May 21, 2014
Dear Residents of Wolfeboro, NH:
Recently, one of your elected Police Commissioners made some highly racist comments in public that were overheard by citizens of your town. Rather than let it go as the unimportant personal opinion of an older person who was no doubt “set in his ways and thinking”, people decided to speak out, not only against racist speech and thought but also against the circumstance of having such opinion held by persons in positions of power and influence in the town.
As you are no doubt fully aware, those words and the town meeting held in response became regional and even national news. Shock waves traveled; they reached many people, including racial justice activists here in Connecticut. We considered how to respond to such a painful insult, which was directed not only at the President of the United States but to all persons who “met the criteria” of the Police Commissioner to be a target of racist vitriol.
As we began to make plans to join with other activists in and around Wolfeboro, we learned that the community had brought enough outrage and public pressure to bear that the Commissioner had reversed his stance about resigning and had stepped down.
We are writing this letter to express our admiration of the people of Wolfeboro for your courage, speaking out both as individuals and as a community to set high moral and ethical standards for those who would serve the town, elected or otherwise. Too many times people fail to speak up; or if they do speak up, too few people step up beside them; or even if enough people step up, the system still erects obstacles to a proper resolution. Wolfeboro has demonstrated that hate speech is not “free speech”, and that if a person does not respect all individuals, he or she does not deserve a leadership position.
Thank you for your excellent examples of individual courage to do the right thing and of a strong community that acts swiftly to restore its image and make clear its values.
Sincerely,
Nancy R. Bowden and Minister Cornell Lewis
Activists in Greater Hartford, CT
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