—-By Frederick A. Hurst—-I felt every sentence of Helen Caulton-Harris’ article about her father (page 5) who should have been Captain Caulton instead of Lieutenant Caulton. He knew discrimination up front and personally – at his workplace at Chapman Valve and as a Springfield police officer as he was expecting to be promoted to captain after passing the police captain’s exam. What he didn’t expect was that the only Black person on the Police Commission and the only Hispanic would join the vote against his promotion.  

The racial betrayal had to cut to the core of his very being. He was Black at a time when Black folks on the Springfield police force were scarce; he was educated; he was qualified; he was ambitious and he had earned his promotion. Besides that, he was a strong family man who raised a prominent family, starting in the North End of Springfield where most Black families immigrated to before spreading out over the entire city in search of a more rewarding life. Yet, he was denied the simplest of rewards and humiliated beyond belief by both racist White folks and his own.  

I feel his pain as the knives went in. Et tu, Bruté? You, too? Helen would not say it. But I can – and Henry Thomas and Millie Rivas should. If the coming new police station is to be named after a Black man, it should be “Captain” Robert L. Caulton who was so disgracefully denied what he had earned during a time when it was okay to snub a Black man simply because he was Black. Why do we continue to honor those who have already been honored to the point of exhaustion when such a deserving and inspirational honoree has yet to be given his just due? Why not take advantage of the opportunity to correct the record and reverse an historical wrong and teach our young – both Black and White – a lesson about justice?

What Helen reminded me of in her article is that her pain is a generational pain and is as acute today for her and her family as it will be for all of their generations to come unless corrected. Her father was “lynched.” We can never change that. But we can posthumously honor him with the title of “Captain” Robert L. Caulton and name the new police station after him for all to see and for all to forever remember.  ■