VIEWPOINT: Suburbanites care about cities, too

“Every mind is a clutter of memories, images, inventions and age-old repetitions. It can be a ghetto, too, if a ghetto is a sealed-off, confined place. Or a sanctuary, where one is free to dream and think whatever one wants. For most of us it's both - and a lot more complicated.” - Margo Jefferson

It wasn’t all that long ago that then-Baltimore City Council President Jack Young, angered that 80% of police don’t live in Baltimore, reportedly said that Baltimore Police Department officers are “raping the city” by not residing in the city of Baltimore.

When politicians and community activists make claims that too many city police officers are from areas outside the city are they, as they often seem to do, rushing to judgment? Here's my true story along with a little of my Baltimore family history.

Upon becoming another young white suburban police officer assigned to the predominantly African-American Western police district in the early 1980s at my own request, I'm sure that it appeared to most that I fit the racially biased stereotype of another out-of-place suburbanite in the big city. I graduated from Baltimore County's suburban Towson High School in 1977.

However, there is more to my story and heritage than meets the eye. In fact, my grandfather, D.L. Gordon, owned and operated a custom men's clothing tailoring shop at 1527 West Baltimore Street in West Baltimore during the Great Depression. I was aware of this fact when I worked that area of the Western in what was by then considered to be a part of the high-crime area of the south central western district. My roots gave me a sense of belonging, as this area is a part of my past.

Later in my career, I was assigned the affluent Roland Park neighborhood in the Baltimore’s Northern Police District. In 1935, my dad graduated ninth grade from Roland Park Junior High School which was a part of my area of responsibility in the later '80s. My dad went on to graduate from City College High School around the same time that future Baltimore Mayor and Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer did. More roots.

Not to mention the fact that during my early years I grew up in the city's Northern Police District in an apartment complex (until age 11 when my parents bought their home in the suburbs in the Baltimore County neighborhood of Rodgers Forge just north of the Baltimore City line). My elementary school years were spent in Baltimore city's Leith Walk Elementary school.

So, in fact, my family and I were products of the city of Baltimore for these and other reasons, not the least of which is my godfather and uncle’s endowment with its largest gift to his alma mater, the University of Baltimore. The Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences and the University’s Gordon Plaza are named for him.

Although I now reside in West Virginia, I continue to care deeply for the success of the city as expressed in my published memoir, "Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story." I have continually learned through social media that many other retired and present-day Baltimore police officers share similar experiences and family histories to mine and will always care deeply about Baltimore and its future, too.

This is not about race at all to me as “progressives” often wish to make it to be. To those who see things in racial terms, please don't judge me, my family's or others' commitment to our cities. We surely care more about the present and future for cities such as Baltimore than do many of the self-serving politicians and appointees who have taken more from our cities than they have given as evidenced by their results, or should I say lack thereof.

In the spirit of opening our minds, hearts and intellectual abilities to look at our world in an open and productive manner, it is time to eradicate the confines of an oversimplified thought process and once again value our individual character and ability to see the world as it truly is minus unnecessary limitations and views which can only serve to stymie real positive progress moving forward.

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com