Gerald Alston Wins Case, Encourages Brookline To Make Real Change

BROOKLINE, MA — More than 100 gathered Sunday outside Town Hall to show support for Gerald Alston, the Black firefighter the town fired after he reported racism and subsequent retaliation in the workplace, and to encourage change.

Earlier this week, the state’s highest court sided with Alston and affirmed an earlier court decision that said the town fired him unjustly in 2016, some six years after he first reported a racist incident and then retaliation among his peers. The Supreme Judicial court case is over, but there's still a federal court case pending and the matter of the town's own legacy, he said.

"I'm happy. I won," said Alston. "That one battle is over."

He said it was now up to the community to make a larger change.

"Please don't disappointment me," he said.

Other speakers, told those gathered that they should head to the polls Tuesday to vote for change in the form of who fills two seats on the Select Board.

• Brookline Elections 2021: Who's Running, What To Know

The two incumbents running for re-election, Select Board Chair Bernard Greene and member Nancy Heller, both voted to fire Alston and then to continue appealing his case against the town.

"Actions matter," said Chi Chi Wu, who was honored as a Brookline Woman of the Year recently.

In 2010, Alston came forward to report a racial slur was left on his voicemail by a white supervisor. He had the voicemail to prove it and that claim was not disputed, although the supervisor and an internal investigation concluded the slur was directed at someone else, not Alston. What was disputed, was the handling of the incident. The fire chief at the time told Alston the slur was a fireable offense, but Alston said he did not want the supervisor to lose his job. The then fire chief told Alston at the time the supervisor would be disciplined and would not be promoted. Against the chief's recommendation of a greater punishment, the select board at the time gave the supervisor a small punishment and then three subsequent promotions.

Jesse Mermell, a Select Board member at the time more than a decade ago was one of the officials who chose to give his supervisor a lesser punishment than the chief recommended. She called that decision a "personal failure" and has since apologized to Alston.

"Gerald is the definition of a public servant," she said Sunday. "I have never heard Gerald Alston open his mouth and speak about this case and what happened to him, without saying that he is doing this for himself and for his family, but also so nothing like this ever happens in the town of Brookline again. That is public service."

Read more: Court Sides With Ex-Firefighter In Brookline Racism Case - Again

Mermell encouraged those gathered to vote Monday.

"We have so much work to do," she said.

“We have to elect people to the Select Board who will stand up for justice not just for Gerald, but for every Black, brown, Asian, indigenous person who lives here, who works here, who drives through here,” Mermell said.

Previously: Brookline Group To Hold Rally To Mark Firefighter Case

Watch the rally here, thanks to Brookline Interactive Group: