GREENFIELD — The best way to address and prevent hate crimes in Greenfield isn’t going to come from any action taken by law enforcement officials — it has to a response from within the community.
That’s what Deputy Northwestern District Attorney Janice Healy told a group of more than 30 people Monday night — including the mayor and the police chief — who had gathered in Town Hall to learn about creating a “Not In Our Town” community coalition in response to recent racist and anti-Semitic events in Greenfield.
The meeting, hosted by the town’s Human Rights Commission, brought in several leaders from the District Attorney’s Office, who spoke about the national project and encouraged a dialogue among attendees about what they’d like to see happen in town. The discussion lasted about two hours. Muhammad Ali-Salaam, a cultural awareness specialist with the United States Department of Justice, was also supposed to give a presentation, but was unable to attend due to national events.
Healy said the U.S. Department of Justice has said that it is more than willing to send a representative to Greenfield in the future, and the Attorney General’s Office also intends to provide resources to the town.
“We have a lot of tools in our tool chest,” Healy said, “but the most important one is that you can make a difference as an individual.”
Laurie Loisel, director of
Community Outreach and Education for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, explained that the Not In Our Town project began in 1995 with a documentary film about how the residents of Billings, Mont., stood up for their neighbors after a series of hate crimes. It provides resources and training for elected and appointed town government officials, educators and students and law enforcement, among other community stakeholders.
“The idea is that you figure out what your community can do and what your capacity is — how many people want to be involved, and then you can take it as far as you want,” she said. “It’s very grassroots.”
Loisel said the nonprofit, based in Oakland, Calif., has made dozens of films about community responses to hate crimes in collaboration with Community Oriented Police Services — a component of the U.S. Department of Justice. Its website also has a variety of resources for those looking to create their own community coalition, such as quick-start guides and tip sheets.
Unbeknownst to the Human Rights Commission prior to Monday’s meeting, a group of about 15 community members had already started a Not In Our Town group in Greenfield several weeks ago. At least 30 more people wrote their names on a sign-up sheet during the meeting.
The effort comes in response to a series of racist and anti-Semitic incidents in town, with the goal of preventing similar hate crimes in the future.
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.
Police Chief Robert Haigh said during the meeting he couldn’t comment on the status of the investigation into the emails, except to say it’s ongoing.
“It’s not stopping,” he said. “I think the emails have stopped but our investigation is continuing. I’d love to tell you computers are simple. They’re just not.”
Emma Morgan, who has been involved in the existing Not In Our Town coalition in Greenfield, said the group is in the beginning stages, but hopes to host events including community dialogues and film screenings in town.
Ricketts voiced her support for the coalition during the meeting, saying she likes the model and plans to join the group, and hopes others will, too.
“I hope that everybody joins it so we can just continue talking, because I think about at the end of the day, what if they found the person that did this to me? What if? What does it give me back? What does it heal? And the way the court system is, there are no promises there, either. So we have to heal as a community,” she said through tears.
Others said they believe change has to come from the top on down.
“There are members in this room who I’ve worked with for over 40 years trying to address this issue, trying to educate this community,” said Precinct 6 Councilor Maria Burge, who also sits on the Community Outreach and Education Committee. “It has to come from the top. You elected me as a representative of this town, and that has been something that I’ve always wanted to address, but I needed to wait until it got to this point so people would actually pay attention.”
Greenfield resident Rachel Silverman thanked Mayor William Martin for being there, saying his presence is symbolic to the greater community and that it’s often difficult to reach people, as many get defensive when talking about racism because it makes them think about their own privilege.
She added that she would love to hear the mayor say publicly that racism is an issue in Greenfield, and that the community needs to acknowledge it.
“I feel like you would begin that process of modeling for others who may not want to say, ‘I think racism is a problem,’” she said. “That would be very powerful, I think, to many in our community who are not here tonight but may read about it in the paper tomorrow.”
Martin responded by saying that he can’t change what’s happened throughout history, but that he can help bring awareness to the lack of respect many humans have for each other. When pressed further, he said, “The reason I will not say it is because you can do it,” prompting many in the room to raise their voices in protest until several people yelled that the conversation was getting out of hand.
Some in the room suggested a more comprehensive curriculum about racism and the history of inequality and oppression be incorporated into the school system to reach children when they’re younger, and others suggested hosting interracial and intercultural dialogues.
“I’ve seen it done with Jewish women and black women, and it was incredibly powerful,” said Joan Featherman of Greenfield. “We need to be prepared for strong feelings, and we need to create an organization that has a mechanism to help us hold all those strong feelings, so we can move in an appropriate direction with them.”
A Not In My Town speak out will be held on the Town Common Thursday at 5:15 p.m.
“This is an opportunity to speak up and speak out for what is happening in our country,” Ricketts said. “As we discuss senseless deaths, the important piece is to discuss how it makes us feel, what needs to stop and how our everyday words and actions can help build up our own community.”