Police Union's 'Black Labs Matter' Photo Is 'Inflammatory'

San Francisco police are already being reviewed for racism
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2016 1:54 PM CDT
Police Union's 'Black Labs Matter' Photo Is 'Inflammatory'
The San Francisco police union is being criticized for publishing a photo making light of the Black Lives Matter movement.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

In an effort to "tone down the rhetoric" surrounding fatal police shootings, the San Francisco police union published a photo that, in the eyes of mayor Ed Lee, does the exact opposite, KRON reports. The photo published in the August edition of the San Francisco Police Officers Association Journal shows a picture of a black lab with a sign reading "Black Labs Matter" and a white lab with a sign reading "All Labs Matter." The photo didn't go over well. “It’s so inflammatory, and they still don’t get it. They still choose to inflame situations, and it’s just really insulting.” Sgt. Yulanda Williams, president of an organization representing nonwhite San Francisco officers, tells the San Francisco Chronicle.

"It's not a joke we're playing with," Shawn Richard of the San Francisco NAACP tells NBC Bay Area. "We're dealing with a lot of racial issues right now." The San Francisco Police Department is currently being reviewed by both the US Justice Department and a panel of judges following a number of incidents, including racists texts sent between officers. The executive director of the panel of judges tells the Chronicle that publishing the dog photo "shows a severe lack of judgement and empathy" on the part of the union. Richard says the union is joking around while families grieve the loss of their loved ones. The union refused to comment on the photo. (More Black Lives Matter stories.)

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