Town officials, including the police and fire chiefs, have been trying to tamp down tensions. The dispute has unleashed a torrent of vitriol in town, in heated clashes during rallies for and against the flag, and in the barrage of nasty, threatening and insulting emails, calls and voicemails aimed at Giarrusso, that hasn't stopped since he raised the issue on June 22. But when I leave my house, dead afraid to be pulled over because I can't be sure that even if my hands are up, even if did everything right, that I probably wouldn't come home to my three boys, then you understand that it's not 'just a line.' " "Of course, it's easy for someone to, 'Why are you so bothered by this? It's just a blue line. So, seeing law enforcement officials embrace it, he said, just exacerbates the fears that weigh on him every day, even as he's driving to and from work. No matter what its original intent was, Oppong said, the thin blue line symbol has come to represent a counterforce to Black Lives Matter, and its efforts to combat systemic racism and police brutality. "Yes, if I see that flag I am scared," said Emmanuel Oppong, one of few Black residents of Hingham, and one of those who've been joining the call for the flags to be removed. "So I was upset that our publicly-owned taxpayer-paid vehicles flying a symbol that could make a lot of residents in this town uncomfortable." "The thin blue line has become a political symbol and a symbol of racism in my opinion," he told NPR. So when college student Max Giarrusso saw the flags flying in his hometown, he asked Hingham selectmen to take them down, saying it was not appropriate "for a public safety vehicle to don such a politically charged flag." And since it has also been adopted by the "Blue Lives Matter" movement, which launched in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, many believe it connotes opposition to the goals of ending police brutality and systemic racism. Because the flag has also been associated with white supremacist groups, some say it symbolizes a blatantly racist agenda. The flag, a black and white rendition of the American flag with a blue stripe running just under the stars, is meant to represent the men and women in blue standing as a line between law and order, proponents say, and it's been hung as show of police pride and solidarity.īut many others see it differently. Michael Chesna, on the second anniversary of his death. While firefighters have agreed, after more than a week, to comply with town orders to remove the flags hanging on firetrucks, they're now planning an even bolder display.įirefighters say they first hung "thin blue line" flags on two engines and a ladder truck to honor a fallen police officer, Sgt. Residents are planning rallies both for and against the flags, which some see as a proud tribute to police officers, and others denounce as a racist symbol. Critics say the flags carry racial overtones.Ĭontroversy sparked by "thin blue line" flags flying on town property in Hingham, Mass., continues to roil the small, coastal community, in the latest of many such flare-ups around the nation. A controversy has raged since firefighters hung "thin blue line" flags on fire trucks to honor a fallen officer. Demonstrators clash this week at a rally outside the Hingham Police Department in Hingham, Mass.
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