Eastwood; Harries; Obama.
Cops aren’t “pigs.” Garth Harries this week acted like Clint Eastwood — or else Barack Obama.
Those conclusions were arrived at by WNHH radio’s “Friday Pundits” on the weekly news-in-review program.
That settled, there was still much to debate on those subjects.
This week’s show covered the decision by schools Superintendent Harries to take a tougher line against his foes on the Board of Education this week in temporarily appointing new principals for the upcoming academic school year with formal approval; the spat between Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and local officials and new urbanists about the design of a second Union Station parking garage; and the choice by a Black Lives Matter leader at a protest this week against Police Chief Dean Esserman to label cops “pigs.”
The pundits reached back to the civil rights era debate over using that “p” word. That segued into a discussion of who should or shouldn’t use the “n” word, and under what circumstances.
“I don’t have very many privileges being black and female,” said pundit Markeshia Ricks. “And the one privilege I have is to use that word. And no, you can’t use it if you don’t look like me.”
In the Harries case, the question centered on whether he was exceeding his authority to act like an unaccountable tough guy, or whether a politicized (partially) elected body left him no choice but to exercise executive authority in the public interest.
And Malloy versus the new urbanists? The pundits questioned the assumptions behind moving a bus depot from the Green or picturing a future in which most people still drive their own cars to a train station.
Click on or download the above audio file to hear the full “Friday Pundits” episode on WNHH radio. The show begins with the Garth Harries/Board of Ed discussion. The garage discussion begins at 22:45. The discussion about the “p” word and the “n” word begins at 37:20.