PAX Centurion - January / March 2016

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • January/March 2016 • Page 49 O n February 8 th , NAPO sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell strongly condemning the NFL’s support of cop-killer “entertainment” during the Super Bowl’s half- time show. The half-time performance by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter hit an all-time low, even for a League that already turned a blind eye to its players perpetuating the “hands up, don’t shoot” blood libel on American police. During the Super Bowl, the League made the jump from slander- ing police as killers, to celebrating cop-killers themselves. The Black Panther themed half-time show was an obnoxious spectacle of igno- rance and malice. NAPO condemns Commissioner Goodell for doing his part to make trendy and acceptable the symbols of kidnapping and murder of American police officers. The black berets and high-fisted salutes were a deliberate tribute to the likes of cop-killers H. Rap Brown, Joanne Chesimard and Wesley Cook. NAPO Sends Letter to NFL Commissioner Goodell Regarding Beyoncé’s Anti-Cop Halftime Act Ms. Knowles-Carter, whose resume includes such all- American items as private performance for the late Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi’s family, cannot pretend that her act was not deliberately designed to glamorize attacks on police. As a consequence, the NFL is now tied to this act. On the same night that hundreds of officers gave up their evenings with their own families to protect the League, the players and the fans, the NFL honor them by promoting song and dance celebrating cop-killers. Any player who displayed such lunacy and lack of touch with reality would be prohibited from returning to the field under the League’s own brain injury policy. NAPO has called on Commissioner Goodell to either publicly apologize toAmerica’s men and women in law enforcement, or step aside in favor of someone who can recognize just how much the NFL and teams owe to the rule of law in this country. threaten you, not with bodily harm, but with the threat of telling your parents what you were up to. Unfortunately, the concept is now long forgotten. But I digress. What is poured out on the parade route these days is a cross between Mardi-Gras and Panama City beach. A bunch of A-holes gathering to drink, puke and urinate openly on the street. A few years back the operational plan for the BPD changed dramatically. “Zero- tolerance” for public drinking, disorderly conduct and other “minor” violations. Initially, it was difficult to understand why we were walking up to people on their own steps and confiscating cups and handing out city ordinance violations. But the clientele that flood the street now? No problem. It’s embarrassing to see what happens in Southie on parade day. We can discuss why operations plans for each parade in the city are dramatically different another day.....  I remember during the height of the parade controversies; Mayor Thomas Menino would subtly hint that he would like to move the parade to downtown Boston. At the time I couldn’t imagine South Boston without a parade on St. Patrick’s Day. It was a ridiculous notion in my mind. Today? Go ahead with the late Mayor Menino’s plan and move it  tomorrow . Sorry to my friends inA1 as it probably will be on your district, but hey, being in D-4 we have our share of weekend inconveniences as well!! Earlier this week the city announced that the parade would be cut short. One straight line from Broadway station to Farragut Rd. Look, have I been a fan of the parade in the past few years? No. Mostly because I’ve been ordered to work it and forced to watch the ridiculous side-show of drunks that pretend they are Irish for a day. And in the interest of full disclosure, I don’t live in Southie anymore and last December officially severed all ties to the neighborhood when our family sold the house on 4th Street . That house became a prime spot on the route as my neighbor John “Wacko” Hurley would annually host a Commander of a naval ship at his home. That meant most of the marching bands and bag pipers would stop and perform right in front of our house. But this year the route has been cut short, castrated if you ask me.  What was special about the parade was that it DID go through the small streets of the neighborhood, uphill, downhill, and around Thomas Park. If it’s not going by Dorchester Heights, what the hell is the point of the parade? The parade was a celebration of Evacuation Day, where GeorgeWashington drove off the British from Boston by placing cannons, which were seized from Fort Ticonderoga by Col. Henry Knox and his troops, on top of Dorchester Heights. The cannon had been transported by oxen-cart through the snow and ice from New York (there were no roads) over the winter, surprising and shocking the British ships who were now sitting ducks in Boston Harbor, leaving them no option but to flee. The fact that this occurred on St. Patrick’s Day was happenstance, but the correlation between March 17 th (“the luck of the Irish”) and a British defeat were forever linked in Boston. Sorry for the quick history lesson there, but if history is what we’re talking about and the parade ignores that history, then it is not the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade anymore. It’s not the parade that theAlliedWar Veterans have put on for over 100 years. It’s not the parade that John “Wacko” Hurley painstakingly planned every year down to the finest minor details. Wacko is not around anymore to defend the parade; he was the heart and soul of the parade and he will be missed.  This latest change in the parade has taken away its identity. Maybe a change to downtown Boston will be good?As far as the St. Patrick’s Day/political breakfast? Keep it going. From what I hear, Representative Linda Dorcena Forry has injected life back into the event as its host. Let the parade be the city’s responsibility to organize. End all the controversies, and The Mayor won’t have to decline to march anymore.... We will all still be ordered to work it, so that won’t change much for us, and because sometimes change is good...even if it is forced upon you.