Adriana Rivera
Norris Square resident, DJ at Half Time Good Times, treasurer of National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, and a commissioner of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs
Why are you at the rally tonight?
I’m here because this is extremely important. One thing about Tony is that he’s always been a stand-up guy, always. He’s always helped and supported. Every person that has ever walked into his door, he has never discriminated from any community. No matter what your skin color is, your religion, your sexuality, Tony has made sure Half Time Good Times is a safe and opening environment for all.
How do you think the police department should handle emergency calls, like property damages, looting, and violence in the neighborhood?
I feel that there should be questions [for police officers] to assess the situation prior to just coming in on attack/defense mode. They should’ve taken a second to ask, who is the owner of this business? What is his involvement? The fact that [the police] were not coming here because there was a person hurt, or that there was a person under any type of distress — it was calm. He was defending his business. And they did not ask the questions that needed to be asked before they took action, and they arrested the wrong person.
If you could send a message to city leadership, what would you say?
Bring back police officers who know their communities. Bring back [the police] walking the streets. Bring back assigning beats for [the police] to learn who’s living where, who owns what, and what is the involvement because without that, you’re going to continue having all of this separation.
To read more Community Responses, click here.
Editors: Zari Tarazona, Claire Wolters, Siani Colón / Designer: Henry Savage
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