Quincy protesters are not animals and thugs

– Quincy News from Quincy Quarry News.

Quincy’s Founding Father was a thug?
An O’Mahoney/Patriot Ledger image

Quincy protesters are not animals and thugs.

For the second time in as many weeks in Quincy, a gathering of mostly white folk came out for a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest and prayer vigil.

While the number of attendees at this vigil held at Wollaston Beach was less than the first one, Quincy Quarry views the South Shore broadsheet’s reported projection of three hundred attendees as a probable under count, not to mention that the showing was a good one during a perfectly lovely Sunday mid-afternoon given that Massachusetts is steadily reopening and after duly factoring in the impact of cabin fever after three months of sheltering in place.

Particularly heartening was the number of parents bringing their children to the vigil for a teachable moment, especially as online teaching is not a hands on proposition.

i didn’t mean what I dog whistled …
An old Facebook photo]]>

Additionally, United States House of Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III is said to have been in attendance but did not speak at the vigil.

Apparently not in attendance, however, was Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch in the wake of his arguably disingenuous walking back from his using the loaded words “thugs” and “animals” in his comments before the first peaceful Black Lives Matter vigil and then marching to North Quincy.

Then again, he is not one to stand out in a crowd.

Further heartening was a considerable downsizing of a police presence as compared to the considerable show of force at the first vigil two weeks ago. 

There is a helicopter up there – honest
A Quincy Quarry News exclusive photo

Only a few Quincy Police Department motorcycle officers were seen riding their Harleys around on adjacent streets, a few uniformed cops on foot, surely at least some in plain clothes as well as who only knows how many staged nearby along with a very minimum presence of Massachusetts State Police officers on the ground and who are responsible for the policing of Wollaston Beach as it is a state owned and operated beach.

At the same time, a helicopter was long hovering overhead.

Flying low and slow over Quincy Center
A Quincy Quarry News 2017 file photo

Unfortunately, it was too high in the sky for Quincy Quarry personnel to discern if the helicopter was a State Police helicopter as ultra long range camera lens were not schlepped to the beach to cover this expected to be peaceful event. 

Even so, the helicopter’s color scheme did appear to reflect the paint job of a State Police helicopter that flew low and slow over Quincy Center during the pursuit of an alleged bank robber 3 years ago. 

Plus, what local news media would run up expensive flight time covering a peaceful event even on a slow news day?

Honkee or a honky?
A Quincy Quarry News exclusive image

And further adding to noise pollution was the honking of car horns by passing motorists out and about on a Sunday drive. 

Unclear, however, is how many of the horn honkings were shows of support for vigil attendees and how many might have been attempts by honkies to disrupt a peaceful vigil.

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