'Island Woman's Perspective' on West Indian Day Parade

This week, the New York Times reported that at least twenty New York City police officers were being investigated for posting hateful comments about in a Facebook group called "No More West Indian Day Parade Detail.” The group had 1,200 members.

According to the report (the Times got their hands on 70 pages of the Facebook comments before the group was deleted), “savages” and “filth,” and posted a wish to "drop a bomb and wipe them all out."

Arlene Roberts, a Brooklyn lawyer and policy analyst, wrote an impassioned op-ed for the Huffington Post yesterday, sharing what she calls “an island woman’s perspective” on the parade.

She argues that the parade generates revenues for Brooklyn and is a chance for politicians to court the Caribbean vote (Hillary Clinton made an appearance as Senator and Congressman Charles B. Rangel has regularly attended the parade) as well as a day to celebrate the acheivements of West Indian-Americans (Colin Powell was celebrated as a Grand Marshall in 2009).

But Roberts wonders if there a line to be drawn between the attitude of certain members of the NYPD towards the parade and their treatment of participants -- three officers were disciplined this year after wrongfully detaining City Councilor Jumaane Williams and Kirsten John Foy, an aid to Public Advocate Bill Di Blasio.