Inclusion banner comes down
March 10, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
The inclusion banner was hung in December 2021. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The banner posts near the town offices were empty on Wednesday after the town's inclusion banner was removed. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The banner posts near the town offices on Wednesday were empty as the town inclusion banner which has hung since December was removed following Town Meeting Day last week.
Town Clerk Carla Lawrence said the banner was taken down because the decision to hang it specifically noted that it would remain up “until Town Meeting Day 2022.”
The banner bears the message “Waterbury, Vermont, condemns racism and welcomes all.”
The Waterbury Select Board on Oct. 18 voted unanimously to create the banner and hang it until March 1. The wording was chosen to mirror language in the town’s Declaration of Inclusion that the board adopted in January 2021.
The full declaration is on the homepage of the town website, waterburyvt.com. It states: “Waterbury condemns racism and welcomes all people, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity or expression, age, or disability, and will protect these classes to the fullest extent of the law. As a town, we formally condemn discrimination in all of its forms and commit to fair and equal treatment of everyone in our community. Waterbury has and will continue to be a place where individuals can live freely and express their opinion.”
The banner was made and hung in early December.
The impetus for the banner’s creation was a request in October from the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition to re-hang a banner that had been up in 2020 and early 2021 created by the anti-racism group and bearing the message “Waterbury Stands With Black Lives Matter.”
Public comment on the request was mixed and led to the board seeking a compromise to create a banner using the language from the declaration.
Last week’s election changed the membership of the select board somewhat as two previous members, Mark Frier and Katie Martin, did not run for re-election. New members Roger Clapp and Alyssa Johnson were elected to those one-year seats on the board. The select board is scheduled to hold its first meeting since Town Meeting Day on March 21. A top item of business that evening will be to choose the board chair and vice chair.
Board member Michael Bard on Friday said the banner item will be on the next meeting agenda. The board last fall unanimously approved flying the banner and new members to the board ahead of the Town Meeting Day election expressed support for it. “I don't see any opposition to putting the existing banner back up,” Bard said.