LETTER: Fly the banner and display the Declaration of Inclusion

October 18, 2021 | By Life LeGeros

Editor’s note: The following letter was written to the Waterbury Select Board by Life LeGeros, who shares it with the community here. 

Dear Waterbury Select Board,

The banner hung on the banner frame near the municipal offices for months from summer 2020 into 2021. Photo by Gordon Miller.

As a resident of the wider community and a member of the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition (WAARC), I am writing to urge you to fly the “Waterbury Stands With Black Lives Matter” banner. Flying the banner in the past has been an important example of moral leadership by your group, and therefore the town of Waterbury, from which others who live in the area, as well as countless visitors, have benefitted. I also support displaying some version of the Declaration of Inclusion. The two messages are complementary and hesitation to fly the BLM banner in fact contradicts the Declaration of Inclusion.

I watched the recording of the Oct. 4 Select Board meeting and I was struck by a few things.

• On the question of whether this is “in the lane” of the Select Board, your Declaration of Inclusion makes it clear that equity is part of the Board’s purview. Furthermore, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns’ “Statement of Equity and Racial Justice” makes it clear that racial justice is crucial to effective town governance: 

“The Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) stands with our members and commits to being more visible, vocal, and supportive in our efforts to ensure equity and racial justice, and to directly address systemic and overt racism and implicit bias. We are ready to assist and, with local officials, will do our best to make a difference.”

• To be clear, Black Lives Matter is a decentralized social movement. It is distinct from political organizations like the Black Lives Matter Global Network. Saying “we stand with BLM” is a statement about values and inclusion. The U.S. government agrees - our Office of Special Counsel has ruled that BLM is not political or partisan (see here). Employees of the federal government can wear BLM while working, for example. So there is nothing keeping you from doing this, and to hide behind a veneer of neutrality is to work against inclusion.

• It is contradictory for the Board to say that it stands behind the Declaration of Inclusion but not BLM. The Declaration names several protected “classes,” including race. This is because people with these identities have historically been and continue to be all too often discriminated against interpersonally and systemically. The Declaration makes the point that we can’t just say we want to be inclusive or treat everybody the same; we need to be particularly mindful when it comes to some people due to the broader context of society and our own internal implicit biases. BLM simply restates this principle by reminding us that even when it comes to race, anti-Black racism deserves special attention because in our society, anti-Black racism has been the backbone of all other racism (and perhaps other types of oppression too). So for the Board to support the Declaration but not BLM suggests a misunderstanding of BLM.

I hope that you fly both banners. Not on behalf of WAARC, but to show your own commitment to and understanding of inclusion and equity. I applaud the board’s efforts to deepen collective understanding of these issues, and for making symbolic yet important actions such as flying the BLM banner in the past and developing the Declaration of Inclusion. I plan to urge the Select Board in Duxbury to follow in Waterbury’s footsteps.

I have heard some board members express worry that supporting BLM is divisive in our community. If you accept the points I made above, it is clear that there are only two reasons somebody would feel threatened by BLM: (1) they don’t understand it or (2) they don’t think Black lives matter as much as white lives. 

This moment is a powerful opportunity for the Board to both (1) help educate people about why it is important for Waterbury and its residents to support BLM specifically and inclusion generally and (2) reinforce that Waterbury does not support white supremacy specifically or any form of discrimination generally. 

The board has huge influence in our community and could use this as a moment to educate and unite our community around fairness, interconnectedness, and growing our understanding of ourselves and each other.

Thank you,

Life LeGeros

Duxbury

Waterbury’s Declaration of Inclusion adopted in 2020 is on the town’s website homepage at waterburyvt.com.