BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Brattleboro officials denounced racism after a person on Facebook posted racist memes and comments aimed at Vermont’s first Black woman police chief.
The Brattleboro Police Department said the racist comments were sent by a single person on Facebook who the department declined to identify, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.
Police Chief Norma Hardy, who was hired in July, spent 26 years with the police department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She was also the first Black woman to serve as chief of that department, the newspaper said.
Select Board Chairwoman Liz McLoughlin said that this incident showed how Brattleboro still has work to do to combat racism.
Daniel Quipp, another board member, stated his support for Hardy.
“Chief Hardy has dedicated her life to public service and is an exceptionally qualified and experienced person to lead our police department,” Quipp said. “I am really glad that’s she here…she has really broad shoulders and will manage this and we will stand with her.”
— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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