00120 meeting of the Acton Board of Select to order um the town of Acton in response to the co9 Corona virus is currently following the guidance from the acting Board of Health Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the CDC regarding the virus and steps communities can take to prevent the spread the town hall is closed to the public this meeting will be broadcast live local access cable on the ACT TV channel or streaming online in acting tv YouTube live Channel and audio will be broadcast live on the radio on W 94.9 to participate remotely from a computer please click on the link below to join the public meeting that's webinar https Poland zoom. usj 18785 or from a telephone dial and webinar ID um 503 91878 um Telephone users may dial um uh star9 to
002request to speak after joining the meeting computer and app users may use the raised hand feature to request to speak um we have one item on today's agenda and that's to discuss and vote on the board statement addressing racism and acted um for Citizens participation um I will take public comments on the Acton policy Against Racism statement dated November 8 uh 20120 uh during the board's discussion there will be no public comment and I would ask David to uh close the um uh chat feature during our discussion um so David are there any public comments uh there is one person with their hand raised sure Leo fman please go ahead all right can you hear me yes okay hello I'm Leo fman from Wright Terrace in West Aton I was inspired to speak tonight or
003today based on a presentation from Marty Benson the November 5th acting boxboro Regional school committee meeting I strongly recommend listening to his presentation about the acting boxboro mascot return in isses that starts at about the twom minute Mar let me start by saying that this is this will be my opinion so please do not accost my family friends or acquaintances if you have issues with what I said say please contact me and we can discuss the issues maybe I'll learn something maybe you'll learn something and at least to have a better understanding of each other I believe that we should commit to eradicating racism I agree that we need to listen and understand where I differ is that we need to listen to All voices in town we're diverse town and we all have our
004own experiences when it comes to prejudices and bigotry if systematic racism is a reference to systems in place that create and maintain racial inequality in nearly every facet of life for people of color I don't agree but I'm willing to listen to evidence and if identify I would be willing to help change that system I do not agree with the broad brush statement about white privilege isn't that statement in itself racist where racism is defined as Prejudice discrimination or antagonism direct against people based on their membership in a particular racial group can you make the change from a give white people to that give some white people there are many privileges that a person can have or not have in addition to White Privilege which include in no particular order wealth Health athletic ability intelligence
005work ethic geographic location gender and many more all privileges taken together make the individual the most important privilege that I possess is a loving and supportive wife I am not a racist Prejudice or bigoted and I'll stand with anyone against people who are before someone comments that I don't know it's like growing up as a non-white I'll agree with you but you do not know what it was like growing up as Leo fman I grew up in an upper poor where very low middle class household neither of my parents graduated high school and had very low paying jobs I been called white trash I know what it's like to go to bed hungry I started working well babysitting at the age of 12 and had many jobs after that until I moved out half of
006my pay went to my parents for rent they thought I should get a job after high school and they told me about a job in a bulk mailing company because college is only for rich people initially I only finished two and a half years because I couldn't keep my grades up while working full-time finally with the help and support of a wonderful wife I finished College my story goes on and at no time do I feel White Privilege got me where I am today let me close with saying communication is very important I hope Marty's presentation and my statements might Inspire others to join the discussions I'm not directing this at people that agree with me this is only a people that agree with me this issue is very important we need all opinions discussed
007in a loving and respectful manner thank you thank you Mr bman David are there any other there there are two more hands up one second sure Mike rthb please go ahead thanks David you hear me okay yes yes um so again Rabbi Mike Roth bound Rabbi Congregation Beth Elohim a prospect I live on 22 Tuttle um very grateful for the statement that um you all put together and um I'm particularly um grateful uh to Dean um it really sensed how much you heard from the community in between the previous two meetings and um it takes a big man to grow and to hear and to process and to change um where you're at and uh was really inspiring to me to um just to witness that that change in you so thank you for being
008a model for all of us okay uh Janet adachi please go ahead uh yes hi thank you Janet adachi Simon haid Lane um I have already sent an email to you just sort of um laying out the basics of my comments um as I said I was really reluctant to get involved in this discussion um in part because well I've been dealing with these issues all my life I'm neither white nor black nor Brown um I'm one of those people the model minority called an Asian and and um I still nonetheless had to deal with Flack all of my life learn to deal with it learn to pick my fights and am surprisingly six skimmed as a result of it but I do find that sometimes some of my white friends are even more indignant
009at some of the comments that I've gotten than I am because I've been living with it all my life and I know from some of my best friends from college who are non-white African-American Latino um we have a real um mail L we look like the old 1970s Coca-Cola commercial you know all the world everybody different colors standing together anyhow I know that we all have a similar perspective on um sort of discussions of race and racism and who gets involved in them uh the one thing I'm really urging you to do encouraging you to do is to not rush to adopt uh the latest uh draft statement I understand that you feel some pressure to do this um if you are going to make just a statement that's one thing I'll leave it to
010you to do whatever you think is appropriate but the latest draft looks like a policy and for a policy I I really strongly encourage you to take more time and focus on with the understanding that you're not dropping the topic but it is a very difficult topic it requires a lot of sensitivity as um Leo fman said there are very different perspectives in town that I am not sure are being included in this discussion I I am aware of what the discussion is on the Facebook page um there's a lot demonization of members of the board of Selectmen some of them um and what concerns me generally is that from one side or the other um there is a certain rigidity of thinking and closed-mindedness and that is not going to get um us make
011us make progress I was involved a few years ago in a community organization called the diversity colection uh which was started by just people who wanted to just talk about race relations ethnic uh divisions and all the rest of it uh we met at Beth Elohim uh we were almost all white except for two blacks and me uh so not very diverse all on the same page however but one of the limitations was that we weren't really able to bring in a lot of the community including non-whites for a more robust discussion but we tried um um the the longtime uh resident of Acton George Smith has since moved to Jamaica plane which probably is a a more diverse Community more to his liking but he is a wonderful person who provided a lot of
012valuables perspective um the other person longtime resident of boxboro Rowan Gibson I think he's still around he was a he was a guest speaker at um one of the Martin Luther King breakfasts recently might have been last year but um these are people whose long-term perspective I think is really important and then there are the perspectives of people like Leo who I have he is not the first one I've heard say I don't I hear about white privilege but let me tell you um it was you know pretty dicey I did not feel particularly privileged I've heard that I understand where that's coming from and I think that that those voices also have to be heard so for that reason I would just say give this the rest and then if if you're not going
013to I think limit it to being a statement okay whatever you want it to be that's fine but I my concern is that if you develop a policy you rush into adopting a policy it is going to have consequences for the entire town and it may not accomplish what you were hoping to do okay that's and those those are my comments I think it's good that you you've initiated this conversation but if you really want it to be productive it's it's touchy it's complicated I know I spent a lifetime having conversations like this with people including my close friends who all are non white okay so just just please take your time make it good okay don't rush you know what it's not going to change anything in the short term if you whether you
014have a policy place or not but it will make a big difference in the long term if you rush to adopt a policy that you need to change right away because it has some unintended consequences or it offends people which I can say might happen and you really don't want to increase whatever divisions are there are out there uh with a policy I know you have good intentions you want to do the best for the community and my my my suggestion really is just give it more time to develop so and let and let the deic continue to have its discussions that's something else I'd like to add I actually sat in because I'm strange person I sat in and listened to the committee talk about develop their mission statement and their their other the
015other statement and I was really positively impressed by the caliber of the discussion I mean there were some very thoughtful comments it was you know it wasn't just sort of broad brush sloppy thinking it was very thoughtful and it took a couple of hours if I could recall but that is not easy wordsmithing in in a public meeting uh when there's a potential for a lot of different opinions so I would say I'm looking forward to hearing or seeing what else the deic does once it now that it's passed developing these basic guidelines um so anyhow but kudos for creating that committee and getting it started so okay thank you thank you Janet David is there anyone else yeah a few more now uh sure Char Charlie kadleck please go ahead Charlie I'm gonna unmute
016you see if that works no I don't seem to be able to unmute you perhaps you're having a problem with your your your microphone um I will I will come back to you calling user one yes this is Tara can you hear me yes yes yes okay so terara from West a so um first of all I'd like to just make the statement that the idea of recognizing White Privilege isn't to suggest that your life wasn't hard or isn't hard but it's not as hard if your skin color um is the non-dominant skin color or in a in a in a a range of Shades um where um perhaps Asian folks don't get as much or um as condescending or the the type of exclusive exclusive um the negative exclusive effects of somebody who has
017black skin or or darker skin um I I was very excited to the the that you've come at least it looks like you know some books have come to some consensus um with this new proposed draft um but I I I fear um the folks that have spoken against this and I looked at and I thought to myself gosh you know this isn't very strong in fact it's completely truthless um but it seemed to be of a genuine caring listening and caring and I can't see anything that's wrong with listening and caring um and even if it's a policy that we should listen and Care um what is wrong with such a policy a rush a fear oh no things will change and I may not have my same privilege that I have now if
018everybody's equal well you know hey what is wrong with that and B I see nothing wrong with this statement um I see it as as you know it could be much much stronger um I I preferred the one that David had written before or proposed before and I think waiting um is is a bad sign it's it's it's not it it's not an indicator of in of a desire to be inclusive yes the deic yes it's great that the DT EIC was created but it was created to look at a problem um for for the statement that's being proposed I think that it's the recognition that there's a problem a problem of understanding and a problem of caring and to at least make it clear that Acton does care and Acton does listen and so
019I hope you approve this um I I recognize that it could be stronger um and I recognize that it could be watered down to accommodate people who are afraid of you know making strong statements about inclusivity but I fear that we we can't wait thank you thank you terar can you hear me now oh yes yes oh good can I go ahead yes pleas please go ahead okay well I bring a slightly different perspective to this I think a lot of people in action do not know anything about this particular IC proposal and when they find out they're not going to necessarily be happy with it there's already resentment that I know about about the mascot situation uh the way I read this draft it's not about Acton it's the same wording that's nationally on
020endless number of websites like privilege systemic racism the one I find I guess it would be amusing if it wasn't a serious matter this unconscious bias I don't know who comes up with these things but they diminish the value of what we I think all are for which is to eliminate racism and you've heard me before saying that identifying people by their skin color even though it may be for a good purpose is the wrong way to go you perpetuate racism and this is more of the same you know of all the documents Charter bylaws charters for the 40 some board and committees in action there isn't a single reference to race ethnicity or color except for one the deic uh David knows that I thought the provision of having 70% blacks or immigrants is
021just totally wrong and I will continue to say that I think this particular draft if it's adopted or anything similar adopted by the selectman the selectman represent the town of Acton T of Acton is my home my kids were born here I've been here for more than 50 years I will be buried in Acton I am protective of acon and I think this will this particular document will do it harm you can do better I think eliminate all the hot button words focus on what we can do positively with people who need help not just because of their skin color but for any number of reasons and recognize that there is a cost to this policy not just monetary I mean you know the $100,000 plus that we spend on the incident and maram the
022200 plus thousand that the schools are spending on the the mascot issue according to jdn the staff time that's devoted to this these are real costs there are many people in Acton that haven't had a paycheck in six months this is not the time to add cost to T budget think about that I think we're long ways from coming up with a document which serves the purpose that you you all want and I do too this is not it thank you thank you Charlie um is there anyone else there's one more um Corey S please go ahead y hi can you hear me yes hi it's Dr Corey SEO and I was not intending to speak because we're having work done on our house so if it gets too loud just wave your hands and
023I will cut it short um but I am just very moved to speak after hearing some people's reactions um but I will keep it short I want to amplify what terara said I want to amplify what Rabbi Roth bom said and um I I just want to I guess react to some of the other things I've heard um this may sound a little disjointed but to keep it short I'm just going to jump around a bit one I just want to acknowledge that I agree the deic is doing amazing work and um I was not surprised that they weren't sloppy I heard it said that someone was you know appreciated their watch work wasn't sloppy and was sort of surprised how hard they worked I might have misunderstood that but I am not surprised at
024all and I think it's really important to um not be surprised when people of color are doing remarkable work that's not surprising at all uh they're very intelligent smart hardworking people just like the rest of us um I also heard and it's not uncommon to hear that people who have really suffered who happen to be white you know have a hard time swallowing that white privileged pill and I get it can be hard to feel like your struggles are invalidated so just want to say you know if people have suffered economically have a disability have a mental health condition um there's so many ways that people struggle in this world and I want to use what's referred to as both and thinking that can be true they can really really suffer and they can have
025certain privileges due to their race their whiteness alone I have never had to worry that I would was being judged because of my race I'm white I've never had to worry that I'm going to be a minority in a room there are so many ways that I have not had to worry or second guess anything because of my whiteness and that is all white privilige means and lastly um I Heard it say that it's wrong to identify people by skin color um even if it's for a good reason and I I I'm feeling up pull to do a bit of a history lesson here but I'm not going to do that because everyone in this town can read books but I just really want to remind everyone that um race was socially constructed in order
026to create a argument for slavery there was no such thing as race before slavery um you can you know ibran kendi goes over this really well in his book how to be an anti-racist the only reason people were labeled as black was to create a case for them as a you know inaccurately as a less than person in order to sell them into slavery so um identifying people by skin color has that history to it so it's it's not that it's done for a good reason but here we are and so now we can't ignore race we are all different and society and systemic race racism treats us differently because of that uh historic nature of how racism developed so that's all uh I just I guess well let me just say one last sent
027is that I just want to because I hear I'm the last speaker I just want to frame and simplify that all you guys are doing today you are doing great work and you're all you're doing is putting some words out there that say racism is bad we want to do better so I know people are saying like people in the town are going to be upset by this it will be okay you are just making putting some words together saying racism is bad and I think you got to move forward and I promise it will be okay thank you thank you Dr s is there anyone else there's one other person with their hand up um please go ahead and state your name in Street you have to unmute yourself go ahead you guys hear
028me yes yes was this hello hello can you hear me yes please you are so your line is cutting out a lot I'll give you just another minute here um so it's it's a little difficult to hear you uh that person disconnected John okay if maybe we could hear and there's no other people there's no other people with their hands okay okay so let's begin the discussion um part um of our meeting and David if if uh you would um lead and open the conversation sure um I want to thank everybody on the board for working through this I know we've been working on this for uh quite a few weeks now um uh you know I think we've made great progress I think uh as the other members have seen in emails um the
029vast majority of recent comments have been in favor of the recent draft policy um uh I know that you know a couple people have said that they wanted a statement with more specific actions um uh personally I prefer leaving the more specific actions until after recommendations from the deic and the goals in this draft uh policy I believe were were several uh one is to take real steps not just kick the can down the road um uh second is to sensitize and inform residents about systemic racism and implicit bias and what we can to start to address it and finally to adopt anti-racist policies to set an example um uh for the for the town of act um so um um so that that that that's my thing um I will say what one other
030thing if if members of the board are interested um I know that in a few of the um statements have uh talked about an Us Versus Them orientation and some of the um uh items in the listening section I have a very slightly revised draft that reduces some of that I'm I'm open to either way whether the board wants to just go with the existing um version two draft which is in the packet or I I can show you the version three draft which just has a few words um changed to address that so whatever people want to do thank you okay um thank you David uh Jim um well I I don't have a a grand summary but I I'm just pleased that we're here um and working on this um um and my
031understanding of this of this draft is that it's it's a it's a starting place as David was saying it's a it's a place to say yeah we understand there's there's issues here we understand Parts about it and we're we're looking forward to the work of the deic to um to you know create more specific policies um I I'm I'm also I I was also noticed the um some of the language issues in the listening and understanding section which I would I'd summarize my main issue as um that um the the listening and understanding section reads um currently as if it's written as if it's addressed to white people um that it's not really an appropriate message in fact for um people that might be the subject of active discrimination to say oh you know be
032quiet be quiet when you're uncomfortable that's obviously not what we want to say um so I I may I make just a point quickly there it it says that uh the listeners are supposed to be quiet um yeah uh so not not not the people relating their stories yeah but sometimes the listeners the the listeners are described as you know all everyone in active so sometimes the listeners will be people of color as well um so I I had also I I I'll bet up David that your edits will be will resolve my issues with this but if not there's there's also a way of just adding um a small introduction sentence right before the listening and understanding to clarify that this is meant for particular sections are specially dressed away but I'm I'm like
033you I'm open either way I just have some S I just have that one suggest uh John well before we get to listening and understanding it says we encourage all residents to join us in committing to so I think that I don't know what David's edits are but I think where it says we encourage all residents is an important piece there and I know this is a policy so we can't have action in it such as having um an open meeting I'm sorry David do you want to comment on so um what uh what kind of I'm just confused as to what kind of open meeting are are are you suggesting that the policy say that there should be other meetings well it says the policy should be re reviewed at least annually which I
034approve of but if we don't have any action on this oh I I I see so if I can comment down that this is Mo modeled specifically after our um sustainability sustainability policy and it's also similar to other policies that the board has that those policies do not have specific actions but basically they guide future actions and and that's and that's what this is for um and um as I said in in my in my short statement um I think uh that as far as uh taking specific actions I would like to wait and to see the recommendations of the deic um but uh that's that's that's my opinion and and I again the purpose from my my point of view for this this policy was really to you know to sensitize and inform people
035and use us as an example which I think is exactly what we do in the case of sustainability right the right it's the let let people know that there's an issue let people know that we're concerned about it and let people know that we're going to pay attention to this issue going forward is that satisfactory John yeah further comments Joan no Dean yeah I I think that what we've got on balance is a a really good statement um I think the nice thing about it is that some of us are a little uncomfortable because it goes one way and some of us are uncomfortable because it goes another way um and I think you know it this is a really long conversation that everybody in the country is going to have to have I mean
036we're dealing with 400 years of History here you know we've been at this for two months so it's it's going to take a while um I think it's a good starting point um certainly I'm very pleased that it uh it's specific that we are going to review this from time to time I certainly endorse David's comment about waiting on a lot of specific actions until we hear what deic comes up with um for their recommendations and that was the point of a lot of my comments earlier on in this conversation is you know why form a committee and then immediately take all of their things away from them and say oh no we'll do it ourselves so I think it's important that we that we learn from the deic and give them a chance to
037do their work um the other thing as far as policy issues that's important whether we're talking about racism or if we're talking about sustainability folks have to realize that there's a lot on the the town's plate there's a lot of budgetary issues we're going to have to deal with there's got to be balance of all of these interests um we can't accomplish everything that's in the sustainability policy we can't you know just March in that one direction we're probably not going to be able to as to deal with every single issue that comes up from the deic um there has to be kind of a a buffet that we choose from is and some of those decisions were made by certainly Guided by the town manager and then the Selectmen are certainly going to have
038to take their action and decide you know is policy a dealing with sustainability is that a more important policy than policy B dealing with racism and we'll have to come up with some sorts of compromises just as we've noted here on the board we've got I'd say two real conservatives and two real liberal and one guy in the middle trying to balance the boat um and we're going to have to continue to do that so I'm comfortable with the policy the way it is I'd be interested to see David's uh edits um you know if we were dealing totally in a vacuum I'd say okay let's you know work on this for another two or three months or whatever but I think it's time to just get this done move on uh let deic work
039um and have some conversations I was certainly moved by what Charlie cadle had to say um I agree with him in many of his points I agree with Leo hman um but I think you know we should use this policy as a way to uh sort of encourage the conversation so I'm uh I'm happy with what we've got thank you Dean um um I will vote for the statement uh subject to the um uh little uh revisions that we were uh discussing I had one for you David um from it was from an Chang in the uh uh first sentence of the second paragraph where it goes Health Care at the end of the sentence Health Care housing political power ET if we might strike Etc and insert and equal opportunities if that would make
040sense sure okay I just wanted to thank um you know my my four colleagues for their work over the last month I mean it's it's been difficult you know it's not been easy we've all made contributions in terms of the process and the substance of the documents um I enjoyed very much working with Jim Snider Grant on the draft that um that that we combined on and I particularly liked his initiative in trying to in a separate draft tie everything together and I'd like to thank you know the many citizen comments um you know that uh that weed initially many of them were quite critical um upon receipt of the latest draft I was very pleased um how um supportive and kind and appreciative um the writers were towards us and you know that votes
041very well um the discussion of race is a very complex and sensitive topic and um uh and I'm echoing perhaps some of the sentiments of Charlie and Leo and and my struggle was how do you Define racism and and and the word racist um in a way that combines the past you know and the present that was something I really had to think about and work on and and come to an acceptance of the statement um but we have to move forward you know as a community this is just a start um and um the the the key for me in this is that we have to have a discussion that's fair and it's rational and it's open to all sides and it can't be a discussion of I'm right you're wrong and you're a
042racist because that's not going to get us where we need to go it's only going to prove very um very um you know divisive and um going a little bit beyond acting you know we have a second Reckoning as a nation to deal with and that's what the modern economy has done in terms of trade deals and Automation and what it's done to the middle of the country in creating a a huge huge um economic disparity and as a country you know we're not going to have peace until those issues are addressed and I would you know commend to people who've not thought about the issue of the book hillbilly allergy by JD Vance and the book The Forgotten by Ben Bradley Jr those are very powerful books so we have you know multiple reckonings
043as a town and as a larger country um to deal with and and just to the larger Community um we're going to have a very tough winter ahead of us uh the weather after some you know a great 10 days is going to start turning colder and seasonal our covid rate cases have spiked up from two three and four Active cases to approximately 26 the other day we're going to have to be mindful of each other and particularly watchful you know of our seniors and to point out to Echo some of Dean's comments as a select board we have a lot of work to do we've put off um town meeting for several reasons including the ability to hold it safely until likely sometime in June when we could have a like hybrid town meeting
044and there's there's critical budget issues that we're going to have to deal with to keep us going um as well as projects we're we're working on and want to go forward on because there will be a a life after covid so um uh thank you all and I I want uh David if you want to put up the um your revised um um um um draft of the of the of the policy statement so the um areas that are changed are only just between within the highlights so I added and equal opportunity uh to replace the ETC um and um the listening section is just tweaked and so the listening refers then is is talking to all residents as as uh from the previous sentence and the the the uh POS possessive pronouns uh like
045there in these now uh are pretty Clearly Now refer to the black indigenous and people of color from the first bullet so I mean I I can read it out loud it says the board encourages all residents to join us in committing to listening to voices of black indigenous and other people of color that inform the rest of us of the in injustices they have long endured and listening by remaining quiet during moments of discomfort discomfort when their stories challenged entrenched ideas and assumptions that's the extent of the the the changes the rest of the document is exactly the same okay um are there any further comments from board members uh David H has the uh Jim um just that I think these are fine edits I don't want to go into my the edits
046I was thinking of because I think they're larger and would be more complicated to change um we might want in the in the first sentence of the understanding section um if I'm remembering my grammar right we might want to say the United States instead of in United States but those those are mys so in the United States okay um okay um David there was one uh person who we couldn't get on is that individual able to connect in now let me just check on that one second please um they are on again they don't have their hand up uh if uh you know if you're the person who spoke wanted to speak before and uh and cut out if you want to raise your hand again I I'll call it hope they just disconnected again
047so um they're they're gone sorry John okay that's okay so um may I have a mo if there's no further comment may I have a motion that the um acting Board of Selectmen adopt the policy titled act in policy against uh racism dated November 12th 2020 is there a motion okay is there a second Dean Joan moved okay um would um David would you please call the role uh Mr Snider Grant hi Miss Gardner hi Mr Benson hi uh Mr Charter hi and I say I so it's unanimous okay well thank you and um I that would conclude our business we're meeting again um on Monday night um Coming which is the 16th we have an executive session at six o'clock those materials will go out later today so do I have a motion to
048adjourn so move Joan is there a second second uh uh David if you please call the role Mr Snider Grant hi Miss Gardner hi Mr Charter hi Mr Benson I and I also say I okay