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partyliz t1_j5bz6a1 wrote

I’m on a committee that’s leading Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion efforts in my county, and we met with Al Wakefield and his group when we were drafting our own Inclusion statement. I can’t imagine what the Highgate selectboard took issue with in the language on their website.

I think the only reason (other than blatant racism or xenophobia) to reject the very basic statement of inclusion that Al’s group advocates for is that it’s potentially a way for towns to feel like they’ve checked a box and virtue signal but doesn’t require any fundamental change in the status quo. The idea is, of course, that the statement is simply the first step. The actual work is making sure policies and zoning and community investment, etc is equitable.

I’m not sure what’s up in Highgate, but at least the selectboard says they’re willing to revisit the matter with more community involvement. The challenge there is that the people for whom this equity work matters the most usually don’t have the leisure time to get involved.

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vociferousgirl t1_j5rx7pu wrote

It's Highgate. Most of Franklin county is hella racist and run by 4 or 5 families who have been there forever and are absurdly opposed to any sort of change because it takes away what little power they do have.

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Unique-Public-8594 t1_j5ezg55 wrote

I want to believe you and give Highgate/Wakefield the benefit of the doubt that their objection to the Inclusion Declaration was that the statement doesn’t go far enough but there’s this part to the article, which shows Highgate select board in a bad light:

According to Vice Chair Vern Brosky: “I invite all of you to go on their website and research for yourself. And don't just go on the front page, go through the whole website. It's eye-opening. They say don't judge a book by its cover — in this case, you definitely don't want to do that. Read the whole thing.” And, Bousquet declined to say what specific issues board members had with the website.

Has anyone found anything alarming on that website?

Now that they are seen as making racist decisions on behalf of the town, my hunch is a few more people will be making adjustments to their leisure time to attend their next meeting and call them on the carpet.

They imply that their is some hidden scandal on the Inclusion Declaration website if you just search into every nook and cranny.

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