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A walk for solidarity and bringing the community together started in front of the Fecteau-Leary School on Monday. The march was led, from right, by Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger, State Rep. Daniel Cahill, Tyler Alicudo and A.J. Capano.
Rayquan Fregeau and Robert Faherty met in a room in the Lynn police station in January 2014. Fregeau, 18, was confined to a wheelchair and battling cancer. Faherty was on hand to donate $5,000 raised by fellow Cops for Kids With Cancer volunteers to Fregeau’s mother, Brenda.
Fregeau was an African-American and Faherty is a white retired police superintendent, but race and occupation didn’t matter on the day Faherty shook Fregeau’s hand and received a smile in return.
Americans are grappling with race in the context of African-Americans and their relationship with police. Much of the discussion is occurring against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter protest movement with its slogans and calls to action.
The lesson taught by Rayquan Fregeau and Robert Faherty is that compassion is a stronger force than conflict. To put it in simpler terms, love can conquer hate and disagreement is not productive unless it leads to resolution.
The late Virginia Barton and Abner Darby embodied that lesson.
The two Lynn residents spent their lives talking about racism in America. Darby’s education in racism came in 1950 when, as a Texas high school student, he sat in an auditorium listening to a future U.S. Supreme Court justice talk about the battle to overthrow segregation.
“This is just the beginning,” Thurgood Marshall told Darby and his classmates.
Barton throughout her life displayed a sign in her home that read, “colored waiting room.” This tangible proof of segregation in America reminded Barton that the discussion on race in America never ends and, as Marshall observed on that hot Texas day, is only beginning.
Barton and Darby and local civil rights pioneers talked about race and equality in the context of a broad range of topics spanning housing, public employment and education. They spoke with passion, even anger and outrage, but at the heart of every discussion lay the goal of mapping out a clear path to resolution.
Darby, Barton and others like them never accepted the premise that condemnation and blanket accusation are anecdote enough for solving problems as serious as racism. They demanded and worked for change.
The same standard must be applied to the spiraling debate around race and interaction between African-Americans and law enforcement. People truly committed to change should set aside slogans and roll up their sleeves. Police must establish forums and procedures for ensuring regular and thorough dialogues with the people they protect, encompassing all races, orientations and ethnicities.
Broad-sweeping claims and accusations will not guide the country to a rational discussion about race or a thorough examination of the role race plays in police work.
Ray Fregeau died days after his family received a helping hand from Cops For Kids. His parting words to Faherty and his fellow cops were, “I’m a fighter.”
Barton and Darby took those words to heart in their battle against racism and we would all be well served by following their example.
