By JULIE CUNNINGHAM
(Greenfield, MA) As the world erupts inoutrage over the killing of George Floyd, local leaders talk about what it means here in Franklin County. Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh said while he doesn’t see the same amount of violence flowing into Greenfield, he also wants to insure the safety of his officers.
“We want people to express themselves in a peaceful and appropriate way,” said Haigh.
When asked about the actions of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, Haigh said that simply isn’t the way his officers are trained to handle any situation. Haigh said that putting a knee on someone’s neck, as seen in the video of Chauvin and George Floyd, is not something his department practices. Neither is doing nothing to stop it, like the three other officers in the video are shown doing.
“My officers are trained to think independently,” said Haigh. “If someone says they can’t breath, something needs to be done.”
Suzanne Carlson, a protestor on the Greenfield Common Monday morning, said she recognizes that the local police force does not show the same cause for concern as larger, more urban forces.
“I think it’s going well,” said Carlson “I don’t have African American friends in this community so I don’t have feedback,” Carlson clarified.
Andrea Kiener, Rabbi at Temple Israel, lived in Minnesota in a suburb of the Twin Cities and has family there witnessing the protests. Kiener said her family has reported signs of instigators in the area.
“There was a Land Rover with no license plates going through the neighborhood real slow two hours after curfew,” said Kiener.
When asked about groups like ANTIFA, Kiener said she thinks the name is a misnomer at this point.
“ANTIFA now means really crazy violent anarchist left wing people. I don’t know if there is such a thing as that. I don’t know if there is 100 of them or 1000, I have no idea. But all of us who are resisting police violence are getting painted this way.”
Emily Green, who used to live in the South but is now part of Racial Justice Rising, is concerned about how the dynamic of white privilege puts black men and women at risk of violence.
“By standing out here and being a presence that makes people think when they see my sign that says Black Lives Matter hopefully it will make a difference,” said Green.
President of Greenfield Community College Yves Salomon-Fernandez grew up in Haiti and has an international perspective. Salomon-Fernandez said she has seen political violence and overcome quite a few obstacles.
”I grew up in a country where I saw people getting killed, grew up in a country that was not a democracy. I grew up in a country that was a dictatorship,” said Salomon-Fernandez.
Salomon-Fernandez compared the now international movement to get justice for Floyd to apartheid.
“I see it in the same way that we had apartheid, the global anti apartheid movement, the same way that the world responded to Nelson Mandela, the same way that the world responded to Gandhi, and the same way the world responded to Martin Luther King. There is a sense of a global consciousness and people are saying enough is enough,” said Salomon-Fernandez.
Salomon-Fernandez said she does not see the same use of excessive force and violence locally, but did emphasize that Floyd’s alleged crime was not one that warranted death. At the same time, Salomon-Fernandez does not believe in fighting violence with violence, and spoke out against the looting and the destruction that is taking place in larger, more urban areas.
”This in a democracy it is appalling, and it is sad, and I grieve with those families,” said Salomon-Fernandez.
As violence continues across America, Floyd’s family is calling for peaceful demonstrations across the country and exercising voting rights in place of looting and destruction.