I applaud our Select Board adopting the modified MAPC Pledge. As a community we need to work to remove the inequities that exist among us so that everyone is treated with the same respect and equality of opportunity as everyone else. I am pleased that the references to the police were omitted. As originally stated, the implication was that every policeman/woman was racist. Because an individual wears a uniform does not mean that individual is evil and needs to be constrained or retrained. Nor should the uniform and what it stands for be considered evil.

I have lived and served in this community for 49 years and have witnessed many changes, which, viewed as a whole, have made Hopkinton a highly desirable town in which to live, educate and raise one’s children. Not once in those many years has anyone on our police force brought disrepute upon the department or upon themselves. I know of only two instances where the officer involved could have handled the situation better than he did. On the other hand I know of many instances when a former police chief reached out to either Father Jim Degnan or myself to help him bring life-shattering news to one or another family in the town.

Because an individual is white does not mean that person is a racist. This is not a popular statement at present, but upon thoughtful consideration it is accurate. Conversely, because a person is black does not mean that person is not a racist. Racism is a disease of the heart, not a cultural or ethnic disposition.

As a Christian and a pastor, I have seen the life-transforming power of the Christian faith change the hearts of all sorts of people from every kind of sinful practice, attitude and outlook into individuals who accept, love and humbly serve others in the way Jesus taught us: “Love our neighbors in the same way we love ourselves.” My role and goal in this community, and that of every pastor in the churches of Hopkinton, is to see our parishioners, our neighbors and our friends become all they can be through the life-changing power of the love of God. In this way we bring good into the lives of our neighbors, our neighborhoods and our community.

— Richard Germaine, Hopkinton

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