GREENFIELD — The town’s Human Rights Commission will discuss potentially forming a “Not In Our Town” community coalition to address and prevent hate crimes in Greenfield during its meeting Monday at 6 p.m. in Town Hall.
The meeting will include two guest speakers. Laurie Loisel, director of Community Outreach and Education for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, will present on “Not In Our Town” responses in other communities and how they may serve as an inspiration and model for Greenfield. Muhammad Ali-Salaam, a cultural awareness specialist with the United States Department of Justice, will also give his recommendations.
“It’s the first time we’ve gotten help from the federal government, and it’s not specifically a law enforcement thing, it’s more of an assistance thing and I think it’s something we could very much learn from and explore,” Human Rights Commission Chairman Lewis Metaxas said. “I think it’s a good, positive step for us.”
The Not In Our Town project started nationally in 1995 with a PBS special national broadcast of how the citizens of Billings, Mont., came together to address hate crimes that had occurred in their community. It became a movement and a model of how to effectively address racist, anti-Semitic, sexist and homophobic acts on a community coalition basis. The first such coalition, and subsequently others, mobilized nonprofit organizations, faith-based groups, law enforcement agencies, schools, businesses, labor unions, community access TV stations and other stakeholders in order to organize anti-hate actions in the community.
“I think it’s very conducive to us in Greenfield because it’s more of a bottom-up, grassroots approach (rather) than a top-down approach,” Metaxas said.
The national project provides resources and training for elected and appointed town government officials, educators and students and law enforcement, among other community stakeholders.
Not In Our Town coalitions bring these groups together with the common goal of addressing and preventing hate incidents. The proposed coalition in Greenfield would be activist, educational and preventive, according to Metaxas. It would seek educational seminars, trainings, lectures, parades and dedicated days of awareness in order to highlight the issues of hate and how to create safe environments in the community.
In recently weeks, racist, digitally altered photos of At-Large Town Councilor Penny Ricketts were emailed to town department heads and local businesses. The owners of Pierce Brothers Coffee Roasters also came forward to say their business has been the target of frequent harassment — including an anti-Semitic remark — by a neighbor who objects to the smell created by its roasting process.
“In the unfortunate wakes of the Pierce Brothers anti-Semitic incidents and the Ricketts email Photoshopped racist incidents, we on the commission have been researching and seeking a model or program that may represent a wonderful goodness of fit for Greenfield and the caring, nurturing and giving community that Greenfield is,” Metaxas said. “This is what we came up with for now as an initial proposal. It’s worked in many other communities in a variety of circumstances. Cities and towns. Urban and rural areas. It could very well be beneficial here. We look forward to a rich discussion about it among ourselves and other members of our community.”
He said the goal is to create a permanent standing committee or coalition of the town that would seek to protect, preserve and promote Greenfield’s multicultural heritage.