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Remember in *2015* when former Baltimore cop & blackface performer Bobby Berger sold 600 tickets at $45 each for a fundraiser for the officers charged in #FreddieGray's death, before backlash caused the venue to pull out? [Archive pic of Berger from 1982] baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/… 
Berger, known for impersonating 1920s-40s blackface performer Al Jolson, was fired by BPD in the '80s after off-duty performances drew the ire of the NAACP. He said he organized the 2015 fundraiser bc he knew how it felt to be suddenly w/o a BPD paycheck. baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…
Berger was ordered by BPD to stop blackface performances in early '80s, sued w/ backing of @ACLU saying order violated free speech, lost, was fired, won on appeal, was rehired, & got $108K+ in back pay, legal fees & compensation for *humiliation & stress* baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…
After he rejoined the force in 1986, Berger said, he was given a desk but was denied a gun and a badge and given nothing to do. He sued again in 1989, and settled with the department for $200,000 more. baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…
Berger told me in 2015 that there is not "one iota of racial overtones" in his blackface performances. The @FOP3 said it had "much respect" for Berger but didn't condone "any performance representing the iconic racist figure that is Al Jolson." baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…
Of course, 3 of the officers in the Gray case, who would have benefited from the funds raised, are black. The attorney for 1 of them called the event "racist and in poor taste," saying, "We will not accept a single solitary dime from this sort of action." baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…
Everyone I spoke with, especially those in any sort of official capacity, denounced or distanced themselves from the blackface performance. But 600 tickets were also apparently sold, and old-timers privately echoed Berger's sentiment that it wasn't racist. baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…
