By Camryn Sanchez
Both ‘back the blue’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ rallies occurred in a divided Westchester this week where organizers and speakers agreed that policing should be reformed and not defunded.
Both movements have had several rallies in the county over the past few months, and both have future rallies planned. Police Officer Robert Miceli organized the back the blue rally in Mamaroneck on Saturday with more than 150 attendees from neighboring cities, and activist Kelli Scott organized a Black Lives Matter rally with around 100 attendees in Irvington on Sunday.
In terms of demands, speakers from each event inadvertently echoed one another time and time again. For example on commending the release of body cam footage which Black lives Matter speakers believe will hold police accountable. Back the blue attendee Chris Daniello supports body cameras for a different reason: “There are a lot of different indicators that the common citizen doesn’t understand that police are trained for.” He says that longer videos from body cameras help to contextualize police actions.
Speakers at both events also called for: holding police accountable for committing crimes, participating in peaceful protests, and increasing diversity training for police officers. “They [police officers] should be better on that.”
Most importantly however, each rally affirmed that the lives of police officers matter. State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins stated at the Black Lives Matter Rally: “They’re trying to tell you that if you think black lives matter that you don’t think blue lives matter. That is false.”
Back the blue speakers advocated for increased law and order, using words like ‘anarchy’ and ‘Marxism’ to describe the Black Lives Matter Movement. In Irvington, Scott stated that law and order is important to her as well, and that believing in the existence of systematic racism is not synonymous with being against law and order. “Order only comes when issues are confronted. We can’t turn a blind eye to issues and then expect law and order.”
Although supporters from each movement did unknowingly agree on many points, they did not agree on everything. Speaker Peter Bernstein stated in his speech in Irvington that it is important to end qualified immunity because without it he believes law enforcement is not being held accountable. Miceli disagreed, saying that ‘bad cops’ should be dealt with by their own departments.
Miceli also believes that the Black Lives Matter movement wants to defund the police, (which Scott emphatically stated it does not.) “We’re not trying to erase police officers so to speak. We’re trying to get rid of the bad ones, so it’s nothing against cops per say,” said Scott.
Miceli’s father Frank expressed concern for police officers like his son who he says are under attack in America. “They have a thankless job and I wouldn’t want their job to be quite honest with you. Every day called names, thrown bricks at, hit in the head, shot at. All to try to protect people.”
This is similar to the fear expressed by the Black Lives Matter movement about people of color who are constantly and consistently attacked by law enforcement every day. “It’s just a matter of time before we see another social media front row seat of some injustice happening to another black man or black woman. It’s just a matter of time. It’s been happening for 400 years,” said speaker Alberta Jarane.
Many of the back the blue speakers and attendees voiced concern that police have become vilified. “The criminals are now heroes and the heroes are now criminals. I mean it’s a complete reversal,” said speaker Sammy Ravelo. There is also frustration that local Mamaroneck government has been unfair to law enforcement supporters and shown favoritism to Black Lives Matter supporters.
No one took the opportunity to attend an opposing rally and engage in a conversation about their intentions.
Back the blue speaker Dr. Darrien Porcher said on Saturday: “All lives matter!” One day later, Black Lives Matter rally speaker Sitara Herur asked: “If all lives matter, then why weren’t you here today? Show up and show us that all lives matter by showing up when we say yes that black lives matter… I’m asking to matter, and if you have a problem with that you’ve got to do some long hard thinking about why you feel so challenged by me saying that I matter too.”
For months attendees from these rallies have shouted ‘blue lives matter’ and ‘black lives matter’ across the county at one another, without either side disavowing the sentiment of the other. Still, the back the blue speakers insist that the Black Lives Matter movement does not stand for the same values as theirs, failing to acknowledge that they are both advocating for similar police reforms.
