Latest in a series of posts on the George Floyd killing
On behalf of the department, Chief DiLuzio read a statement on “George Floyd’s Death & Policing in America” at the Council meeting Wednesday night. You can find the text here and the audio below. (The Mayor’s May 31 statement was not read into the record but can be found here.)
The Chief’s statement was the occasion for response to the local and national events of the last ten days or so by each member of Council.
Followers know that a main purpose of this blog is to help you know your Council members better. These Council responses are a good way to do exactly that, so Gadfly is taking some time to present each one individually for better focus.
Listen to the voices of our elected officials.
We began with President Waldron and are proceeding in the order in which the comments were presented at the meeting. Previously we have posted on Councilmembers Van Wirt, Crampsie Smith, and Reynolds. Colon and Negron come after Callahan here.
Councilman Callahan
The Council meeting was held online, of course, and unfortunately Councilman Callahan’s presentation broke up repeatedly, so Gadfly is sorry for all the breaks in the tape and the transcription.
“I just want to echo everybody’s statements. It really touched everybody, what happened, the tragedy last week and on the weekend I didn’t know about the parade that was going on but I heard all the noise up there, and I walked. I was so proud I posted the video I saw, I was so proud of the way people were behaving themselves and just peacefully protesting. . . . Our police department did a heckuva job, and I want to say thank you to them too for such short notice . . . They allowed everybody to speak up . . . I think everybody knows how I feel about the president of the United States . . . I believe he’s trying to divide everybody, and that’s a whole other issue . . . As Ms. Crampsie Smith said . . . maybe we should send some type of resolution to the state . . . our state senators, our United States senators. This is not America, and it’s a shame . . . as Mr. Reynolds said . . . in schools . . . I know Allen High School, Northeast, and Easton has a lot of poverty, and we have a lot of minorities in there. These kids are great, great kids, great souls, and great hearts, and they come from extreme poverty some of them. And it brings a set of issues you don’t see in white middle class America, and it’s time for us to step up, and I don’t know if anybody wants to write a resolution or vote for it, but I think we gotta . . . It’s not just the resolution, it’s what we do, it’s what we say, and it’s how . . . I just want to reiterate what everybody said, you know, we are really in unprecedented times . . . For some reason I feel like we are back in 1969 again. This is crazy. And so my heart goes out to everybody . . . the family of the gentleman in Minnesota . . . It’s time for a change, you know, and the only way we are going to get that is by going out and voting. So I appreciate all . . . If there’s anything I can do to help or push along some resolutions or whatever . . . I’m all for it.”
Does everyone realize that for the last 3 or so years, athletes in high school and college faced being kicked off a team, if not more, for taking a knee during the National Anthem? Really? Now everything is fine because the commissioner of the NFL says that he is sorry and was wrong from the beginning? Really? People still think this way. Isn’t it time to tell them how wrong you think they are. It should have been done years ago, and loudly.