Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of Council:

I see that you have scheduled another special meeting for this evening to discuss the current state of unrest in the city. In contrast to yesterday, I hope that you all will conduct yourselves professionally and in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order and council’s own rules of order and procedure. For example, the mayor should have ruled CM Moody out of order when he was strutting and fretting for his moment on the stage by calling out his colleagues rather than focusing on resolving very thorny issues. In the same vein, any member of council could have raised a point of order about the gratuitous nature of CM Moody’s remarks, just as you have done to citizens on numerous occasions. You all need to model in your interactions the deportment that you want citizens to follow. I believe the monument situation has became particularly fraught due to a volatile combination of emotions released by the brutal killing of Mr. Floyd by a rogue police officer, pent up frustration engendered by the COVID-19 lock down, and general “testosterone poisoning” among some of the male protestors. Although I continue to support the removal of the monument from Town Square, I support the “rule of law”, even though to many “all deliberate speed” may appear too deliberate and not speedy enough. After 130-odd years of holding that place of historical centrality in our city, the monument’s relocation need not occur in an instant. Additionally, when it is gone, all the ill feelings engendered by four centuries of racist attitudes and policies will not magically heal or resolve themselves for the better. Moving mountains and statuary is more easily accomplished than moving human hearts and minds from entrenched positions.

You as our local civic leaders, then, need to get your attitudes right. Why did we taxpayers fund your retreats in Wakefield if in a moment of crisis you ignore all the sage counsel that you received there? Petty bickering and grandstanding among you only fans the flames of intolerance in the rest of the community. That is not what we need at this crucial moment.

Start showing respect in your form of address to each other. A council meeting is a formal proceeding in which you should be addressing each other formally. When you are in session, you should not be using each other’s given name; rather, use “Mayor Rowe”, “Council Member Glover”, etc. It takes more time, certainly, but that might give you a couple of extra moments to, as Mayor Holley liked to say, “carefully consider” the subsequent words to come out of your mouths. Be circumspect, brief, and courteous. We see too few examples of that in public life today. You have the power to change that dynamic.

I will close by expressing my admiration for the manner in which Chief Greene and our officers have handled demonstrators in Portsmouth over the last week. Unlike other places in the country where police responses have fed into the narrative of abuse of power that triggered the protests in the first place, the Portsmouth force has maintained a delicate balance between maintaining order and respecting constitutional and human rights. What is all the more remarkable is their ability to do so even in the midst of this uncharted pandemic. I salute the chief and the officers for their service to our city under very trying circumstances. You elected officials would do well to take guidance from their example.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky

(Note: Context for these remarks is available from Portsmouth City Council Special Virtual Meeting of June 10, 2020, and “Council Talks, Protestors Act”.)