GUILFORD — It's amazing how four words can change everything.
Fourth of July was hot, and the parade organizers had planned for it with cool towels and reminders to wear hats. Clouds hovered at first, but then the sun beat down, and we all shared the heat and the sweat.
The temperature reminded me a lot of the week in June 2008 when the town was living with another heat wave and school was about to let out. It was Friday night, and kids at the Transportation Center were seeking cover and hanging out beneath the stairs.
A vehicle with three boys in it drove by, its occupants spitting out some racist epithets and one pointing a rifle at a young African-American woman. The police were called, and the town learned this was the tip of a racist iceberg. Uncountable students had started a hate group at the high school. Three boys were suspended, and the summer, filled with meetings of concerned citizens, passed with concerns explored about how this could have happened here and what to do about it.
Since then, lots has been done about it.
The county now has a racial issues planning team, soon to be called One Community. The town manager, the police chief, the superintendent of schools, the executive directors of Youth Services, business people, the district director of the Department of Health, a representative of Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, and the State Coordinator for Safe and Healthy Schools, and I as a representative of the faith communities - all these town leaders meet regularly to plan and take steps to make Brattleboro a safe place for children of all abilities and backgrounds.
The high school and supervisory union have really stepped up in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
The supervisory union has required teacher training and has sponsored student leadership training against bullying and to build skills for positive social interaction. The principals have looked again and again at the school curriculums, adding weight and support to the annual Diversity Day; they have risked a high-school play that dealt with bullying and had the school community process it afterwards. Brattleboro Union High School is uniquely committed to a restorative justice program, which helps perpetrators of bullying face their victims and develop new skills for conflict resolution.
The town has also stepped up, holding a Future Search Conference with youth as partners in early 2009 to look at issues and set goals, one of which was the now Annual Diversity Day Gallery Walk in May, run and organized entirely by community volunteers.
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But back to the July 4 parade.
That other hot summer, the interfaith community began the tradition of marching in support of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity. That year we held a banner high, with the slogan Hate Has No Home Here. Last year, we added One Love, One Heart (after the Bob Marley song), and this year, we added a bright yellow sign with the words Standing on the Side of Love.
More churches have joined each year - and this year we numbered 75 or so by the time we reached Main Street.
What folks may not realize is that the first summer all the members of the BUHS band also wore the Hate Has No Home Here bumper stickers on their uniforms, an act that many believe helped them win the competition to march in the 2009 Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C.
Lots of good has come from people's actions in response to the hate group.
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This year, I, a white woman, happened to be at the head of our faith groups, sharing the One Love, One Heart banner with Curtiss Reed Jr., the executive director of the Vermont Partnership, who happens to be black.
Most folks along the way clapped, just as they always do, but well down Canal Street we passed a group of young men in their late teens. One stepped onto the street and yelled right at Curtiss, “Bring Back the Colonels!”
My heart sank. I felt threatened and I tried to imagine what Curtiss must be feeling. My impulse was to step out of the parade and speak with the young man to confront him with how that made me feel, with the impact those four words had had.
In just the course of a few seconds I began to think of Civil Rights marchers who faced terrible epithets and threats on their lives. I asked myself what I would have done if the words had continued or if the intent were to endanger any of us. One Love, One Heart seemed so innocuous to me, and yet had called this response from this young man. Of course, my mind over-dramatized this, but my feelings at the time were real.
With just those four words, this young man had called up the history of work against racism at the high school and in the community, memories of the burning of an African-American effigy on the football field in memory of what the Colonel had represented, and countless thoughtless comments that, unfortunately, have been etched again in the minds of people of color who are trying to live peacefully in our town.
I could only hope that when this young man turned back to his friends, one of them had the guts to call him on it, to look him in the face with a “Hey, man, that is history; it's over, we don't say those things here anymore.”
I don't know what happened, but I've thought about it a lot, and one decision I made was to write this piece, knowing its commitment to building a community where all voices can be heard.
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It seems it is time to print again the “no bystanders” document that was drafted in July 2008 for our community two years ago with the intention that in our streets and summer camps, on our playgrounds and in our schools, in our supermarkets and shops, all people feel welcome and no one stands by when words are use to harm others, no matter who they are. It serves as a reminder of how far we've come, and how far we have to yet to go.
We are inviting you to become part of a conscious movement to ensure the physical and emotional safety of our community's youth. You've heard of harassment, bullying, and the rise of youth violence.
The emotional and psychological harm of any of these behaviors is damage enough for us as a community of adults to come together and take a strong, committed, affirmative, long-term stance. A stance that communicates clearly that we will not be bystanders - that these behaviors are not acceptable and that every youth will be protected by adults from harassment, intolerance, bullying, and racial, ethnic, gender, gender identity, or homophobic slurs and actions.
So what does this mean? It means that you will:
• Speak up when you see or hear something unacceptable.
• Convince other adults that they join the No Bystander movement
• Ensure that youth in your visual proximity are safe
• Intervene in verbal exchanges that promote intolerance or degrade individuals
• Take stances that promote harmony, understanding, and acceptance
Take any and all action that would communicate that hate (nastiness in any form, name calling, slurs, psychological aggressiveness, etc.) has no home here.” (This includes dialing 911 if you witness actions beyond what you feel safe dealing with.)
How do you become a No Bystander? Practice these actions each and every day, no matter where you are, no matter who you're with. Protect youth, no matter what!
I remain most confident that together we will make a positive difference. As English philosopher Edmund Burke wrote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”