Commission for Diversity, Inclusion, & Community Relations

Minutes for Commission for Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations Town of Winthrop ZOOM Meeting: Monday, November 16, 2020 Attendees: Andrea Baez (chair); Walter Connelly (secr); John Bentley; Suzanne Martucci- Gallo, Nas Patel; John Morgan; Sid Belghiti; Anthony Williams; Sid Belghitti; Police Chief Delahanty; Phil Boncore (council pres); Denise Quist (town council clerk & ZOOM host). Lydia Ramos (resigned) 1. Roll Call 2. Reports of racism in town A. Shirley Street incident. Police Chief Delahanty summarized the known facts of situation. The District Attorney’s office is involved, triggering a third party (State Police) review. The focus now is to determine whether the incident constitutes “hate speech” or “hate crime.” Delahanty addressed many of the concerns raised by residents prior to meeting. The police blog is available on line each Monday with exception of domestic and sexual cases. The police are not involved in the printed version published by the Transcript (which failed to list the Shirley Street incident). B. Fallon Testing Site incident. Winthrop resident reported that she had been listed as “white” on the race category, and when she questioned the technician, she was told that “they” were told to list every one as white. Chair Baez reached out to Meredith Hurley and in turn to Kevin Mont at Fallon. There is no such policy, and the Fallon employees were given a retraining session. C. Abutters Meetings. Presently notice of Abutters Meetings are in English only. Town urged to explore how to include appropriate languages of abutters. 3. Honan’s Statement against hate. Unanimously, the Commission urged the Town Council to adopt Tracy Homan’s Statement against Hate. (During Public Comment Robert Demarco spoke in favor of including political affiliation to the categories listed by Councilor Honan. John Bentley made a motion to that effect, seconded by Walter Connelly, and passed by all.) 4. Call to Action: strive to learn and celebrate the diverse cultural traditions within community, especially around holidays. PUBLIC COMMENT: Robert demarco Donna Reilly Wendy Page Millar Julia Wallerce: expressed need for strengthened community dialogue, partnering with police, One Winthrop on divisive issues Commission again asked that a President Boncore appoint Stephanie Recchia as non-voting member of Commission (as a liaison for One Winthrop). Sylvia whiting Karin Chavisj Shannon Poulos Motion to adjourn at 6:53 PM