GREENFIELD — Colin Allen of Greenfield is scared.
Amid a climate of rising racial tensions around the country, he’s afraid to speak his mind on the issues. He’s scared he’ll be attacked for growing up privileged, of what others will think of him for speaking up.
But on Thursday night, he did it, just as about 10 others did during a speak-out event hosted by the local Not In Our Town coalition. Allen’s willingness to do that was in keeping with the theme of the coalition’s message for fighting racism and hate in town: Do something about it.
“It’s so easy to sit back and not participate for those of us who have that privilege,” he said. “I’m white, male, hetero — top of the privilege food chain — and it’s scary to think about getting up in front of people and talking about these issues. I’m scared of being attacked. But then I realize others don’t have that choice to sit back and do nothing. … I will do what I can, as much as I can.”
The event, which drew about 40 to the Town Common Thursday night, came amid local acts of racism and anti-Semitism, including a string of digitally altered racist photographs of At-large Town Councilor Penny Ricketts and at least one local resident targeting the owners of Pierce Bros Coffee Roasters with anti-Semitic threats and rising racial tensions and protests nationwide in the wake of the killing of black men by police and an attack that left five police officers in Dallas dead last week.
Amy Proietti said she and her wife have always considered Greenfield a welcoming place since they moved here in 2002, but she’s been troubled by the recent acts of hate targeting members of the community.
“It’s embarrassing to know that someone moving in… this is the impression that they’d get of our town,” Proietti said. “We need to come together in a way that’s powerful and be conscious of what others are doing to combat hate.”
For Emma Morgan, who is Jewish, the threat to burn down Pierce Bros Coffee Roasters to “create another Auschwitz,” felt like a death threat.
“I’m scared about what’s going on, the way things are getting amped up right now,” she said. “I’m terrified, but you can work terrified.”
She noted that the decision by a series of local businesses and institutions to refuse a group seeking a venue for a well-known Holocaust denier to speak is an example of “not in our town.”
Ricketts took the opportunity to call for citizen-level action to combat racism and hate in town.
“I hope you all stand up for people in your community who do not look like you, who do not have the same political leanings as you. We have to come together as a community, and we have to heal,” Ricketts said. “Keep pressuring the leaders of this community to acknowledge the racism that we have here. We together will build up this community and take it where we want to go with or without them.”
Phillipe Simon, the new chairman of the Human Rights Commission, said he plans to work toward making neighborhoods more welcoming places for people of all races and increasing townwide diversity.
Kia Burton-McLaughlin spoke as a mother and aunt to describe how the younger people in the population are watching as racial tensions flare across the country and right here in Franklin County.
“There are systemic things that can change, and they can change the more we talk about them,” Burton-McLaughlin said, echoing Ricketts’ call for grass-roots action to counter local acts of hate.
Town Councilor Maria Burge spoke of her own experience with racism as a Mexican-American and how recent events both in Greenfield and nationally have brought back the fear she felt in growing up in the era of the Civil Rights movement.
“It’s time to say ‘enough,’ not to cower,” Burge said. “Stand up for your neighbors who are different from you.”
Town Councilor Karen “Rudy” Renaud spoke of her own experiences with insults and attacks on the street as a married gay woman.
“It happens, and I’m so glad everyone is standing out here speaking out about it,” she said.
Other speakers took the event’s theme to heart, noting the importance of stepping up and speaking minds about racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of hate.
“We’re all human, and in order to heal, we all need to come together and talk about it and have more listening sessions,” said Sarah Ahearn of Greenfield. “To tell whoever’s out there, whether they’re sending emails or whatever, that it’s not OK in our town.”
You can reach Tom Relihan at: trelihan@recorder.com
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