The following opinion is by Barbara Goodman, an Arlington resident who served on the School Committee for 12 years.
Thank you, Greg Christiana, for sharing your thoughts about the ongoing controversy surrounding Lt. Rick Pedrini. I appreciate your thoughtful and personal reflections on the issues. I, too, sometimes see myself as “a fulcrum between two extremes.”
Perhaps it is the nature of the time in which we live. We tend to take sides: A is right, and B is wrong. But often things are much more complex, and perhaps no side is completely right nor completely wrong.
Let me be clear about where I stand. Officer Pedrini was wrong in writing a hate-filled article for his union publication, but he may have had the First Amendment Right to do so — even if his words were vile.
The decision by Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine not to fire Pedrini was well researched and clearly reasoned. It was also wrong.
He wrote,“I came to the conclusion that there was a significant risk that a termination would not be upheld by a third-party arbitrator. This risk, in my opinion, created a path to what I believe would have been the worst-case scenario for the town – a terminated police lieutenant being returned to work by an arbitrator’s decision, both vindicated and nonrepentant and a community left without an opportunity to heal.”
Instead of being pragmatic, Adam should have made it very clear that Arlington has zero tolerance for hate speech. In my opinion, even if the town lost in arbitration, firing Pedrini would have been the right thing to do.
Though Adam’s intent was to protect the town, the effect of his decision was that some members of our community felt endangered. At a time when our nation is experiencing a rise of white supremacy and when we too often witness acts of police brutality, it is easy to understand why some of our neighbors felt threatened by having a police officer in town who spews hate.
They formed a group called Arlington Fights Racism (AFR). However, some of Arlington’s progressive activists did not fully support AFR. Many, including me, felt that their vilification of the town manager, the Select Board, the entire police department and the Human Rights Commission was unnecessary and divisive. But perhaps we were too comfortable with the status quo.
It was nearly two years ago that Pedrini wrote his detestable articles. Yet wounds have not healed, and the town remains divided. On Sept. 22, the town will host the last in a series of community discussions about race and reform. This session will include a round-table discussion with Lt. Pedrini and members of our community who have been affected by his hateful words. We should embrace this event as an opportunity to stop digging in our heals and to really listen. It is time for us all to show some humility. As in great literature, heroes can be flawed and villains redeemed.
These are hard times. We are living through a plague. Our nation is fraught with social upheaval and white supremacists have been emboldened. We are just weeks before a national election that will have a profound impact on the direction of this country and the well being of many. It’s more important then ever for us to come together as a town to care and support each other as we fight racism and bigotry in all its ugly forms.
It’s time for each of us to dig deep to summon up the humility and grace needed to reach-out and resolve our differences.
This letter was published Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020.
Barbara Goodman’s article is clear and makes excellent points. The Town Manager did not have a crystal ball. He made a decision, the best he could make with available data. It didn’t work out well judging from the lingering concern about the lingering of Lt. Pedrini in the town. But we need to move on. Taking on the challenge of racism where we find it is a decision each of us can make individually, every day.