The past two weeks have been powerful, galvanizing, horrific, and exhausting. And I am proud, as always, of my town’s exemplary engagement with progressive politics. This weekend’s admirably organized and peaceful protest in solidarity with Black Lives Matter makes me so proud to live here. The cause of civil and human rights in America is at an all-time crisis, and it is our duty as Americans and as human beings to remain engaged, and to help where we can find an opportunity.
Just before the murder of George Floyd erupted into the national news, on the morning of May 26, my wife and I got a text from a friend who was distraught at the sight of a group of men in brown shirts, outside Greenfield High School, all lined up and giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute. There was a lot of belligerent shouting, and we were all concerned that, for all we knew, perhaps some neo-Nazi or other right wing group had decided to demonstrate in our town. We got in the car and went to have a look.
It turned out that what was going on was a state police prison guard training program. A photographer there to document the training — with no announcement made or input asked from the neighborhood — was taking place at GHS in order to allow for proper distancing in light of COVID-19. Ordinarily it would be held elsewhere, out of public view. What had appeared to be a “Nazi salute” was actually part of a drill where recruits had to hold out an ID badge for their sergeant. Ridiculously, and abusively, the “drill sergeant” was taunting the guards by calling them “ladies,” despite the fact that at least a few of them were, in fact, women. For some reason, a drone was deployed during all this as well.
A lot of people would have moved on once they’d been calmly reassured that this was all under the purview of law enforcement. But the more I thought on this, the more upsetting it became. Here were men and women in training to become prison guards, being drilled just like something out of “Full Metal Jacket.”
Why?
Boot camp training is intended to break down a person’s individuality so that they will obey orders without hesitation and commit murder without reservation. If our prison guards are, presumably, not being conditioned to kill on command, how then is military-style training considered necessary or justifiable? Is it because the sheriff’s department foresees situations where corrections officers will be ordered to behave indiscriminately and inhumanely, so guards must be conditioned by military discipline to follow orders? What other real reason could there be?
It is unacceptable that bellicose, sexist, militaristic training is being held in a public space where people come to get exercise, teach their kids to ride bikes, or just sit and chat while safely socially distanced. But it is grotesque that corrections officers are being trained using a military boot camp model.
In the past two weeks (and of course long before), we have seen over and over again how police all too often answer even the mildest resistance from civilians with unchecked brute force. COVID-19 created the unusual circumstance where we here in Greenfield have a window into the brutish “training” regimen used to condition our prison guards — a regimen which I otherwise might never have known about. Police units across the country are shooting people in the face with rubber bullets, shoving and beating people, and using tear gas with impunity. If our street cops are so quick to use such force on the average citizen, what treatment are our prison guards likely to dole out to the inmate population, now that they have been conditioned using military style training? How can such mistreatment possibly serve the goal of “corrections”?
We as citizens need to demand change at the fundamental level regarding who is allowed to wear the uniform — ANY law enforcement uniform — and how people are trained for that responsibility. Our public high school grounds should not be used for pageants of abuse at 7 a.m. This sort of training doesn’t belong on school grounds, or in any residential neighborhood. More importantly, the nature of the training needs to be de-militarized. Public training of law enforcement could potentially be a positive development. Seeing our future officers receive training ought to be a cause for pride, not intimidation.
Benjamin Miner is a resident of Greenfield.