LETTER: Candidate says all are ‘capable of potentially amazing things’
October 24, 2020 | By Brock CoderreTo the community:
I'd like to point out that my response to a question in a recent candidate forum was surely misinterpreted by fellow candidates so it could understandably go similarly misunderstood by viewers, listeners, and voters. The question was something along the lines of how would I attempt to make Vermont a more inclusive or accepting state to any and all new inhabitants of diversity. In my answer, I mentioned that I feel that we as a society have recently been categorizing people in such a way that one has to wonder if it isn't helping fuel the division one can readily see between fellow Americans in 2020. There's divisive language coming out of the television, the radio, it's everywhere because that's how we're more readily controlled as a society. Divided.
We can't stand together and take control of our out-of-sorts local and federal governments because we've been programmed to isolate ourselves into social groups and then be hesitant about each other. We are all in this together, one society, having each other's backs against an incredibly shady government. That's why I'm running. To stop all the petty clashing back and forth between two, three, four otherwise reasonable and intelligent adults. I'm not here to go after anybody over what they said. That's not how I operate.
Instead of viewing people as a skin tone with its own corresponding narrative, I prefer to see everyone as a human capable of potentially amazing things. The goal is just reaching out to newcomers individually and making them understand they are welcome in their new home/community. All are welcome here. That's what makes Vermont amazing. Nobody cares what you do here in the woods. Just be a good person and pay your taxes.
Unfortunately, it seems, some can't help but see someone's race the entire time they're interacting with them. They make assumptions about the person based on their location on the Fitzpatrick Scale. They then treat the person differently as a result. These are all racist behaviors.
I don't like or prefer that kind of behavior. My ideal methodology would be to simply say, "Hello new neighbor/friend/fellow Vermonter. I don't care where you're from or what you did before now. Once you get settled in, come on over every third Friday of the month. We have a community barbecue where we get together, share recipes, and chat about how poorly state government has been run for about a decade now."
No comment on Chris Viens. I wish him a clean campaign race. Same to Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood.
Brock Coderre
Waterbury Center
Coderre is a Republican candidate for the Washington-Chittenden House district.