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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06-07-LHRC-min Town of Lexington, Human Rights Committee Meeting Friday, June 7, 2019 Lexington Community Center 8:06-9:32 Present Committee Members: Tanya Gisolfi (Vice Chair), Mona Roy (Clerk), James Barry (Police Department), Bonnie Brodner, Jeffrey Toronto, Fuang Ying Huang Liaisons and Guests: Scott Bokun (School Committee), Brent Maracle (LICA), Tony Serio (Human Services), Mabel Amar (guest), Aidan Evelyn (Police), Mark Corr(Chief of Police), Patricia Jacotin (SEPAL), Stanley Yap (CARL) 1. Welcome at 8:06 2. Public Comments on Items Not on Agenda (None) 3. Chair Report given by Ms. Gisolfi • Noted Vigil to respect and honor the life of Ms. Shen Cai is scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 9, 2019 from 5 to 6 pm at Hastings Park. This event is sponsored by the Lexington Department of Human Services along with the Lexington Community Coalition, Chinese American Association of Lexington (CARL), and Chinese Americans of Lexington (CALEX) The Town is currently planning a Community Conversation with a facilitated discussion on how Ms. Cai's death is impacting our community. For more information on the community conversation contact Melissa Interess, Director of Human Services at 781-698-4841 or minteressO lexin tonma. ov. Recently, the committee has received complaints of incidents of harassment or discrimination that have occurred while the targets have been walking on the town's sidewalks. If you are the target of or witness to what you perceive to be a human rights incident, we urge you to make yourself safe, collect and record as much information about the incident as possible and report the incident to the LHRC at humanrightscmte@lexingtonma.gov and LPS at 911 as soon as possible. • During our September 2019 meeting, the LHRC will hold annual elections for chair, vice chair and clerk. Committee members interested in standing as a candidate for committee chair, vice chair or clerk should contact FuangYing Huang or Jim Barry by August 23, 2019. • Noted LHRC history. LHRC's first meeting in September 2008 where Al Zabin was elected chair, Bob Kent was elected vice chair and FuangYing Huang was elected clerk. Venerable volunteers like Hank Manz and Leona Martin were part of the founding of the committee. Mr. Osborne joined and was elected chair in May 2015, Bhumip Khasnabish was elected as vice chair and FuangYing Huang continued to serve as clerk. October 2017, FuangYing Huang was elected vice chair of our committee and Tanya 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE•LEXINGTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02420 Gisolfi as clerk. In October 2018, Tanya Gisolfi was elected vice chair and Mona Roy as clerk. • Ms. Gisolfi read out message from chair that it has been an honor to serve as LHRC chair for 4 years. The committee officers, with whom I've had the privilege to serve, are great examples of the strength that comes through diversity of thought and background. 4. Committee Members Concerns, Comments and Liaison Reports • Ms. Gisolfi has no reports but noted as her role in liaison to the Lexington Community Coalition (LCC) that she regularly attends the monthly Steering Committee meetings as well as the subcommittee and partner meetings. She also noted that Dr. Hackett recommended White Fragility as the 2019-20 community book read. The Community Coalition asked liaisons to confirm that no one had any objections. Ms. Brodner asked if the LHRC would have any specific obligations with regard to the book read and Ms. Gisolfi answered that as of this point, none were stated and this was more of a check in to see if there were any concerns from LCC partners. Ms. Gisolfi asked if there were any concerns. No one present indicated any concerns. She also noted that Sunday June 9th was Pride Day (11-2), Race Amity Day (2-5) and that June 8th and 9th Paint the Town Purple weekend for Alzheimer's awareness. • Ms. Brodner stated that she had not checked in with SEPAC this year or been to a single SEPAC meeting in her role as liaison to SEPAC due to scheduling conflicts and suggested that someone else be given that role next year. She also stated that she felt LHRC Chair's recent email was inappropriate communication with the community. • Ms. Huang had no updates or incidents to report • Ms. Roy indicated that she had no new incidents to report and that in her role as liaison to the School Committee that she had been regularly attending meetings and in good communication with the School Committee as a whole and in regular touch with their liaison (Kathleen Lenihan and then Scott Bokun). She noted and thanked Mr. Bokun for his efforts on Race Amity Day. She also noted the importance of the Stonewall Uprising that 2019 was the 50th Anniversary. She urged the public to see the films that were being shown on this month by LexPride as well other places in the Metro Boston area. • Lt. Barry had no new incidents to report. He noted that he maintains good communication with LexPride and attends their meetings and events. • Mr. Toronto noted details of a bullying incident that happened in Bedford (Grey metallic car, Corolla). Also noted his concern and experiences on the Red Line where he has personally experienced hate speech. He noted that there is a societal issue of, profiling mentally disabled people as dangerous when in reality even though about 1/5th of the population has a mental disability, less than 1% of mentally disabled people have committed violent offenses. He requested that people learn not just to be bystanders to this injustice but rather learn to be up-standers • Mr. Toronto then reported his own personal details of a harassment incident(detailed in letter sent to chair and forwarded to the LHRC)where a group of teenagers in a car harassed him in Lexington for walking slowly. He considered that harassment of disabled people who are often walk slowly or unsteadily. As he was being harassed, he was unable to pull out his phone and take a picture. He again urged that decent people learn to be upstanders. He also said that he felt that Lexington did not have a culture of compassion for disabled or mentally ill people and suggested that the LHRC needed programming on the same. Ms. Gisolfi thanked Mr. Toronto for publicly sharing the incident with the LHRC and Ms. Roy also thanked him and noted that she was sad that her children had to be in a town where people were treated so poorly. 5. Update Race Amity Day—June 9, 2019 • Proclamations were approved by the Board of Selectman and the School Committee (state and annual vs ongoing proclamation) • Activities at Cary Library (2-5) Community Discussion and Showing of An American Story: Race Amity and The Other Tradition • Cary Library has the film available to check out and has a curated book collection as well 6. Consider Draft Programs and Work for September 2019 to June 2020. Ms. Gisolfi said that this document was a starting point of discussion noting that this is a committee discussion on where the LHRC can take responsibility and where the LHRC can be supportive. Official workgroups could be decided now or in the fall. A. Committee Programs—LHRC members are committing to be responsible for development and coordination of these activities 1) November—No Hate November 2) January —MLK Day Conversation on Race 3) April—Fair Housing: The Bridge to Equitable Communities 4) June—Race Amity Day • Ms. Brodner asked why Pride Day was not included on this list as opposed to the Community Conversation on Race. Ms. Roy indicated that it was her understanding that LICA (Lexington Interfaith Clergy Assoc.) has started the Community Conversation on Race and asked the LHRC to take responsibility for it as there was no other organization to do this programming. Ms. Brodner then asked why ABCL (Association of Black Citizens) could not do it. Ms. Roy clarified that Community Conversation on Race was just not a conversation about Black/African American people and that there were people of multiple races in town, at the LHRC table and in the audience and expressed concern that anyone in town, let alone a member of the LHRC would not understand that everyone had at least one racial identification and had a role to play in the racial dynamics of this town. Ms. Brodner said she understood and apologized for any insensitivity on her part to anyone of any race. • Ms. Gisolfi noted that the previous Town Manager had asked the LHRC three years ago to do programming for Race Amity Day (designated as the second Sunday of June by the State Legislature passed in 2015) and that this was the first year that the LHRC was able to get the volunteers to do it. Thus, the LHRC needed to have it on its calendar every year and do some programming. B. Community Outreach—LHRC members are responsible for communicating our role to community 1) Monthly —Lexington Community Coalition and Lexington Newcomers' Coffees brochures; attendance; or other outreach 2) January — participation in the MLK Day Parade (run by Town Celebrations) 3) April—participation in the Patriots Day Parade (run by Town Celebrations) 4) May—Discovery Day (run by Lexington Retailers Association) Booth 5) Brochures—Community Center, Library, Town Hall • Ms. Roy asked that the list include active participation (minimal quarterly check ins) of liaisons be added to this list to any organization that wanted an LHRC liaison • Ms. Brodner asked why Pride Day was not included in June. Ms. Gisolfi noted that LexPride did not once make a formal request for any co-sponsorship for Pride Day. Ms. Brodner agreed that was true. Ms. Brodner asked why LHRC was not doing it on its own without any input from LexPride. Ms. Roy expressed concern about the LHRC doing events where it seems like another group already existed that was leading the effort so we don't step on any toes and are respectful. Ms. Roy noted that when SEPAC wanted co-sponsorship for its movies, it wrote a letter to LHRC with a formal request, asked to be put on the agenda and the LHRC voted to approve co-sponsorship. Ms. Roy suggested that this could more easily addressed by developing and giving out a form that could be easily filled out by a community group so that protocols were standardized. Ms. Brodner felt that the LHRC should give more consideration to the LGBTQ community. C. Ethnic and Cultural Outreach—LHRC members need to increase our cultural competence to improve our capacity to help members of the Lexington community, other organizations and town departments address conflict. (see attachment for listing of various ethnic groups) • Ms. Brodner and Ms. Roy brought up need to specifically mention Native American • Ms. Gisolfi expressed that there should be no list as inevitably someone will be left off or feel left off, Ms. Roy agreed and mentioned the emerging Bangladeshi community as an example. • Ms. Brodner asked why LGBTQ people were not on the list • Ms. Roy asked if disabled people or special education children should be included or is that a separate category though theoretically SEPTA is under PPC and disabled people are under COD but given the recent history should it be a separate protected category • Lt. Barry suggested that either the name of this category be changed or add a catch all "other" category D. Faith Group Outreach—LHRC members need to increase our faith literacy to improve our capacity to help members of the Lexington community, other organizations and town departments address conflict • No members objected. Ms. Roy mentioned LICA as point people but to reach outside of LICA as well E. Partners and Allies—LHRC members need to better understand the capacity of internal and external organizations to assist in the development of educational programs and responses to incidents of hate 1)Lexington a) Commission on Disability b) Council on Aging c) Housing Partnership Board d) Human Services Department e) Lexington Interfaith Clergy Association f) PTA President's Council 2) Regional a) Anti-Defamation League b) Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination c) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People d) National Alliance on Mental Illness • No members objected or added anything to the list F. After some discussion among members there was another category added: Understanding the Lexington-related concerns and capacities of Other Protected Groups 1) Immigrants 2) LGBTQ 3) Refugees 4) Veterans 5) Others? Public Comment from Chief Mark Corr on item 6D and 6F • Chief Corr noted that itemizing and categorizing itself can be problematic and that programming around general no hate would be better. • Ms. Roy thanked him for previewing the future agenda item 7. Consider Programmatic Recommendations for School Committee • Motion to approve draft Programmatic Recommendations (read out loud by Ms. Gisolfi)to School Committee as outlined in memo, made by Ms. Roy and seconded by Ms. Brodner, ALL in Favor 8. Consider Programmatic Recommendations for Select Board • Motion to approve draft Programmatic Recommendations (read out loud by Ms. Gisolfi) to Select Board/Board of Selectman as outlined in memo, made by Lt. Barry and seconded by Ms. Huang, ALL in Favor 9. Workgroup Activities a) Lexington Discovery Day (Ms. Brodner) • Ms. Brodner was only there for a little while due to illness, but community members Sherry Brodner and Bhumip Khashnabish, collected email address will send email addresses to the LHRC, Human Services will keep remaining flyers. Ms. Brodner noted that people came steadily through the day and that new street set up was better for traffic. She thanked to the Human Services Department for sharing table and other support. Ms. Gisolfi thanked Ms. Brodner for managing this outreach. b) Not In Our Schools Joint Workgroup with LPS (Ms. Roy, Ms. Gisolfi) • Waiting to hear from Dr. Hackett on choosing pilot middle school. Ms. Gisolfi noted that given concerns on racism expressed by LHS students, should it be piloted LHS too? Will Johnny Cole be the LPS point person? Ms. Roy and Ms. Gisolfi promised to follow up in this summer after Mr. Cole was settled in. c) Protocol for Investigating Discrimination Complaints (Stembridge, Huang, Brodner) • No update d) No Hate November(Mr. Toronto, Ms. Huang, Ms. Roy) • Short Discussion on No Hate November being a month dedicated to remembering past bias incidents and promoting an inclusive, respectful town, using the Bowdin College as a starting point. Mr. Toronto, Ms. Huang, and Ms. Roy agreed to meet over the summer to discuss a possible framework for November programming. 10. May Meeting Minutes • Everyone present confirmed that they agreed with the list of documents. • Ms. Brodner insisted that Ms. Zucker said: Ms. Zucker stated that using the word"Jew" in an offensive tone is the same as using the N-word" should be changed to "Ms. Zucker stated that using the word"Jew" in an offensive tone should be taken just as seriously as using the N-word. • While no one else on the LHRC remembered this, those present deferred to Ms. Brodner's request. • Minutes were changed and approved. Motion to approve Minutes as Amended by Ms. Brodner, Ms. Huang. ALL PRESENT in FAVOR(Mr. Toronto not present) • Ms. Roy suggested that starting in the fall it might make sense to have a form that people filled out writing down what they want recorded as it did not make sense for people to guess what someone was saying versus what they recalled. Public Comments • Scott Bokun read the School Committee Proclamation in Support of Race Amity Day Confirm Next Meeting -- 9/13/2019 at 8:00am Motion to Adjourn 9:32—Ms. Gisolfi, second Ms. Huang LIST OF DOCUMENTS LHRC Chair Report by Sean Osborne Lexington Human Rights Committee Proposed Sep 2019 to Jun 2020 Activities and Outreach Draft Recommendations to Board of Selectman Draft Recommendations to School Committee Race Amity Day Proclamation for Board of Selectman Race Amity Day Proclamation for School Committee Lexington Human Rights Committee Proposed Sep 2019 to Jun 2020 Activities and Outreach No Hate November Background April is National Fair Housing Month background Respectfully submitted, Monami D. Roy Clerk, LHRC