Name: Inclusion: From the Mayflower to 2020
Duration: 1 h 45 min 31 s
Description: I think my kids got into their school on affirmative action because they're the only white kids in the class and so they're going to be fine.

[0:02] Welcome. My name is Kathy Dunne, and I'm a member of the Plymouth Area League of Women Voters. I want to thank you for coming tonight. It's very gratifying to see so many people here that are interested in our presentation of inclusion from the Mayflower to 2020. Together with Barbara Aharoni and Vedna Haywood of no place for

[0:32] for hate, bedness also an executive board member of the league, we've assembled an outstanding

[0:39] group of speakers.

[0:42] VEDNA was supposed to be our moderator tonight, but she's ill and is very, very disappointed

[0:53] to be unable to attend.

[0:56] She was an integral part of our committee which has been working to put this on since the

[1:01] fall, and the other committee members include Aaron Paladino, Karen Young, and Evelyn

[1:10] Strong. The purpose of this forum is to examine conscious and unconscious bias in order

[1:20] to be more cognizant of its effect on groups of people. We hope this presentation will raise

[1:30] awareness on how we can all be more inclusive in our thoughts and actions.

[1:39] Without further ado, I'm going to tell you a little bit about our speaker. We're

[1:47] fortunate to have with us tonight an inclusiveist. She's a specialist. She's also a very

[1:56] well-known speaker. Her name is Gretchen Cook Anderson and she's a league of women voters

[2:02] member from need. Gretchen Cook Anderson is a wife, mother of three, and a marketing executive

[2:10] with 25 years of promoting discoveries for NASA, Mars Candy, entertainers in Hollywood,

[2:19] candidates for public office study abroad and a host and a host of household

[2:27] products. Can you believe it? Gretchen leads diversity and inclusion-related

[2:34] marketing outreach for a large global nonprofit. The Institute for International

[2:41] Education of Students of Broad which educates about 9,000 U.S. college and

[2:48] University students each year in 35 international cities.

[2:55] An active board member of several local

[3:01] based communities and independent schools including Belmont Hill School and the Denah

[3:06] Hall School, she cares deeply about social justice and equity. Gretchen speaks publicly

[3:15] on related themes dozens of times annually and her talk tonight is entitled

[3:22] the Inclusivist Life and Intergenerational Conversation

[3:28] from Mayflower to Modern Day America.

[3:33] Thank you so much for coming here tonight.

[3:43] Thank you so much Kathy.

[3:45] I really appreciate you and Bedna and others for having me here tonight.

[3:50] And I also want to thank not only the League of Women Voters, but the No Place for Hate

[3:55] Plymouth Group here in town.

[3:58] This is probably my, only maybe my fourth time in the town of Plymouth since I've been

[4:04] living in Massachusetts.

[4:05] So this is wonderful.

[4:07] It gave me another reason to be here in town, and you'll learn a little bit later why for

[4:12] me, on a personal level, that's a pretty special thing.

[4:16] So thank you again for having me.

[4:18] I know that we are in a little bit of a time sensitive situation because we've got

[4:23] early voting that's still going on in this room and I think through tomorrow.

[4:28] So I know that we've got to all clear out of here by a certain time.

[4:32] But I also want to say that it's a pleasure to also serve and be able to speak and share

[4:37] with other folks who I believe are residents of Plymouth and so it's really great to be

[4:44] among you as well.

[4:45] So thank you to everybody.

[4:47] So I'm going to read a little something to you because I don't want to forget any of it,

[4:52] and it'll give you a little bit of insight about me, but then also about why we're here tonight.

[5:00] I am going to give a little bit of an abbreviated version of this talk due to time,

[5:04] but if anyone is interested in knowing more, having access to any other aspects of the presentation,

[5:11] I'm happy to share.

[5:13] So, with that, I'll get started.

[5:17] On November 9, 1620, a ship carrying passengers from England laid anchor at Cape Cod, as you

[5:25] know.

[5:26] A distinguished elder and pastor, William Brewster, disembarked the Mayflower among the

[5:32] hearty souls who survived that tough voyage.

[5:35] When his feet touched ground on the shore, so began a lineage in America that when mixed

[5:41] with the blood of African slaves led to yours truly.

[5:46] So in addition to being a mother, wife, sister, working professional, neighbor, and friend,

[5:52] I am a woman who is about as American as one can be.

[5:56] I am a woman whose heritage is as complex and tangled as our country's attempts at confronting

[6:02] our history of race, slavery, and diversity.

[6:06] By the same token, I am also the embodiment of our country's mixed messaging

[6:11] about and struggle to acknowledge the contributions of women, especially black women, to America's

[6:17] history, economy, resourcefulness, inventiveness, and indeed our soul.

[6:24] But who did you see when you saw me this evening?

[6:28] What story did you tell yourself about me before I shared a bit of my personal history?

[6:35] Was it a surprise that I'm a Mayflower descendant?

[6:40] Come on, let's be honest, it's okay.

[6:45] Surprise is myself sometimes, we can ask about it.

[6:49] And why, when you think about it, why was it a surprise?

[6:54] Does that make me more familiar to you with respect to how you might identify?

[7:01] Maybe.

[7:02] We are all so much more than what perception shortcuts and stereotypes may indicate or hint.

[7:08] And we are layered and multifaceted and complicated.

[7:12] We are never just the single story, despite the narratives, that media, innuendo, rumor,

[7:18] myth, and assumption may have influenced us to believe.

[7:22] Rapped in our layers of our identity are often fascinating stories, riveting experiences,

[7:29] heartwarming, selfless deeds, spectacular talents and skills, and phenomenal history.

[7:35] These traits provide us tremendous opportunities for connection.

[7:40] If only we can work on relieving our lives of biases that hold us and others back from an even fuller richer existence.

[7:51] Imagine what many of our lives could be like if we reach out toward discomforts associated with human connection rather than retreat.

[8:01] The 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival here in

[8:04] Plymouth provides an excellent opportunity to look inward at who we are as

[8:10] individuals and as a very diverse nation. No matter our age, are we who we want

[8:17] to be? How far have we truly come in embracing others? What can each of us do to

[8:26] expand our mindset of inclusion, and in doing so,

[8:31] liberate ourselves of the kinds of unconscious

[8:34] and conscious biases that limit us and others.

[8:39] So let's explore what we can do.

[8:41] I'm going to share a little bit here.

[8:43] So now, that's me.

[8:45] That's what I look like when my hair is not in braids.

[8:48] But I like to switch it up every once in a while.

[8:51] So I'm hoping that we're here tonight

[8:52] just to kind of have a bit of a conversation.

[8:54] I'll share some information and perspective with you and then hopefully we'll also have

[8:58] a chance to do a little interactive dialogue as well before we move on to our panel discussion.

[9:07] Why are you here this evening? And for this particular topic, is there anyone who would be

[9:12] willing to share? I'd love to hear someone share a little bit about why they came tonight.

[9:18] Anybody? Yes.

[9:43] Thank you. I really appreciate that. And I think we're all here to learn from

[9:46] each other because even though I've been doing this work for almost ten years, I'm still

[9:52] learning too. I'm still a learning, you know, evolving human beings, so I too am still

[10:00] learning, but hopefully we'll learn from each other tonight. Is there any one, maybe one

[10:04] other person who'd like to share why are you here? Yes? We can always do better. Yes, I

[10:09] agree. Again, we're always ever evolving, right? Until the time we close our eyes for the

[10:15] last time, right? We're always evolving. Thank you. Ecclusivist, inclusivist. So, this word, had anyone

[10:23] ever heard this before? No. No, never heard it? Right? Okay. Do you know why you've never heard it?

[10:33] Because I made it up. Oh my goodness gracious. Okay. So, and I made up the definition. So there you go.

[10:44] So now, why did I do that?

[10:48] So you might ask yourself, who is this lady just making up words?

[10:53] I did it because I've been at this for a while.

[10:56] I've been at this work for a while.

[10:58] And I'm very passionate about inclusion.

[11:01] But I also like to think of myself as a bit of an activist.

[11:04] And so whenever people would ask me, what do you do exactly?

[11:09] What do you do?

[11:10] Who are you as far as your passions

[11:12] When it comes to this area and I struggle to sort of come up with either an elevator

[11:17] speech or a short cut way to say exactly what I like to think I do and who I am in

[11:25] this space, right?

[11:27] And who many of us are when it comes to this kind of work.

[11:30] And so I thought, you know what, well, there's the word inclusive or inclusion, and then there's

[11:35] the word activist.

[11:36] So what if we put them together?

[11:38] What would we get?

[11:39] And inclusivist.

[11:40] So there you go.

[11:41] Okay, so actually, like I said, I've been using this word for a few years now and sort

[11:47] of trying to spread the joy around this word, but I think it really does for me personally

[11:54] encapsulate the kind of work that I try to do and try to hopefully inspire in others.

[12:02] And I think this is just sort of an interesting quote because when we think of no matter who

[12:07] who we are and how we might differ from others,

[12:10] when you think about this quote, does it really matter?

[12:14] I mean, think about it, right?

[12:17] Because when you think of soldiers on a battlefield,

[12:20] when lives depend on one another,

[12:24] does skin color matter at that point?

[12:26] Does gender matter at that point?

[12:28] Does gender identity, sexual orientation,

[12:31] country of origin, does it matter at that point?

[12:34] Or do you need someone who will have your back no matter who they are?

[12:40] Just something to think about, just something to think about.

[12:44] Okay, so where we began, so where can we talk about, you know, from Mayflower to modern day?

[12:50] You know, obviously our country has been sort of...

[12:52] We've been at this for a long time, this struggle for inclusion and, you know,

[12:58] sort of lifting the veil of bias and all of that has been going on a long time for us.

[13:03] Why did I put the year 1619?

[13:07] Jamestown and what else happened in Jamestown?

[13:11] Other than folks coming over from Europe.

[13:14] The first slaves around August of 1619,

[13:18] about 20 of slaves were documented to have come to these shores.

[13:23] And then 1620, we know what happened then, right?

[13:28] That sort of kicked off this place that we call the United States.

[13:32] And so we've been, we've kind of been at this for a long time in how we look at each

[13:36] other, how we perceive each other, how we judge one another, and how we treat one another.

[13:41] So I just wanted to make sure I'm bringing that to our attention.

[13:45] And then this is something, I'm going to scoot through this really quickly because of time.

[13:49] I think a lot of us are very familiar with the, a lot of the bullet points I'm going to

[13:52] share, but just wanted to kind of put them out there as additional historical context for

[13:59] why we are here and why so many of us feel that we can do better and that we must do better,

[14:04] right?

[14:05] So this is just a quick primer when we think about kind of the culture that we're in and

[14:11] how it's centered around, it's centric in what ways, okay, this is not a judgment.

[14:16] This is just kind of our reality, right?

[14:22] And I'm just going to scroll, put kind of have all of these come on out,

[14:30] hope most likely

[14:31] you'll recognize all of them. I imagine, right? Isums and Obias, what I call, they're the myth of a

[14:40] post-rate. Remember when we were in a post-racial America? Do we remember that? I didn't believe it then,

[14:46] but I, you know, but I remember when we wanted, we hoped, right? Okay. And then, okay? And then lack of

[14:56] necessary sustained engagement proximity across difference.

[15:00] Okay. So, if there's, if there's nothing, no comments from this particular slide, I'm going to move on. These two little girls, so I'll just tell you a little bit about them before we move on. They're two little girls. I believe they live. I want to say Tennessee, it's either Tennessee or Texas. It's a T state. And they're kindergarteners. This film, this video came out last year on, I believe it was NBC. And they captured these little girls to do their story.

[15:30] because they're too little kindergarten.

[15:31] You see how they're dressed in the same dresses?

[15:33] Because you know what?

[15:34] They think they're twins.

[15:37] They think they are twins.

[15:39] And no one can seem to convince them otherwise.

[15:42] And so it's kind of like, wouldn't you

[15:46] like to be able to have a life like that, right?

[15:48] Before the influences of life came in,

[15:52] when children can look at each other

[15:54] and just see the purity within their hearts,

[15:57] And the fact that they've got great things in common to talk about and that they like having fun together, right?

[16:03] And so it was very interesting because the moms have now also become friends because of the daughters.

[16:10] And they have talked about, you know, isn't it amazing and beautiful that our daughters are so close and that to the point that they think that they're twins.

[16:20] But what will happen to that friendship later in life?

[16:23] Will they remain that way?

[16:25] What influences will come in and potentially disturb this beautiful friendship, right?

[16:32] And then why would that happen?

[16:34] So just something again for us to think about as we move forward.

[16:39] So what prevents or enables our bonds, right?

[16:42] So you see folks looking away from each other and then you see the two guys who are just

[16:45] like hanging out, right?

[16:48] Because what does prevent bonds across difference no matter what the differences are, right?

[16:53] and then what enables them.

[16:55] So I just want to, I popped up kind of a generic definition

[17:00] of unconscious bias.

[17:02] It can be worded in all kinds of ways,

[17:03] but this is just the way that I chose.

[17:07] Essentially, unconscious bias creates a persistent kind

[17:10] of us versus them mindset that can obstruct true inclusion

[17:14] in our communities, in our schools,

[17:15] in our power structures, and opportunities, and so forth.

[17:19] But it's based in human physiology, right?

[17:23] right? It's based in the brain. So anything that's unfamiliar to us, or if there've been,

[17:29] you know, a lot of influences that kind of influx of data and influx of stimulus in

[17:35] our brains telling us something in particular about a group of people, it could be about

[17:40] a place. It could be, so it's not always about people. It could be about a place and other

[17:44] things. But it's triggered automatically, physiologically, from many, many, many hundreds

[17:51] years ago, right? When people were living in caves and so forth and, you know, you really

[17:56] had to be very mindful about dangers out there. And so unconscious bias is something that

[18:03] sort of lives in our brains, all of our brains. You know, none of us is kind of innocent

[18:07] of this, right, including me. It lives in our brains. And it sort of sets off kind of a

[18:12] fight or flight reaction sometimes to people and places and things for better or worse

[18:19] that can drive our behavior towards others in this instance.

[18:22] We're talking about our behavior towards other human beings.

[18:27] Types of unconscious bias.

[18:28] This is just, again, this is just sort of a primer, two slides that are just sort of primers.

[18:33] Just in case you have not studied this or you've not been as familiar in the past or you haven't

[18:38] had as many conversations as I've had about unconscious bias.

[18:42] So there are different kinds of unconscious bias, right?

[18:45] Affinity bias.

[18:46] the tendency to warm up to people who are like yourself, right? I'm often guilty

[18:53] of walking into a room and seeing a woman who looks like she's about my age

[18:58] and like gravitating to her. Why would I do that? Why would I do that? Why would I

[19:04] not sit next to this gentleman automatically? Not that you're not a lovely person. I

[19:09] know you are, right? And I think we all know that there are lots of lovely people

[19:14] but who do we tend to kind of gravitate towards, right?

[19:18] And then the halo effect, the tendency to think that everything

[19:20] about a person is good simply because you like them, right?

[19:25] We can like somebody and still have there be things about them

[19:28] that might be a little unsavory, right?

[19:31] Okay, so perception bias, the tendency to believe one thing

[19:34] about a group of people based on stereotypes and assumption,

[19:39] making it impossible to be objective about individuals, okay?

[19:44] Confirmation by, as you probably some of you may have heard of this term, the tendency

[19:47] to seek to confirm pre-existing ideas and assumptions about a group of people.

[19:53] So if I heard something about someone, boy, ladies who wear red, I tell you those ladies

[19:59] who wear red, they're a certain kind of person, right?

[20:03] And so any additional stimulus or news that I get about women who wear red, I'm going

[20:08] to go, that's right, I knew that.

[20:10] That goes, again, those women who wear red, right?

[20:14] So that's just an example of that.

[20:16] And then group think is another form of unconscious bias.

[20:19] You may not have even realized that before if you've heard the term.

[20:21] The tendency to try too hard to fit into an existing culture, mimicking others and holding

[20:27] back thoughts or opinions, resulting in the loss of identity and loss creativity and innovation

[20:33] even.

[20:34] Right?

[20:34] Okay.

[20:35] So that's just a little primer.

[20:36] little primer on unconscious bias if you if you have not studied. So what's the

[20:41] problem that we all need to overcome to best ensure that we're active citizens

[20:46] and fostering more equitable inclusive communities, workplaces, and schools?

[20:50] What's the problem that we all a lot of us seem to have right? What's keeping us

[20:55] back when it comes to unconscious bias and from being more inclusive?

[21:01] whoops, hop and do far. There we go. Guess what? Fear, hello, right? You may fear that

[21:10] you're not necessary, that you're not capable, that you're not ready, that you're not open

[21:16] enough, right? And I like to challenge us to think differently. We each need to see ourselves

[21:23] as necessary to and capable of making inclusive change,

[21:28] in degrees and ways where we can see the impact

[21:31] and be further inspired by it.

[21:34] And I like to think that we're already right now.

[21:38] Everybody's heard the term, no better time than the present.

[21:42] Why not, right?

[21:43] And we can be open now to reaching a handout to others to take next steps.

[21:49] Okay.

[21:50] So when it comes to adults, I'm going to see if I can, there we go, scroll that back a little bit.

[21:54] Most of us in the room are adults.

[21:56] I think we've got a few kids in the room, teens, right, a few.

[21:59] You guys tend to be in a much better place than the rest of us here, right?

[22:05] But when it comes to adults, we too though, it's not just all about young people.

[22:10] We have advantages in forging inclusion, right?

[22:14] Life experience, we've learned some lessons that we can apply, right?

[22:18] wisdom we like to think yeah hopefully perspective life has given us a lot

[22:26] of perspective right reflection the advantage of hindsight and wanting to

[22:35] teach a new generation something different desire to have ongoing purpose

[22:42] ability to impact younger generations and our sphere of influence whoever that

[22:49] might be. I like to think that these make up our superpowers, right? I like to think

[22:55] I walk around with an invisible cape every day, even though my children may not think so.

[23:01] Right? I have three teenagers, so you can imagine. But I like to think that this ability

[23:10] hopefully to be as inclusive of a person as possible, or to live life as an inclusivist

[23:16] and the positive impact that that can have on others,

[23:19] I like to think it's like a little bit of a superpower, right?

[23:23] I may not be able to leap tall buildings with a single bound,

[23:26] but I like to think hopefully through certain deeds and words

[23:30] that you can change hearts, hopefully, right?

[23:34] So there's something good in that.

[23:37] Whoops, here we go.

[23:39] This is a very sensitive clicker.

[23:42] So number one, I'm going to brace the meaning and value

[23:44] diversity and inclusiveness. Oops. There we go again. It's so sensitive. I barely touch it.

[23:51] Through what lens of identity do you see the world? So I'm going to share a little bit more about

[23:55] myself and I know that Kathy's going to keep me on time, right Kathy? I feel brewed. Look,

[24:03] continue to look at my watch. So through what lens of identity do we all see the world? I mean,

[24:12] vulnerability about myself, too, to, you know, because if I expect others to do it, then

[24:16] I like to, hopefully they are confident that I'm going to do it, too.

[24:20] So for example, we already know I'm a black woman of kind of some degree of mixed heritage,

[24:25] right?

[24:26] We know this.

[24:27] I'm a mom.

[24:29] I'm a sister.

[24:30] I'm a daughter.

[24:32] I'm a neighbor.

[24:33] I'm a working, happen to be a full-time working professional.

[24:36] But then there's some other things that you may not know just by looking at me, right?

[24:42] I am, my second language is Japanese and I taught as a university professor for six years.

[24:49] I have traveled to 26 countries around the world.

[24:55] I am the niece of, I mean, this is, you know, rather poignant and I'll try to get through

[25:02] without tearing up.

[25:03] But I'm also the niece of a gentleman who was shot to death by a skinhead because he was black,

[25:12] you know, my mother's brother, who was the basketball coach, head basketball coach at Northwestern

[25:21] University. So there are a lot of things that we don't know about each other, just on site,

[25:28] right? Things that would either attract you to someone and let you and really reel you in,

[25:33] and where you want to know more?

[25:34] Or am I de-directed for all we know, right?

[25:38] But it's important that we think about the fact

[25:40] that we're all complex human beings, all of us.

[25:44] Oh, one more.

[25:45] I was also a government whistleblower.

[25:48] So, who got some people fired, which was great,

[25:51] though it was stressful.

[25:53] So, again, you don't realize who people are just on site.

[25:58] So, we have to be very, very mindful and careful.

[26:00] So, would anybody else like to share

[26:02] Maybe one or two people, anything about yourself that you're comfortable with sharing, that perhaps on site someone might not know.

[26:11] Oh, and oh, I know we've got this. Yeah, maybe if you're close to the mic and you want to come up.

[26:16] Anything that you want to share, we can talk about it later too.

[26:21] If you don't feel comfortable, think about it. Think about who you are. Think about who you are.

[26:28] Think about things about yourself that other people wouldn't know unless they engage you

[26:34] in conversation, unless they approach you, unless they're open enough to connect with

[26:40] you, right?

[26:42] We surprise each other all the time, okay, which leads me to a little chat about identity and

[26:47] intersectionality, who, just by a show of hands, who knows the word intersectionality?

[26:52] Okay, I see a few people, few hands went up.

[26:54] So intersectionality essentially just in shorthand means that we all have multiple identities, right?

[27:01] I'm not only a mother, but I'm also a working professional. I'm not only a working professional in a mom,

[27:06] but I'm, you know, I'm also happened to be a black woman. We all have these identifiers.

[27:12] I also have a vision disability, which you, again, can't see on site. And so I've got a lot of things, right?

[27:20] But so there are all these things that make up who I am.

[27:23] Those are multiple identities, multiple aspects, facets of who I am.

[27:28] And so intersectionality essentially means, you know, it's a word that essentially tells

[27:36] us that we're all made up of these different identities, all these different identities,

[27:40] that impact how we see the world, the lens through which we see the world.

[27:44] And it was coined by a woman named Kimberly Crenshaw, who's an attorney many, many years

[27:49] ago. So how do you self-identify? And this is just something for us to think about. Really think

[27:54] about who you are. Sociodynamically, the pursuits and hobbies that you love, geography, you know,

[28:02] where are you from? Where were you born? Where do you live now? What kind of personality do you have?

[28:08] Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Those are aspects of our identity, right? What kind of

[28:14] idiosyncrasies do you have? Are you the person who always has to hold the remote control

[28:18] control the TV in the house. What are your idiosyncrasies, right? Do you

[28:24] chew on toothpicks when you're at home? Those are idiosyncrasies, yeah? What is

[28:28] your health history? Think about that. Ideology, profession, if you have one. All of

[28:36] these things make up who we are, okay? The obvious ones that we talk about all the

[28:41] time as well as other things. Think just something to think about. This was a video

[28:46] that again I'm not going to show because I think it'll I don't know if it'll

[28:50] patch into the broadcast. But I will explain it to you a little bit and then

[28:56] also if anybody wants to watch it later you can all you can Google actually.

[29:00] Usoamaka aduba. Usoamaka aduba. She is an actress if anybody's watched orange is

[29:06] the new black and she's been on some other films and shows as well. But guess what?

[29:12] she's from this area. She's from this area. Sure is. She was from Medfield or Medford.

[29:20] Medfield. Medfield, right? Her family was the only Nigerian American family in Medfield

[29:25] as you can probably imagine. Probably in the whole area there by several towns I would

[29:32] imagine. And so when she grew up there, she, when she would introduce, her teachers had

[29:37] a hard time saying her name, friends had a hard time saying her first name, and they called

[29:41] they're all kinds of things.

[29:43] Uzamaka, and so she talks about,

[29:45] she gives some examples of things that people would say,

[29:48] and she was essentially getting worn down by this whole thing.

[29:52] People not being able to say her name correctly,

[29:54] plus she thought it was a distraction

[29:56] from friends getting to know her,

[29:58] teachers getting to know her.

[30:00] Um, and she just kind of wanted to blend in like a like every kid, right? Like a lot of kids. We want to we want to socially connect with others. And so she went to her mother one day when she got home and she said, Mommy, I want to change my name to Zoe. And her mother, you know, with a, had a strong Nigerian accent. And she says, yeah, night. Zoe, you know, she said, oh, no. And she said, she said, why? Why? And so, Uzomacca says, yes, because nobody can say my name. People struggle with my name.

[30:29] I struggle with who I am in this community.

[30:33] I don't feel like I fit in.

[30:36] But the biggest issue was just her name.

[30:39] And so her mother said, you know what?

[30:41] If people can say Chakowsky.

[30:44] If they can say Dostoevsky.

[30:47] If they can say all of these other names out here.

[30:50] They can say it was Armakaduba.

[30:53] And so she said, well, guess that's shut that down.

[30:55] I never asked that question again.

[30:57] But the point of the story was, she went from being a child who felt very self-conscious

[31:05] about who she was in, within her community, to growing into a woman who is extremely

[31:11] proud of who she is and her heritage and her name, she said, I would never change it

[31:17] for a million years.

[31:18] She said, it was the greatest gift that I've ever gotten from anyone and I got it on my

[31:23] birthday.

[31:24] literal birthday. And so again, it kind of goes back to thinking about who we are as individuals,

[31:31] how we differ in that instance, her name, but then she was also the same as a lot of other kids

[31:39] who just want to be part of the peer group, part of everybody else, and sometimes don't want to stick

[31:45] out when they're children, whether they can help it or not. So it talks about differences,

[31:52] but she talks about also the ways that she felt as a child as many children feel.

[31:58] I'm not gonna stay on this slide because I think a lot of us probably understand the difference between diversity and inclusion, but if you do not, please feel free to take a look, right?

[32:08] Diversity just means that people open the door and they let you come in and they count you as you're coming in, right?

[32:13] But then inclusion is more about not only inviting someone in or open in the door so that they can walk in,

[32:20] But that's when you feel embraced, you get a hug, you get a welcome to seat at the table,

[32:27] and not only that, an opportunity to contribute a dish to the meal.

[32:32] That's true inclusion as opposed to what diversity means, right?

[32:37] So just in case we didn't know that, just sharing.

[32:40] But how do I confidently become an inclusivist?

[32:43] What do I do?

[32:44] How do I do next?

[32:46] Right?

[32:47] This is a video.

[32:48] There are three videos.

[32:49] We're just skipping all three of them for time.

[32:50] But again, this is about examining your unconscious biases and does share a few little things, but I've got more stuff for it yet, don't worry.

[32:59] Eight point superstar, right? So you want to be a superstar when it comes to being an inclusivist. These are some of the things you can do.

[33:05] All right? And you'll see that I've kind of captured them by just like single words that then we can expand upon.

[33:12] But you've first got to believe inclusion is mutually beneficial.

[33:16] You've got to believe that being inclusive of others helps you, it benefits you just as much as it does anyone else.

[33:23] It really does.

[33:25] Live an inclusive life beyond your comfort zone.

[33:29] We all love our comfort zones, right?

[33:32] We love kind of getting cozy with a blanket in front of the TV, that kind of thing, that's very cozy.

[33:40] It's very comfortable, right?

[33:43] But life happens outside of our comfort zones in amazing ways.

[33:48] Clend your life of bias associations or at least attempt to do so to the degree possible.

[33:53] Innovate your verbals and non-verbals.

[33:56] I don't know if anybody knows what I mean by that, right?

[33:58] But it can mean body language.

[33:59] What kind of body language do you use with others?

[34:01] What kind of facial expressions do you use?

[34:04] Okay, think about that.

[34:05] And think about how your body language and facial expressions impact others,

[34:09] even when you're not aware. And what is it? What messaging are you giving to

[34:13] people? Just through those things. Okay? Strengthen your intercultural brain. I

[34:20] wonder what folks are thinking about it. What does that mean? We're going to talk

[34:23] about that in just a moment. Flex your upstander muscles. Who have you stood up for

[34:28] lately? Who have you spoken out for lately? Right? Who may not have the voice

[34:33] that you have? Who may not otherwise be heard if you don't speak up for them?

[34:39] Model inclusive thinking in your sphere of influence.

[34:43] Who's in your network? Friends, family, neighbors, right?

[34:48] School folks if you're part of a school or whatever your workplace is.

[34:52] Okay, your community, sports teams, things like that, right?

[34:57] Model inclusive thinking in your sphere of influence and then pass it all on for goodness sake, right?

[35:04] hopefully. So there's your comfort zone, right? And there's where the magic happens. I like

[35:10] to think of it as almost kind of like being on a tree branch. And the further you get out on that

[35:15] tree branch, it starts to feel a little dangerous. It starts to feel uncomfortable. But interestingly

[35:21] enough, it's only when we reach out to the tippy-tippy end of that tree branch that all kinds of magical

[35:27] stuff happens in our lives, right? We get to know all kinds of people who we might not have otherwise

[35:32] know, have all kinds of amazing experiences that we might not have otherwise had.

[35:37] So I like to think that magic actually happens, and that learning and the richness of life,

[35:43] a lot of it happens outside of our comfort zones.

[35:47] And then science says, did you all know that science says diversity makes you smarter?

[35:53] Did you have any idea? Right? Okay, well let me tell you.

[35:56] So, The New York Times did an article a few years ago, but I think I want to say this

[36:01] is 2017, I believe, 2016, 2017, did an big article where they explored a bunch of research

[36:09] studies that have been done all over the country about diversity and why it's a good thing

[36:14] for everybody because it actually makes you smarter.

[36:19] Because when we're getting outside of our comfort zone and we're getting to know people who

[36:25] we otherwise wouldn't know, or we're stretching ourselves in ways that we wouldn't otherwise do,

[36:31] it impacts the synapses in our brain.

[36:34] There's actual science behind this, right?

[36:37] And so when we think about why is diversity good, you know, you know, maybe it might be good

[36:42] for people who might have been otherwise marginalized in an environment, but it's good for even

[36:47] those who haven't been.

[36:49] It is good for everyone.

[36:50] And that's, you know, again, feel free to Google that in the New York Times.

[36:56] I believe the title of the article was something like diversity makes you smarter.

[37:00] So do feel free in your flexible time to take a look at that and absorb it.

[37:05] And then check out the studies.

[37:07] You can also Google the research as well, if you'd like, okay.

[37:11] How socially inclusive is your life?

[37:13] So let's really think about your own life, okay, and how reflective it is of some of the

[37:20] things here. What does your reading list look like? Do you read books that are on topics

[37:26] about people who are unlike yourself or by authors who aren't unlike yourself who may

[37:32] have different perspectives on something? What about arts outings? I'm sure there's lots of

[37:37] people like to go to the theater, you like to go to movies and so forth, right? What kinds of

[37:43] shows do you go see? What kinds of movies do you go see? Do you go see movies that have nothing

[37:49] to do with your own life? Just a question. Think about blogs. If you're somebody who's

[37:56] active online and you've got all these different blogs that you like to follow, do you follow

[38:01] any blogs by people who would be very unlike yourself? Or on topics that are very different

[38:09] and outside the boundaries of your own life? Just a thought. Who's in your circle of friends?

[38:14] who's in your inner circle, right?

[38:18] Are there other people from other places who look in different ways that, you know,

[38:23] look differently than you do, who are part of your inner circle that those friends?

[38:28] Even if it's not just the inner circle, there's even the outer circle of friends, right?

[38:33] Our associates, our folks who we're acquainted with and who we're fond of, who may not be our

[38:38] closest friends, right?

[38:39] But what does that circle look like?

[38:41] How do you champion difference in your life?

[38:45] Really think about that.

[38:46] How do you champion difference?

[38:48] How intercultural is your community?

[38:50] Of course, we could be talking about Plymouth,

[38:52] we could be talking about other aspects of community here,

[38:57] place of worship, hobby clubs and so forth.

[39:01] Are you civically active both in and outside of your community?

[39:05] How often do you listen to others across difference?

[39:09] Listen to others across different, so you see the word listen is italics for a reason.

[39:14] Can you think of a time in the last six months that you spoke up for someone different from

[39:20] you?

[39:21] Just something to think about.

[39:24] How often do you and your family talk about people or cultures who are different in some

[39:29] way?

[39:31] have exploratory conversation about people living in Ghana, or anywhere else, or people

[39:40] who may have a different faith, a different gender identity, a different sexual orientation

[39:48] and so forth, different abilities,

[39:53] just a way for us to examine our lives.

[39:55] The best kind of friends with benefits, right?

[39:59] Do your social bonds enrich your life in ways

[40:01] that require stretching and occasional discomfort.

[40:05] So guess what?

[40:06] These ladies in this picture, these are friends of mine, right?

[40:09] My friendship circle is very eclectic.

[40:12] I have women friends from every background.

[40:15] I think that you could imagine.

[40:16] And the two closest friends are on the far left.

[40:20] Regina and Jennifer.

[40:21] Regina is the redhead there on the far left.

[40:24] and Jennifer's sitting to her right with the glasses on.

[40:28] Very good friends.

[40:29] I've known them for over 30 years.

[40:32] But these are the women who make up my inner circle.

[40:36] I have women of all backgrounds and places,

[40:39] countries of origin and so forth.

[40:42] And honestly, I can tell you I think it's made my life so much better.

[40:46] Really has.

[40:48] Practical steps for inclusivist.

[40:49] So this is just, again, I'm going to run through this really quickly.

[40:51] For anybody, especially if you have a visual impairment, I like to be able to share very

[40:56] quickly, just in case, because I'm sensitive to that, right?

[41:00] Commit to long-term listening, acknowledge the marked history of inequity that must

[41:05] be overcome.

[41:07] No, we can never live in someone else's shoes, but we can exercise empathy.

[41:11] Elevate the voice of others whose voices have been muted or unheard.

[41:15] acknowledge we can work toward the same ends no matter who we are, shared goals

[41:20] or big motivators, except that as voters, right, laws and policies may affect us

[41:26] very differently depending on who we are. Understand that we need each other and

[41:31] share responsibility for the future regardless of the past. Cultivate authentic

[41:38] friendships across difference. You'll learn about others and yourself in amazing

[41:43] ways in the process, know that we are all worthy of having agency and power in our society.

[41:51] And then lastly is a really easy one, which is just be yourself always.

[41:55] I think some people think they have to contort themselves into a different person in order

[42:00] to make friends or in order to engage with others, don't have to do that.

[42:05] People recognize authenticity, but they also recognize it when it's not there.

[42:10] So just be yourself.

[42:14] And a quote that I love from Dr. King.

[42:17] The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands

[42:19] in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands

[42:23] at times of challenge and controversy.

[42:26] So I go back to our friend here who's sitting in the front row

[42:29] who mentioned her concerns about the way things are.

[42:33] You know, there's a lot of division in our country

[42:35] and I think, you know, we are living in times of challenge

[42:39] and controversy, and I think this is when we all have to really think about how we rise

[42:43] to the occasion. How do we rise as human beings and connect with others, right, in ways

[42:50] that are going to be beneficial?

[42:53] Model inclusive thinking in your sphere

[42:55] of influence. So I did mention this topic before, but just really wanted to re-emphasize

[43:01] that so much of fostering inclusion is by being an example to others. Your friends, your

[43:08] your family members, your children, grand children, and so forth,

[43:14] can we talk?

[43:15] And letting children talk, letting children talk.

[43:19] If you have children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren even, neighbors and friends, young people

[43:25] when they want to talk about these things and believe me, they are a lot more comfortable

[43:29] than we are with talking about issues around their friends, whether you believe, whether you

[43:33] understand that or not, they are a lot, I work with young people every day.

[43:36] Okay, they're a lot more comfortable than we are, let them talk to you, answer their

[43:41] questions, engage them in dialogue, right?

[43:44] Because you're going to learn, but they're going to learn from you as well, okay?

[43:49] And then our last, my last slide here, because I know we're going to get short on time, is

[43:55] modeling, live a more culturally inclusive life.

[43:58] And I just, you know, just to make it easy, because people ask me these questions, well, how

[44:01] do I do it?

[44:02] What do I do?

[44:03] six steps, six simple things right here that can actually just get you started

[44:07] depending on where you are in your life right now, things that you can do.

[44:12] All right? Today, this week, this month, next six months, challenge yourself this year,

[44:20] and then of course, as far as I'm concerned, every day we need to smile and make eye

[44:25] contact and you know, greet people we come in contact with. My family is from

[44:29] the South. I don't know if you can hear it in my voice, but even though I might be related

[44:34] to a Mayflower pilgrim, but my family is from the South. And, you know, if you've been,

[44:40] if you've spent any time in the South, one thing you've probably noticed is that people

[44:43] greet each other, they speak to each other, they engage each other, and they actually do

[44:48] it across different, interestingly enough. A lot of people think, you know, when you think

[44:52] the South, they think, you know, racial dynamics and things like that and racial divisions, but

[44:57] but on the surface, though, people do talk to each other.

[45:00] They do. They speak. They do speak to each other. And so I'm a big believer in that being the beginning of any human connection. It's just acknowledging that the other person is even there. That's huge, huge. So if you have any questions for me after panel discussion, I'm happy to answer them. Home and use, your inclusive is super power. It is within you. It's within me. It's within all of us, right?

[45:29] I love that picture. They've got their capes on. We've all got our invisible capes on.

[45:36] We have the ability to make a difference because if we get it right, guess what?

[45:41] This kind of friendship gets to live forever. Okay? So that's what we really need to be after.

[45:47] But thank you very much.

[45:59] I could listen, whoa, I could listen to this forever and I'm sure you could too.

[46:04] But we have five other fabulous speakers.

[46:09] I'm going to give you a little synopsis of each of these people that are going to be

[46:15] speaking.

[46:16] I think I better put my glasses on.

[46:20] But Melissa Ferretti is the elected chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe in Plymouth.

[46:31] Her work with Native communities includes protection of sacred sites and burial grounds,

[46:38] tribal archival research and digitization and advocacy for tribal rights.

[46:44] In her professional career, Melissa is a licensed real estate sales associate and notary public

[46:51] for Jack Conway Realty.

[46:53] Melissa was educated at Cape Cod Community College and is a consultant for the Mass Substance

[47:01] Abuse and Mental Health, or I should say a consultant with the Mass Substance Abuse

[47:08] and the Mental Health Administration, and especially on tribal issues and with a cultural anthropologist

[47:18] at UMass Boston. I'm going to tell you about all of them at once and then Melissa's going

[47:26] to be our first speaker. We've heard a Gretchen story and now we're going to hear the story

[47:32] of these five people. Jo Lima came to the U.S. from the Azores with his parents at age five

[47:39] and was educated in Falma. After graduation from Syracuse University with degree in architecture,

[47:46] lecture. He met his husband. This led to his involvement in P-FLAG and an organization

[47:57] that provides advocacy and support for the LGBTQ community, family and friends and supporters.

[48:06] Joe is now the president of P-FLAG Cape Cod and through his advocacy he hopes to help

[48:14] of others who need support and encouragement.

[48:17] Joe lives with his husband and works in architecture on the cave.

[48:24] Next is Nicole Musalom.

[48:27] If you were here last year for Meet Your Muslim Neighbor,

[48:31] Nicole was here too when she was terrific.

[48:34] So she's come back and is the founding director

[48:38] of the Islamic Cultural Center of Medford.

[48:42] And is currently a candidate for state representative of the 35th Middlesex District.

[48:52] While raising her three children who are here tonight, she served as the executive director

[49:01] of the Islamic Society of Boston and the director of the Maldon Islamic Center.

[49:07] She currently serves as the chair of the Maldon Disability Commission.

[49:13] She's also on an advisory board for care Massachusetts and is an advisory board member of voter

[49:23] choice, the rank choice group.

[49:28] I mention that because the league is into rank choice.

[49:33] Nicole avails herself of every opportunity to advocate for more marginalized members

[49:39] of society, whether through activism, interfaith work, or volunteering.

[49:48] Now Matthew Potter is the president of Cast, a self-advocacy group on Cape Cod, and as

[49:56] such he runs meetings in Model Self Advocacy.

[50:00] In 2019, Matthew received a statewide award

[50:04] from Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong.

[50:10] Matthew was educated at the Riverview School

[50:13] and Cape Cod Community College.

[50:15] He and his wife live in Centerville

[50:18] and Matthew works at Stop and Chat.

[50:21] Jackie Winnerker, many of you probably know,

[50:25] has lived in Plymouth, most of her life. She attended the Plymouth Public Schools, has a bachelor's

[50:32] degree from Brandeis and a master's degree from Boston University and Leslie University. She was

[50:40] the K-12 English and Reading Coordinator of the Plymouth Public Schools for 20 years. She became a

[50:50] member of Plymouth No Place for Hate Community in 2016 and is currently

[50:55] Vice Chair of that committee and on the executive board of the Congregation

[51:01] Beth Jacob. She and her husband Steve have four children and four grandchildren.

[51:08] Her current passion is sharing social justice children's books with parents,

[51:14] grandparents and children. Her reading list is available on the side table or I

[51:22] should say the back table. So is everybody excited to hear from these five

[51:28] people? I hope so.

[51:34] Okay we'll start with Melissa.

[51:39] Hi everybody I don't know if I have to get this

[51:42] Right up next to me, or you can hear me pretty good?

[51:45] You have to speak right into it, right?

[51:48] So this is new for me.

[51:50] This is my first time sitting on a forum such as this.

[51:52] So I'd like to thank you all for being here.

[51:54] I'm really excited and honored to be a part of this.

[51:59] I think I'm just going to sort of go by what our speaker had talked about.

[52:05] And I guess I'll just sort of tell you a little bit about myself.

[52:07] Excuse me Melissa, you might not be on does it have a little green light my green light is on can you there?

[52:15] We got better. I'm really close. I got a scoochup. I get a pole in front of me.

[52:20] Yeah, you know race

[52:22] so I grew up in Cedarville and I was raised by my father's aunt Verna who was in

[52:29] Elder of the Haring Pond Wampanoag tribe. She was born in 1905 in a great time, you know, oppression and

[52:37] and she grew up in, you know, quite a bit of poverty.

[52:40] She was raised and born over on the Herring Pond,

[52:45] what is now we call the valley lot,

[52:49] and did a lot of women's work.

[52:55] She was one of the first women to ever work

[52:59] at the Quincy Shipyard alongside many of the women.

[53:02] So, in the men, and she really taught me a lot about these issues that we speak of today.

[53:10] Looking at Verna, you would see her.

[53:13] She was about four feet tall, four and a half feet tall, maybe.

[53:16] Little fit coke bottle glasses, and she had very dark skin.

[53:19] And on first impressions, you would think she was a woman of color, African-American.

[53:25] But Verna was quick to tell you that she was an Indian, and she was of the herring pond tribe.

[53:31] So, my sister, Brenda and I were raised by her for 20 years.

[53:35] I lived in Cedarville and I think, you know, I don't think I realize growing up the

[53:42] magnitude and the importance of being raised by an elder and sort of living this life.

[53:52] My sister was also dark skinned and I was actually the light skinned person in the room, you

[53:57] know.

[53:57] So it was a little confusing being a young person, I think, in that environment.

[54:02] And I did suffer a lot of racism and a lot of questions and possibly being called names

[54:07] that you wouldn't want to speak out loud.

[54:10] So being here today, I think this is fantastic because I can talk about that in front of

[54:15] a group and we talk about inclusion and unconscious bias.

[54:20] So initially looking at me, most people wouldn't assume that I was a Native American or from

[54:26] I'm a Wampano tribe and I've even been accused of being a Wampano disguise, you know, used

[54:31] to be the, what I've been, I've been referred to before.

[54:36] So I went on many years and I did a little bit of advocacy work for the tribe and I, you

[54:45] know, I wish, I think like I had spoke to someone earlier, I said my only regret is that I didn't

[54:49] jump on this ship and really do this earlier in life when I was in my 20s because I think

[54:54] I think I could have made a huge amount of difference, especially for my community.

[54:59] So the Haring Pond tribe, sadly enough, I was raised in Plymouth and I grew up, went

[55:03] to the Plymouth Carve School System.

[55:06] And I really wasn't taught about the Haring Pond tribe or the Wampanoag people as a whole.

[55:13] There was no Indian education in the classroom.

[55:17] And I think now I find that very sad.

[55:19] We talk about inclusion and I think you talk about inclusion and indigenous people and you can't really discuss that without thinking about justice and self-determination.

[55:31] The history is there and we don't look back and we don't want to relive it, but it's one of those things I think a lot of people are not educated on the issues that indigenous people face.

[55:45] so I think if I was to talk about those were my experiences with unconscious bias and the way

[55:56] people would see myself or my sister and I assume I was adopted because you know we were different

[56:02] different colors and things so I guess if you were we were talking about how do you how do you change

[56:12] means that my suggestion would be to do the work and do the research and read about

[56:18] Indigenous people.

[56:20] It's a very unique situation and as I was telling my friend beside me, I've never done

[56:25] this type of a forum but I guess it's just really important to remember that Indigenous

[56:31] people and Native American people, it is a very different side and you really have to learn

[56:39] about it to really understand. There's a lot of common myths and misconceptions that native

[56:45] people are angry. I've heard that a lot and that we're primitive and some of these things.

[56:51] And I always say, you know, I go to, I shop at market basket and I don't go shoot my animals

[56:57] for dinner. My signs, they are absolutely hunters and they fish and we do, we do take advantage

[57:07] of those things that we find so sacred are burial grounds and our lands. I think being a real

[57:15] estate agent, okay, I'm a realtor, but I'm also native. So we do have some land that we just

[57:24] recently acquired. I think many of you may have read. And we're just really excited to educate the

[57:30] town, educate everyone on who we are, and what we're about.

[57:37] So I think, I mean, I guess, if that helps, I don't want to take up too much time, because

[57:41] I know we have a time limit, so that would be what I would say.

[57:53] Like Melissa, this is actually my first time doing the form like this, so please be kind.

[57:58] When, as Kathy mentioned, when she did the introductions, I came to this country from the

[58:03] Azores when I was five, little over five years old,

[58:05] and our family settled in Falmouth,

[58:07] like many Portuguese immigrants did.

[58:09] So I grew up on Cape Cod and went through the school system.

[58:13] And even at a very young age,

[58:16] I was starting to recognize that I was a little bit different

[58:19] than some of the other boys

[58:21] and the things that I was hearing them talk

[58:23] about weren't quite resonating with me.

[58:25] But you don't know what to make of it

[58:27] because you're just too young.

[58:29] Once I started hitting middle school and junior high school

[58:32] and adolescence and puberty start coming in.

[58:34] You start to realize that the feelings that I was feeling

[58:38] was not what I'm hearing my male friends talk about

[58:42] in school, so I quickly learned to not share them

[58:46] because if you did, people would look at you strange

[58:49] or even worse, they might be physically opposed to it

[58:54] and object to it.

[58:56] So pretty much as many gay kids do growing up,

[58:59] you keep it to yourself.

[59:00] you just kind of figure out how to work around it,

[59:03] went to college, and that's when I kind of had my,

[59:06] as many people do, that kind of the aha moment,

[59:09] where I just realized I could not continue

[59:12] living these two lives, where, you know,

[59:16] a side of me had to, you know, put on this,

[59:19] not performance, but just, I couldn't let people in

[59:21] and know who I really, really was.

[59:23] So I eventually did come out at college,

[59:25] but when I'd come home during breaks,

[59:27] My family, my older brother in particular, was infamous for ribbing me because he would

[59:33] want me to share my, you know, my conquests back at college, you know, the different girls

[59:39] that I'm dating or, you know, or more.

[59:42] And so it was a very, very awkward conversation for me and I would always try to divert the

[59:46] subject to, oh, you know, the architecture program's gruesome, you know, I don't have time for

[59:50] that, I don't have time.

[59:51] I'm in the studio all night long.

[59:52] So it was great having a, you know, a program that was truly grueling and I didn't, and

[59:57] You didn't have to lie too much.

[1:00:00] I eventually did come out after college, I met the man who is now my husband, John, and that was the turning point for me, because although I had not come out to my family, at this point, I'm now having to actually move forward with my life with someone whom I'm falling in love with, who just happens to be a man. How do you segregate that part of your life? How do you isolate that from your family and from your friends whom you haven't shared this with?

[1:00:29] So the point came that I eventually discovered this organization called Peaflag, which I'm now the president of the Cape Cut chapter.

[1:00:37] And the organization, it was originally called parents and friends of lesbians and gays.

[1:00:43] They no longer use that expression, they just say we provide support, education, and advocacy to parents, families,

[1:00:51] friends, allies, and members of the LGBTQ community, it's a mouthful.

[1:00:54] But I went to those early meetings in the early 90s as a way to kind of get a sense of what I might expect when I come out to my own parents.

[1:01:05] And I wasn't expecting good results, having come from a very strict, not strict, but a very strong Catholic background, Portuguese immigrants.

[1:01:13] So I didn't expect it to go smoothly.

[1:01:15] Thankfully, I must have up the courage, I did come out to them, and as I expected it did not go smoothly.

[1:01:21] But we persisted and over time, once I moved out of the house and I was, you know, starting

[1:01:30] my life with John, over time my parents did eventually start to figure out who I really

[1:01:36] was and what my life was about, because they could see through our example and the lives

[1:01:40] that we lived, that they finally could get it.

[1:01:44] They finally got it when they got to see us living our lives.

[1:01:46] So, after a period of time, you know, I lived my life with John and just pursued my career

[1:01:54] in architecture, and then about four or five years ago, I decided it was time to give

[1:01:59] back in some way to the organization that was so helpful to me back in the early 90s.

[1:02:03] So I decided to join, or started attending meetings to offer my support, and then was asked

[1:02:09] to join the board.

[1:02:10] And after a few years when we were in need of a new president, I decided to step up to

[1:02:17] the plate.

[1:02:18] So, that's just a little bit of history, no nutshell.

[1:02:21] So, there you are.

[1:02:23] Thank you.

[1:02:31] Hi, everyone.

[1:02:33] Thank you to the League of Women Voters and no place for hate for putting on this forum

[1:02:38] and inviting all of us here and thank you all for coming this evening.

[1:02:45] So basically, you know, when I was invited to come, I was asked to share my story and I really am uncomfortable talking about myself most of the time. Go figure. You know, I'm an aspiring politician and yet.

[1:03:02] I'm uncomfortable talking about myself so I had to really think about it and would I eventually

[1:03:13] settled on was the issue of identity and I'm glad I did because as so many of the speakers

[1:03:20] have already shared with us tonight while the circumstances may be different our experiences

[1:03:27] and the lessons learned are we have so much more in common and in the Islamic

[1:03:34] tradition in the Quran it says God tells us that we've made you

[1:03:40] intonations and tribes so that you may know one another but the most righteous

[1:03:46] among you is the best so it's basically giving us a twofold lesson that you know

[1:03:54] Our differences really aren't so much differences,

[1:03:57] it's so that we can have communities

[1:03:59] where we have companionship and fill a sense of belonging,

[1:04:04] but it is not a reason to elevate ourselves

[1:04:08] because really the one who is the most faithful,

[1:04:11] the one who's the most spiritual,

[1:04:13] the one who is basically a good human being

[1:04:16] and kind to others, that is the person who is the best

[1:04:20] in the eyes of God.

[1:04:23] And so, I've always had this conflict in myself of my identity.

[1:04:31] On my mom's side, my grandparents came here from Palermo from Cecilia, and my mom had

[1:04:38] a very group thing experience as a child.

[1:04:43] They didn't want to be different.

[1:04:46] Her maiden name was Catalano, my cousins were the bonanos, so they were called the cantalops

[1:04:51] in the bananas." So my mom, she developed this mentality of she just wanted to do everything

[1:05:00] that she could to fit in. And unfortunately for my sisters and I growing up, that meant

[1:05:06] that we didn't learn as much about our family history and our culture and our heritage.

[1:05:13] And on my dad's side, they more than made up for it, but since my parents separated when

[1:05:19] and I was quite young, I wasn't as exposed to it.

[1:05:22] But on my dad's side, they were the first ones

[1:05:24] to colonize Virginia, direct descendant

[1:05:27] of a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

[1:05:30] There's a lot of pride in service, in country,

[1:05:34] and in community.

[1:05:36] And I love my dad's family.

[1:05:38] But I had these two experiences, these two traditions

[1:05:43] that are part of my heritage.

[1:05:45] And I grew up Roman Catholic.

[1:05:47] then I just you know decided to complicate matters even more and I became Muslim

[1:05:54] and like Joe's experience here you know having a mother who's very strict Roman

[1:05:59] Catholic when I walked into the home and you know shared that I was going to

[1:06:05] become a Muslim yeah I think you could hear them over on the other side of the

[1:06:10] world it wasn't pretty surprisingly it was Minonna who set things straight she's

[1:06:16] like she asked me, are you happy?

[1:06:18] And I said, yes, I'm happy in on the,

[1:06:20] and I met my husband shortly after,

[1:06:23] and we were just starting to get together at that time,

[1:06:26] and she asked me, does he make you happy?

[1:06:28] And I said, I've never been treated better,

[1:06:30] I've never been happier.

[1:06:32] And so over time, my family learned to accept my husband

[1:06:37] and I, especially after they saw how well he treated me,

[1:06:42] how he made sure that I was finally able to go to university and move forward in life.

[1:06:51] And they saw how much our relationship really made each of us grow.

[1:06:56] And I'm glad they did because it really helped pave the way for when my little sister came

[1:07:02] home and decided to break the ceiling again by announcing she was going to marry her wife.

[1:07:11] So, you know, at least I had whittled it down a little bit for her.

[1:07:20] And, you know, growing up, I was because I come from that Sicilian heritage.

[1:07:25] I had very dark skin. I'm much fairer now. I think maybe because I cover so much.

[1:07:31] But, or I don't get out as much, who's to say.

[1:07:35] But, I did experience, you know, those unseen biases that people have.

[1:07:42] And I did experience that foul language that people can call others of a different color.

[1:07:50] You know, and as Gretchen was saying, what are some of the things about ourselves that people

[1:07:55] wouldn't know about seeing us? Well, you know, I'm the niece of an aunt who married an African

[1:08:02] American man and had a burning cross put on their front lawn by the KKK.

[1:08:10] So I bring all of this up

[1:08:14] and I know I've rambled around a little bit, but it is about intersectionality that we have so

[1:08:22] many different facets of who we are in our identities and what we're exposed to on an everyday

[1:08:29] basis. And as someone who does a lot of interfaith work and now a lot of political activism work and

[1:08:38] taking that leap into a more active role to actually legislate in a way that's a form

[1:08:47] of advocacy for marginalized communities. I have all of these experiences that I can

[1:08:53] pull from. And I don't want just somebody to say, come on in. I want to see it at the

[1:09:05] table. And I think we all do. We all want that experience. And so I don't want to take

[1:09:12] up too much more time. And I know I haven't really left you with so much of what I do in

[1:09:18] this world, but I wanted to share with you with so many Americans face today. We're not

[1:09:26] Americans because we come from one place or we're only one identity. We're Americans because

[1:09:34] as we've come from all corners of this world.

[1:09:38] We come, our society is made of so many different cultures,

[1:09:43] and so many different perspectives.

[1:09:46] And that's what we need to embrace.

[1:09:48] We shouldn't be building walls.

[1:09:50] We should be figuring out what we can learn from others.

[1:09:54] Thank you.

[1:10:05] Thank you for having me all.

[1:10:07] And as Kathy said, I've been employed

[1:10:12] from Stop and Shop for 19 years and I've come from a background family that has given

[1:10:22] me a well worth work ethic with a younger dealt that has a learning disability but sometimes

[1:10:42] anything in the world, but as I came upon in these last two years being employed from

[1:10:55] stop and shop, a individual that I have had a privilege to know for half my career seemed

[1:11:08] seemed to be fine with me in the first place, but he got a little bit too

[1:11:20] comfortable in ways and out there in the workforce that I did know what I was

[1:11:30] doing, but he sometimes came across that I was too done slow, making fun of me in

[1:11:41] ways that I really didn't like, I put up with it for quite some time and it got me so

[1:11:54] gosh down as a person and just hated myself and it was hard to work and hard to do anything

[1:12:09] and I didn't even want to go to work,

[1:12:12] but I finally realized that I needed to get out of the situation

[1:12:16] and transfer it to a different store, which I did.

[1:12:24] And it's working out pretty good in the last past month.

[1:12:33] I came, he actually did come into the store

[1:12:36] for to work a shift and I was like okay it was a little bit awkward to be there

[1:12:47] with him but it took a turn for the better and I just hit myself it's it's water

[1:13:02] over the bridge and it's done and over with just do what you have to do and let

[1:13:14] it leave what it had happened in the back and just let it go and that's life

[1:13:25] and that's about it. Thank you very much.

[1:13:40] Good evening. I know many of you. I grew up

[1:13:43] in Plymouth have spent most of my life here, I think, all but about 10 years.

[1:13:51] And so I'm going to tell you a little bit about what it was like to grow up in Plymouth.

[1:13:55] I had a happy childhood, although I was in the minority all the way through school.

[1:14:00] I was often the only Jewish child in class and graduated from high school with three other

[1:14:06] Jewish students, but I never felt like an outsider.

[1:14:11] I did have one conversation that surprised me and that I have never forgotten.

[1:14:16] I was about ten years old when a friend walking home from school with me said

[1:14:20] that he didn't understand why he was supposed to hate me.

[1:14:24] I was really very nice.

[1:14:27] Who told you you're supposed to hate me I asked?

[1:14:31] This was pre-1965 when antisemitism was regretfully still being preached

[1:14:38] from the pulpit of the Catholic Church. Clearly my Catholic friends were hearing that, but

[1:14:44] there was not truly much spill over into their lives. We were a small community then,

[1:14:50] about 15,000 people. All of the 7 through 12 student population of the town was housed

[1:14:57] at Nathaniel Morton School.

[1:15:00] If you can believe that, we knew one another well, and that knowing, I believe, was critical to our acceptance of one another. There were private clubs in Plymouth that were close to Jews, but the golf course was not one of them. It reflected the full demographics and diversity of the community. Fast forward many years when my husband and I moved our family from upstate New York back to a community in Massachusetts.

[1:15:29] Our son experienced significant, unrelenting, anti-Semitic bullying.

[1:15:36] He begged me not to call the principal for fear that it would make the bullying worse.

[1:15:42] I called and spoke to him as one educator to another, suggesting that the best response

[1:15:48] might be an educational one, even suggesting resources he could tap into, such as the facing

[1:15:55] history in ourselves organization in Brookline. This was another conversation that I have never forgotten.

[1:16:03] He said and I quote, you know what this community was like when you moved here.

[1:16:10] It isn't often that I am at a loss for words but that was a notable time.

[1:16:17] Around the same time I was teaching middle school in another community and it ordered sets of

[1:16:21] the young adult books dealing with racial discrimination

[1:16:24] and anti-semitism.

[1:16:26] A colleague asked me what I was doing,

[1:16:29] particularly in regard to the African-American literature,

[1:16:33] reminding me that, quote, white flight, unquote,

[1:16:36] from the city, was an effort to avoid dealing

[1:16:40] with racial issues caused by forced busing.

[1:16:44] All the more reason I felt committed to these books.

[1:16:48] In 1977, Roots first aired on TV. My social studies partner and I spent two hours each

[1:16:55] morning for five days watching the movie with our 100 plus Ace Graders, and subsequently

[1:17:02] teaching the film and the history. It was for many of these youngsters a profoundly moving

[1:17:09] experience, one that I hope has stayed with them all of their lives. We also used dances

[1:17:15] with wolves to teach about the Trail of Tears and the bitter history endured by our indigenous peoples

[1:17:22] and later Shinler's List with high school students to accompany visits by Holocaust survivors.

[1:17:31] And yet there is more explicit anti-semitism today than I can recall at any other time in the last 70 years.

[1:17:39] Which brings me finally to the question of what do we do about implicit bias, explicit bias, and the marginalizing of the other.

[1:17:51] I believe that at the very least we can expose children to diversity, help them to do perspective taking, and help them to develop empathy and kindness.

[1:18:02] us. And we can do all of that through story. Story is a very powerful way for children

[1:18:12] to engage in learning about the other. A tradition in my faith, excuse me, a tradition

[1:18:22] in my faith requires that we do something called Takuno Lump, which is Hebrew for repair

[1:18:30] the world, teaching children social justice values through stories may very well begin

[1:18:38] to repair our world.

[1:18:40] I have developed a bibliography of children's literature in a variety of, from a variety

[1:18:48] of cultural and racial and ethnic perspectives.

[1:18:54] There are copies of the bibliography I believe on the tables over there and on the way out if you're interested, feel free to help yourself to one of them.

[1:19:04] Thank you.

[1:19:14] Well, I hope that you enjoyed these presentations, this presentation.

[1:19:21] Each person spoke so eloquently and helped us to understand a different perspective.

[1:19:30] I thought it was terrific and now I'd like to open it to questions.

[1:19:36] I hope it won't be a deterrent for people to have to come up to the podium.

[1:19:42] But if you don't want to come up to the podium and you have a good allowed voice,

[1:19:47] feel free and I'll repeat the question.

[1:19:50] So I hope you may ask a question of anyone here or anyone here may answer it.

[1:19:59] Yes, sir.

[1:20:35] My grandkids,

[1:20:42] I'm white.

[1:20:43] I think my kids got into their school on affirmative action because they're the only white kids in the class and so they're going to be fine.

[1:20:51] But my concern, Jackie and for the new state representative is for those who are not going to have that direct experience and have to be carefully taught, particularly in a homogeneous community.

[1:21:10] So, Jackie, your students were enlightened because you took the initiative that wasn't necessarily

[1:21:16] in the curriculum I expect.

[1:21:19] You did that on your own.

[1:21:21] So what I think in a broader way is that you build this into a statewide curriculum.

[1:21:30] I don't know the extent to which, and you probably do, issues of inclusiveness and empathy

[1:21:37] are deliberately in statewide the curriculum.

[1:21:42] I don't know that.

[1:21:43] I doubt that they're there, and I know that it requires inspired teachers who are

[1:21:48] knowledgeable in these issues to make that go forward.

[1:21:54] But I think, you know, outside of the beauty of our personal relationships and family,

[1:22:00] for those who aren't going to have that, they've got to have access to really good educational

[1:22:05] opportunities.

[1:22:06] So when you get in the legislature, we're all expecting you to deliver on that.

[1:22:15] Thank you.

[1:22:17] Another question, will you come up?

[1:22:30] Ah, thank you.

[1:22:32] Okay.

[1:22:33] In part, you were asking a question, I think, of her, with regard to statewide curriculum.

[1:22:40] So, and as you probably know, some of the rest of you in the room may know that in, I believe

[1:22:45] in 2018, there was a revision of the civics curriculum in for the Commonwealth, and within

[1:22:52] that, I know, facing history in ourselves, I said on their New England advisory board,

[1:22:58] but they were heavily involved in that process of revising the civics curriculum.

[1:23:04] And so there were certainly components of the curriculum that were either added or refreshed

[1:23:11] or updated around issues of being an upstander rather than a bystander and helping students

[1:23:21] understand how to participate in civic discourse across different opinions and philosophies

[1:23:30] and ideologies and so forth.

[1:23:31] So there has been some things.

[1:23:33] You can go online if you were interested in to take a look at the refreshed curriculum

[1:23:39] to see if some of the things that you're talking about are in there.

[1:23:43] I've done a cursor review, but I haven't read it in depth,

[1:23:47] but it still does take educators like her who really go beyond

[1:23:52] the requirements of the curriculum to do even more.

[1:24:07] Absolutely. No, you're right.

[1:24:11] Hi. First thank you all for being here.

[1:24:14] This is just a wonderful, wonderful evening.

[1:24:16] Thank you for sharing your stories.

[1:24:18] This is from Melissa, and I know, for some I'm going to say, I know Native Americans are

[1:24:23] not a monolith, neither are the Wampanoag, so you can't speak for everyone.

[1:24:27] But I guess I hear so much back and forth, the Wampanoag are pleased with how Plymouth in

[1:24:36] general is being inclusive, and then I hear, no, they're not at all.

[1:24:41] And so I'm kind of hoping to say, instead of saying, yes, they are, no, they're not.

[1:24:44] How can we be better?

[1:24:45] And how can we get more of that story, especially 2020 and beyond?

[1:24:51] Well, I guess, you know, as you said, it's sort of an individual answer,

[1:24:57] I feel, when it comes to Indigenous people, we have several folks on, you know,

[1:25:03] that per se on the Haring Pond in my community. Some of our individuals are participating in the 400

[1:25:11] commemoration and then there's others that so much aren't. I think a lot of it is the education

[1:25:19] and I think if we were to make it better in the town of Plymouth, I think it would start with

[1:25:26] decolonizing education. We're actually, I'm co-teaching a course that you mass Boston with Professor

[1:25:33] Denouden currently and it's called Indigenous Women's Leadership and Tribal Self Determination in

[1:25:39] in North America and a lot of what we talk about

[1:25:43] is educating people on indigenous people

[1:25:47] and what we want.

[1:25:49] They're just being raised in the town of Plymouth

[1:25:52] and never having in the opportunity

[1:25:54] to ever even learn about my people

[1:25:58] and have Indian education as part of the curriculum.

[1:26:03] Everything is standardized and we don't have that.

[1:26:06] So I think if I was to say how would Plymouth do better

[1:26:09] I would say it would be able to build an Indian ed program for the schools.

[1:26:15] Currently, my granddaughter, for instance, she goes to school in Nashville.

[1:26:20] And my son is at a place where he's about ready to possibly buy a home.

[1:26:24] And he may not be able to buy one in Nashville.

[1:26:28] The prices are high for whatever reason.

[1:26:30] So if he was to move to Plymouth, and my granddaughter had to come to the school system,

[1:26:34] see if she wouldn't have an Indian education program.

[1:26:37] We'd have to seek, you know, otherwise, and go to

[1:26:41] Mashby to night courses or things like that.

[1:26:44] So I think for myself personally, as you said,

[1:26:46] I can't speak for everyone, I would say, you know,

[1:26:51] teach the children and teach that Indian education

[1:26:54] and teach about the herring pond community

[1:26:56] and the Wampungon people as a whole, right from the start,

[1:26:59] so that, you know, we're appreciated and we're known about,

[1:27:02] because from what I've heard, a lot of people didn't even,

[1:27:05] and don't even know that there is a herring pond

[1:27:08] warmth in our community.

[1:27:09] So that in itself is kind of sad.

[1:27:12] So that would be my, my, my, you know you're welcome.

[1:27:17] Thank you for the question.

[1:27:23] Well, I debated this, I'm Jenny Davis.

[1:27:27] I debated whether to come up here.

[1:27:29] But I wanted to share, like Jackie did,

[1:27:32] about growing up in Plymouth.

[1:27:34] And in high school, I went to Plymouth High School all.

[1:27:37] So I had a dear friend, Stephanie Gray, who was black.

[1:27:41] And in fact, the grays were very important family here.

[1:27:45] My daughter now lives in the house on the corner

[1:27:49] of Chestnut Street that was built by a Gray.

[1:27:52] And I remember let Gray be in a fireman at the fire station

[1:27:56] when I walked by and go, hello, Ms. Eman,

[1:27:58] and how are you today?

[1:27:59] And I'd say, hello, you know, Lieutenant Gray.

[1:28:03] And in high school, we were in the same classes, her mom was a girl scout leader, Stephanie

[1:28:10] spent the night at my house, and she graduated and went off to Howard.

[1:28:15] And we lost touch.

[1:28:17] We have since been in touch, again, by email, but she never came back for a reunion.

[1:28:24] And I asked her why, and she was very gentle about it, but I think when she went to Howard

[1:28:32] you know she chose it because she got to be with other black people. As an adult I

[1:28:40] went as a nurse to Haiti a couple of times the missionary and there's just a

[1:28:45] little group of white people with all black Haitians in a missionary in a little

[1:28:50] town and I was never frightened. In fact you have the reverse after what you want

[1:28:56] to be like the people that you're with.

[1:29:00] It was such a like, I came away missing that, and I came away missing that feeling I

[1:29:06] had had there.

[1:29:08] And they have nothing.

[1:29:10] And what we really brought is nurses and missionaries is a hot.

[1:29:14] Like you could sit with people, they would, some of them came in, they were dying.

[1:29:19] And you had really, you could give them some opiums, whatever, but mostly you sat with them.

[1:29:25] And you really opened your heart and you don't, you know, as a nurse, I've been blessed

[1:29:31] to have that opportunity as a nurse sometimes.

[1:29:34] But that experience was profound.

[1:29:38] And you help people like there was a man who didn't think he could walk.

[1:29:44] He had had some issues.

[1:29:46] So I taught him a little physical therapy and I taught the group there.

[1:29:49] You know, keep doing this with this man.

[1:29:51] When I went back to the next year, he could walk, but he had, you know, a cane and whatever.

[1:29:57] But they just, now in this particular place.

[1:30:02] But then now, as life goes on, my daughter who lives in California, her partner is black, this beautiful black man. And he loves me, and I love him. But Plymouth,

[1:30:20] I don't know what to tell you, I grew up here. It's really hard to create that when it's like, I don't have five neighbors. I have a few neighbors down the street.

[1:30:32] so I have to reach out to them, but it's really difficult here, so we all need help to how to create a little bit of Haiti here, a little bit of California here, you know, Cambridge, yes.

[1:30:47] It really is a challenge in a mostly white community to create that for children and grandchildren.

[1:30:53] I think you have to go to a different place.

[1:30:55] We can treat it, we can teach it in curriculum, but it's not like being there, it's not like having it in your family, but this is a start.

[1:31:06] Thank you.

[1:31:17] So I grew up in New Orleans, which had a lot of racial issues.

[1:31:21] And locally, lately I'm hearing some of the same language that I heard back in the 70s in New Orleans and some of the same stories that concern me.

[1:31:33] My office is in Hansen and recently one of my colleagues went into a store there and witnessed a man in his, you know, probably in his maybe around 70's use the in word at a five year old boy who had bumped into his cart.

[1:31:51] And he said to the man, he said, I think you owe that boy an apology.

[1:31:56] And the man turned around and started yelling at him and said, what are you a race trader?

[1:32:03] I haven't heard that language since I was a kid.

[1:32:07] And it was very chilling to me and this happened about two months ago in Hanson.

[1:32:15] So I'm just saying this story, you know, it sort of turned into a little bit of a thing

[1:32:21] And at the end, the mother did thank him for stepping up because I do think stepping up

[1:32:26] and saying something and being an ally is important.

[1:32:30] But I also think we really need to do a better job in our area about thinking about why that

[1:32:34] language is coming back and seems to be happening.

[1:32:40] I think it's a real issue.

[1:32:42] And sometimes when I think about our housing policies and our affordable housing policies, people

[1:32:47] seem to be more comfortable if you talk about.

[1:32:49] We want to make it so that your kids can stay where they grew up.

[1:32:53] Because as long as what we're talking about is lower income housing or affordable or

[1:32:58] workforce housing for our kids, people feel less threatened by it.

[1:33:04] But I think we also need to think in that language about why just having people who

[1:33:10] might be working class lower income people living in our communities and

[1:33:16] And whether we're afraid of people of color coming into our communities,

[1:33:19] are we afraid of people who are different coming into our communities?

[1:33:23] What is the language when we talk about bringing in affordable and low income housing in places like Plymouth and

[1:33:30] Pembroke and Kingston and this whole district?

[1:33:33] So those are just a couple thoughts that came up for me tonight when we were talking and I wanted to share.

[1:33:40] Thank you.

[1:33:41] If

[1:33:47] I may make a

[1:33:51] comment, Kathleen?

[1:33:56] Oh, oh, your call.

[1:33:57] Yeah, I just wanted to make a comment on the last statement.

[1:34:03] You know, it's this type of rhetoric, not just for African American communities,

[1:34:11] Jewish communities, Muslim communities, it's across the board.

[1:34:17] And it is something that we need to confront and we need to really analyze and I'm about

[1:34:25] to be really blunt and probably say something I shouldn't.

[1:34:30] But you know, I know what you're talking about when you say the language of affordable

[1:34:36] housing or the language of affirmative action hiring, so to speak, because back in

[1:34:44] in Maldon, where I live, we've been discussing these issues.

[1:34:48] Affordable housing is becoming more and more difficult.

[1:34:52] Properties are getting bought with the rents being jacked up over 50% right away.

[1:35:00] Whole buildings getting evicted, property prices going up because they just built a casino down the road.

[1:35:06] And we're beginning to see some real estate companies create a monopoly.

[1:35:14] to where they're fixing the prices, but when we engage in this type of dialogue,

[1:35:21] and I've been told this by some advisors, don't talk about diversity, don't talk about African

[1:35:28] Americans, don't talk about Muslims, don't talk about this group, don't talk about that group,

[1:35:33] use the language of we want our children to stay here. That's what I've been advised. And even when

[1:35:40] When it comes to our school system, you know, we're having some problems with diversity

[1:35:46] hiring in our public school system.

[1:35:51] And you know, a lot of us have been told to use this language.

[1:35:57] But I think this is only feeding into the problem.

[1:36:01] You know, as long as we don't look this in the face for what it is and we use this type

[1:36:08] of language, we're saying, it's okay to think like this because now we're going to enable

[1:36:14] this mentality. Instead, I think it's time to have sit down and have a serious conversation

[1:36:18] with our community. I'm not saying marginalize anybody else or make them feel, don't be confrontational

[1:36:27] as what I'm saying. But let's be more inclusive in how we speak with each other in our communities.

[1:36:34] and honest.

[1:36:51] My question was how can we make younger generations who have been

[1:36:56] influenced and grew up around this hatred that is around them and make them

[1:37:05] aware and make them interested in preventing it but make this aware to them in

[1:37:10] In a way that won't fly over their heads to those that don't have such educational programs

[1:37:17] in their schools.

[1:37:24] Who wants to take that one on?

[1:37:28] I'll start.

[1:37:30] Is that on?

[1:37:31] Yes, I guess it is.

[1:37:34] Again, I think when you can deal with issues like we're talking about face-to-face, you're

[1:37:42] not in a diverse community.

[1:37:43] The very next best thing, it seems to me, is to experience that through story.

[1:37:52] It's very powerful, and I believe that one of the ways we can come to know one another

[1:38:00] is through social justice literature.

[1:38:03] Starting from the time children are very, very young, but that kind of literature goes

[1:38:08] is all the way up through adult literature, as you will, no, it really is a way to access

[1:38:17] the world when the world that we actually live in is small and narrow and monolithic.

[1:38:25] It's important that we access that diversity and that's a powerful way to do it.

[1:38:29] So

[1:38:36] he's

[1:38:40] really had his hand up for a while here.

[1:38:42] We see you.

[1:38:44] And just to answer really quick too, because I have some children who are in the school system as well.

[1:38:52] And we've had issues with this.

[1:38:54] In fact, what triggered me to run for office the first time in 2017 was my oldest son coming home.

[1:39:02] Because one of his friends had come up to him saying they don't like Muslims.

[1:39:05] and if Trump were elected, he was going to get rid of all the Muslims.

[1:39:12] And it's there in our schools.

[1:39:15] And I believe storytelling, yes, is something that we critically need but also experiences.

[1:39:24] So our school district has a multicultural day.

[1:39:28] And I know maybe you don't have that multicultural experience within your community,

[1:39:32] but maybe you could reach out to the Wampanoag tribe and ask them what are some of the holidays

[1:39:38] that their nation celebrates? Do you have a Muslim community here? Ask them what are some

[1:39:46] of the holidays that they celebrate invite them to come in within the community and experience

[1:39:51] all of that together? There was one gentleman here who greeted me from Medford who used to

[1:39:57] up that way and they started an interfaith iftar up there and hosted it in the city hall.

[1:40:05] So there's lots of ways to bring these experiences into your communities and into your schools

[1:40:12] and even inviting speakers to come in or having children play together.

[1:40:21] Okay, this is part, but first of all, my name is Harry Shamir, and I am a resident of

[1:40:28] Plymouth, and my wife Barbara Rooney is the chairperson of the No Place for Hate Committee.

[1:40:34] And we were talking about this, which is what I'm going to tell you and she advised me correctly

[1:40:41] that this may be an informative paragraph.

[1:40:50] It turns out that a few years ago during the Obama administration, the Office of Management

[1:41:00] and Budget, the OBS, came up with a revision to the standards for the classification of

[1:41:09] federal data on race and ethnicity.

[1:41:14] We all, to me, that kind of jared me

[1:41:20] because why should the government get involved in something

[1:41:28] that is so divisive?

[1:41:29] OK.

[1:41:30] But never mind.

[1:41:31] It was done.

[1:41:32] The then I applied for work with the variety places.

[1:41:40] I'm a little bit old but I do need income.

[1:41:44] So anyway, the point is that I began seeing that every single potential employer threw

[1:41:55] at me these questionnaires that asked for my race, asked for my ethnicity.

[1:42:03] and did so in manner, in a manner that was a little bit in grating. For instance, on

[1:42:16] the matter of ethnicity, they only gave two alternatives. Latino or white. Wait a minute.

[1:42:27] You want to know from Latino? Why? What does anybody want to know if one is Latino?

[1:42:32] know. And there's only two classifications. Okay, so then the racial questionnaire was

[1:42:43] not raised. It was geographical sources, geographical derivative of ancestors. And

[1:42:53] this one I did not understand at all because it actually, it put me in a, in a, asked me

[1:42:59] if I was from white or African or Indian or in other words it's geographical as opposed

[1:43:10] to the DNA structure that the word race implies.

[1:43:16] Anyway, we are a community and we are faced with a questions that will come across every

[1:43:23] one of our thresholds, and that is the census. We are going to be asked who we are.

[1:43:34] The problem is, and this I have to read to you, it's two sentences,

[1:43:41] the respondent self-identification

[1:43:44] should be facilitated to the greatest and possible, recognizing that in some data collection

[1:43:50] system's observer identification is more practical. In other words, who we are, individually,

[1:43:59] is going to be dependent on a single individual that might be randomly selected from society

[1:44:07] at large. Whoa, what is this? I cannot have that. So that's why I'm asking you to be aware

[1:44:16] of that, and to please tell me how to operate against this, to answer that, I would say.

[1:44:26] The fallacy.

[1:44:27] The 2020 census is very important, and so hearing that, I think it makes it even more

[1:44:34] important that you completely fill out your census papers when you receive them.

[1:44:39] Don't be afraid to open that door and answer that questionnaire, and as I said,

[1:44:44] identity can be a very complicated issue, even myself. You know, I don't know what box to

[1:44:50] to tick sometimes, so maybe instead just write NA on the side or mixed, whatever makes you

[1:44:56] feel comfortable.

[1:45:00] Well, I

[1:45:03] just want to thank the panel, every single person that came here tonight gave us exactly

[1:45:15] what we needed to hear. And I thank you all so, so very much. We have a little gift for

[1:45:22] you. Don't go anywhere. And to the audience, thank you for coming. And I hope it was everything

[1:45:29] you hope that it would be so.

Inclusion: From the Mayflower to 2020

Transcript