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Letters to the editor
TO THE EDITOR: I have been following the recent escalating events in Onset/Wareham. Let me first start off by saying I am a proud Cape Verdean who was born in Tobey Hospital in Wareham and lived most of my life in Onset. Kenny Fontes is my cousin but more important he has always been a role model to me. He along with other older cousins of mine made sure I stayed away from drugs and played sports. I owe him a lot for that because I could have easily made some stupid decisions in my teens and not am where I am now. As for the Wareham Police Department, there are many people on the force I consider friends.
I want everyone to know I was not there when the alleged excessive force attack happened. I do call it an attack because whenever you physically harm another individual you are not only altering them physically but also mentally. As I said earlier I was not there to witness the alleged brutality and I do not know the officer charged.
I do have many problems with the way this has been played out though. The first problem is, why a 12-year-old kid would talk that way to an adult, never mind a police officer. As a young kid I wouldn’t have worried about the possible abuse I would get from a police officer as much as the abuse I would get at home from my father, when he found out. My parents would have kicked my butt.
The second problem is, an individual who is not that child’s parent putting they’re hands in an alleged abusive way on a child. Whether it was for racial reasons or not, that is just wrong. No way did that officer need to allegedly throw that girl up against the wall and then slam her to the ground. No way. If she was holding a knife or a gun to him, then things change. Another thing I was told as a child, besides respecting adults, is that you never lay your hands on a girl. A girl or woman, who is committing a horrible crime or doing something terribly wrong, is different compared to a 15-year-old child who just wants an officer not to abuse her little brother. If I was that girl’s father and the alleged abuse is proven, I would have an assault case against that officer hanging over me.
The third problem is that police guidelines support the force that was used. She is 15. Let’s use our head. What is she going to do, scratch you to death? If you cannot protect yourself from a 15-year-old girl without throwing her around then you should not be protecting our community. I believe Mr. Fontes that the officer used poor judgment throwing her against the wall and then slamming her to the ground. In my mind that is a no-brainer. Is he a racist? I don’t know but let’s not label him a racist until we know. He may quite well be, but to ruin a guy’s reputation before doing all the research is wrong. He may just have lost his head or was having a bad day! Or maybe he really felt threatened! Maybe we should hear from him! But this is where I think Chief Joyce screwed everything up. I like Chief Joyce. He has always been very nice to me and my family. My father, mother and grandfathers always spoke very highly of him. But to conduct an investigation without speaking to the individuals who formally made the complaint makes it look like one of two things - stupidity or a cover-up. And I know Chief Joyce is not stupid. So that leaves a community who has been on edge lately to believe only one thing.
The fourth problem is the racial remarks posted on the Standard Times web site and the smear campaign against Mr. Fontes. As I mentioned earlier, I am one Kenny’s biggest fans, and for Kenny to do the right thing by going to the police with another concerned citizen and getting smeared on-line, allegedly by officers, is outrageous. There were quite a few racial remarks, never mind the personal attacks on his character and reliability as a witness. This is an individual who, for over 25 years, has worked for the Wareham Junior Basketball Association. Thousands of parents have left their kids in his care every Saturday morning. Kenny has probably coached or mentored more kids in Wareham than all other current basketball coaches combined. I’m willing to bet that whoever wrote those comments on the web site probably even went through the Wareham J.B.A. This is the perfect person you would want as a witness, and this is how we treat him. But I guess that is what happens when you deal with cowards who will not even sign their names to those racist and hurtful words. Next time, sign your name and be accountable for your words.
The fifth problem is young Cape Verdean, and all kids of color, feeling like the police are racists. As a young Cape Verdean kid, you always feel like the police are out to get you. The music we listen to, the stories from adults and kids we hear, the movies we watch, the way we are presumed guilty until proven innocent by the cloths we wear, the looks we get from older white adults to the way we are treated at school, all give us that resentment, fear or edge. But what we don’t realize is that we perpetuate the negative perceptions of us by standing on the corner selling drugs, wearing our pants hanging all the way below our butts, using the N-word (and not thinking that makes white people think it is OK for them to us it), not being respectful to adults (police officers included), believing we have it so rough. Read a book about slavery and what it was like in the South during the 1960s, take a ride into the Red Hook section of Brooklyn to see what a real ghetto looks like, join the military, be a teacher in a inner city school, visit a children’s hospital and see a kid with cancer or a rare heart disease and then tell me how rough you have it. Yes, I believe some officers are racist. Just as I think some people of color are racist. So what do we do to solve these problems?
First we have to do a better job of raising our kids and teaching them to be respectful. Why do kids feel it is cool to be disrespectful? Start early teaching kids there are consequences for their actions and that the police are not always the bad guys. Sometimes we are!
Second and third, we need to re-evaluate how citizen complaints are handled. If the "the no-snitching rule" in the streets is such a problem stopping crime, remember the police have that blue line, and what difference is that from snitching? I suggest all complaints dealing with the police department come in front of selectmen or town counsel to be determined which case(s) need to be looked into deeper. And if we can’t find enough people to join these councils and take time out of their lives, then don’t complain if you don’t want to be part of the solution. And if an officer is found guilty he should not be suspended. He should be charged and sentenced just like any other citizen.
Fourth and fifth fix, we have a wonderful Boys and Girls Club, Y.M.C.A, J.B.A, Pop Warner and Little League Baseball leagues in Wareham, but why not a Police Athletic League? The younger the children get to mingle with police officers the more likely they are to develop a relationship and respect that goes both ways. I remember growing up in Onset. (One officer) was the most hated cop by the kids. I thought he was great for one reason. I was probably under 12 shooting hoops by myself one day at Hammond School I noticed he was in his cruiser watching me. I was scared, wondering what he thought I could have done, but he got out of his cruiser after what felt like hours but was probably two minutes and came up to the fence and said my elbows were too far out and I was shooting from my chest. That was it. Just giving me advice instead of yelling "get off that corner" gave him instant respect in my eyes. To this day when ever I see him I say hello and don’t even know if he remembers that day. But I do.
We need more of that. We also need more people willing to give a child of color a chance instead of automatically assuming the worse. Just because a kid has baggy shorts on does not mean he is a drug dealer or will steal your pocketbook. Also teach our kids to let people know when they are finding something said to be offensive. I never did that as a kid and I think that allowed white kids (friends of mine) to say things that hurt deep inside. Now that I’m grown I don’t have those problems.
One final thought - if you want older kids to be better role models for younger children, be better role models to the older children. And make it mandatory that unless an athlete has a 2.5 grade point average or works they have to coach or referee a youth sports league. I brought this up two years ago and hoped it would be applied. It hasn’t in Wareham. There are too many benefits to name not to have this in place. I will name four. First, kids now have a teenager to look up to who is doing the right thing. Second, teenagers are learning what coaches and referees go through and the rules of the game. Third, youth organizations that pay for umpires or referees now save that money. Fourth, student’s grades will improve. The list can go on forever. Make it happen and I bet there will be a change your community. I have seen what we can do united at my stroke benefit.
Jay Canute Falmouth
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