To the editor:
In the editorial, “Swampscott’s Shameful Travesty” (Item, March 22), the Item criticizes several Swampscott officials for calling for the felony charges against Black community activist Ernst Jean Jacques to be dropped.
The felony charge against him originated when he allegedly used an open hand to swipe a water bottle from the hand of an elderly white woman, Linda Greenberg, attending a December, 2020 Trump rally who had, by her own statement, thrown water on him. This is all on video and publicly available.
In the heat of the moment, with many protestors, noise and activity, we think the police made an error in making the arrest. She initiated an assault; he was arrested. There is no allegation of injury to Greenberg, but the young man lost his job and health insurance after acting instinctively and faces a felony charge.
It is a concern over unequal application of the law that motivated three of the five members of the Swampscott Select Board ([Peter]Spellios, [Polly] Titcomb and [David] Grishman) to ask that charges be dropped against Jean Jacques.
As Swampscott residents, we feel that fairness and proportionality would require the arrest of neither party or both, and even then both as misdemeanors. One of the oldest rules of moral behavior calls on one to imagine oneself in place of one’s neighbor. Try thinking about this case as if you, or your son, was in Jacques’ position. Would you feel it fair?
Finally, the police interviewed Greenberg at the time of the arrest and didn’t similarly ask Jean Jacques or witnesses for a statement. Many see this as an indication of racial bias, conscious or unconscious.
For all the above reasons, charges should be dropped and the record expunged.
Robert Baker
Margaret G. Barmack, Esq.
Sylvia Belkin
Jackie Berman
Deborah A Boggs
Patricia Buchanan
Mary-Lou Breitborde
Charmaine Champagne
Martha Curry
William DiMento
Ralph Edwards
Richard Frenkel
Jennifer Goldman
Doreen Hodgkin
Linda Jones
William Jones
Ellen Kayser
Keli Khatib
Ellie Miller
Lisa Leffler Pass
Don Pinkerton
Burt Rosenthal
Bob Scheier
Sharon Scofield
Margaret Somer
Frances Weiner
Keiko Zoll
Swampscott Racial Justice Action Group
Swampscott S.U.R.E. Diversity Committee
