any precinct in the country. There will be no second chances.

We will create a centralized database of complaints against police.

Officers caught covering up police brutality will be held to the same standards as the officers committing it.

Law-abiding officers are ready to move forward. But not before we extend our sincerest condolences to the family of George Floyd and the inadvertent sacrifice they have made by being thrust into the spotlight of an issue that has been denied for too long.

As we try to heal as a country I would like to extend our gratitude to the media for their brave and thorough reporting on these painful truths. I would like to thank the citizen journalists who through passionate public protests and rigorous online education and advocacy have taken a morally unimpeachable stand, who have lifted their voices to this beautiful unified choir singing for justice.

If you will have us, we are proud to share our voices and fight together. We know that this is not a fight between cops and civilians. This is a fight as old as humanity — the fight between good and evil. And we will not tolerate evil among our ranks.

Thank you.