GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Human Rights Commission’s first community forum on overcoming racism, which was canceled last month due to snow, has been rescheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. in Town Hall.
The forum is part of a series of recommendations the commission made during its January meeting, subsequent to two community forums on a controversy, which involved an off-duty Greenfield police sergeant displaying a Confederate flag in his garage.
The commission recommended in January that it sponsor further forums for the benefit of the community exploring racism locally, as well as that all Greenfield police officers undergo mandatory cultural sensitivity training.
“One of the things we hope to do is discuss how to identify (racism), how to confront it and I think most importantly, strategies to address and overcome it,” said Lewis Metaxas, chairman of the commission. “In terms of identification, this is very much a listening process for us. Everyone has their own experience of where racism may be found in terms of employment, education, government — and especially, does profiling exist at the local level?”
He added the forum will not feature any guest speakers or presentations, but one topic he would like to discuss is how the Town of Montague is working to address racism by planning to conduct sensitivity training for town officials.
“One of the things I’m particularly excited about and have been following is what Montague has been doing,” Metaxas said. “This appears to be something extraordinarily similar to our recommendation.”
He said the commission invites the input and opinions of all Franklin County residents that may wish to participate.
“If we can learn from others, I hope we will,” he said. “This is the beginning, I hope, of our conversation in Greenfield.”
You can reach Aviva Luttrell at: aluttrell@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 268
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