Shame on Mayor Marty Walsh, for whom I campaigned and voted, for firing city worker Nelli Ruotsalainen for helping to block Interstate 93 in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement (“City worker is fired after her arrest in protest,” Metro, Jan. 18).

Ruotsalainen took a significant personal risk to draw attention to the racial profiling and brutality young men of color in Boston and across the country face from law enforcement and the justice system. That ought to be a plus in the personnel file of an employee in the Department of Youth Engagement and Employment, not a reason for dismissal.

Our mayor should come out in support of this movement or, at the very least, of the young people showing such a strong commitment to racial justice, rather than making claims of a risk to public safety.