In your article covering the successful racial discrimination lawsuit against the Greenfield Police Department, your backstory coverage is missing a key detail. You name Officer Daniel McCarthy as the individual who filed a complaint against Officer Buchanan, who is Black, and that this complaint was the origination of the subsequent discriminatory acts against him. I find it stunning that this paper would neglect to mention that in 2015, as these events played out, McCarthy was exposed for openly displaying the confederate flag at his home. This matter was the subject of many Human Rights Commission meetings and articles at the time. Many citizens were disgusted by this flagrant display of racist ideals by public servants. This missing piece of context is important for readers to understand the environment of the Police Department then. For our mayor and Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. to say that the Greenfield Police Department has never stood for racism is inauthentic. The past cannot be swept under the rug and accountability from our leadership for their actions, complacency, and/or ignorance is in order. If Chief Haigh abhors racism as he states, then he needs to confront that it does exist and that he, perhaps unwittingly, has perpetuated it. That is the only way we can every truly eradicate it. Perhaps Officer Buchanan’s award is the appropriate price to pay in order to learn that lesson.
Rachel Silverman
Greenfield