PUBLIC HEARING AT LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING

The following speech was given by Cornell Lewis in order to highlight a problem. This document is posted on this website, in order, to give readers a glimpse into the unseen war waged by employees of color against racism / bias in state agencies.

Cornell Lewis                                                                                                                                                       July 2, 2012

Honorable members of the legislative body,

I want to thank you for putting together a forum that allows the public a vehicle by which to address the issues of bias, discrimination, and racism within the Department of Children & Families plus Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, CT.

Aristotle said “the state is the highest form of community, and each state has a responsibility to do that which is best for its citizens.” If these words of Aristotle are deemed as true, then Connecticut has a sacred responsibility to address continual concerns of bias, racism and discrimination of employees (past or present) of color within DCF or CJTS. Let me begin by stating something known for years, DCF has a documented record of allegations of bias toward employees of color. Disciplinary actions are often meted out disproportionately with people of color bearing the brunt of investigations, written reprimands, or loss of employment due to unfair decisions. This is not a hermeneutic problem within both agencies, but something based on evidence.

At CJTS where I am employed as a Youth Services Officer there is a constant battle, from employees of color, to address issues that diminish and objectify  the stature of YSOs by bias & even racist actions from administrators. There is currently a class action lawsuit from five CJTS employees against that agency and DCF. Our entreaties for a semblance of justice have been dismissed, ridiculed, called anecdotal, or lacking anything corporeal. DCF & CJTS pride themselves on presenting facts to show efficacy in treating their clients. Well, that same factual method can highlight how employees of color are filing complaints of bias, being railroaded out of employment, or bludgeoned by using policy & procedures as rods of correction.

Let us say that DCF & CJTS are in states of denial (refusal to grant the truth of a statement or allegation), about what is happening in their facilities. Stanley Cohen writes in his book States of Denial  classical official denials are often used by oppressors such as literal –nothing happened; interpretive-what really happened is something else; implicatory-what happened is justified. Which one of these denials are administrators using at CJTS & DCF to discredit complaints from employees of color?

At CJTS for example, there have been multi-racial protests outside the facility, petitions signed then given to management, a hunger strike lasting eight days- all in 2012. Somewhere in the not too distant past people of color suffered under a racist system that is endemic to America. Now, in this era of proclaiming Jim Crow is dead, we discover the same disease within state agencies. I stand before you as a man depicted in existential philosophy. My fist is raised and shaking at a hostile universe -represented by DCF & CJTS. My voice raised in a soliloquy of anguish. In this defiant moment the existential man is not going to let the hostile universe defeat him.

In conclusion it is my hope that the lawmakers are listening to myself and others appearing today, describing DCF / CJTS discrimination toward employees of color et al., and will act to stop such actions on this new version of a DCF Plantation. DCF &CJTS have not conducted a serious investigation and refuses to do so despite all the pressure this community has brought to bear. Ergo, it is up to the legislature to demand a full and open inquiry.

Legislative Copy