It will be interesting to see the appointments to the new Women's Commission. Diversity is assumed but it remains to be seen. With the OCR investigations about the MPS and how the city has responded, it is crucial that this new program on women is representative of changing Melrose. If the Commissioners are only white women with their mommy agendas, the new WC will be another divisive force in Melrose ( like MEF ) and doomed before it begins.
What a horribly racist post. The commission should be representative of the residents and taxpayers of Melrose.
"representative" sounds like another of the MEF rabble-rousers of the sort claiming (and encouraging their children to claim) "reverse racism," which is monstrous considering the actual realities of Melrose today.
Not reverse racism, just racism.
Are you totally out to lunch? The original post is anything but racist. In fact, it strikes me as exactly the opposite.
It is an example how some people see racism in every situation -
Webster's racism definition: "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races."
I'd say that the initial post, and its characterization of "white women with their mommy agendas" meets this definition completely. As I said, the commission should be representative of the residents and taxpayers of Melrose and should not be reflective of the left wing's version as to how the world should operate.
The words "white women with their mommy agendas" is harsh but shows how the group behavior of the MEF and YES on the Override folks hurt our city. If the Women's Commission formation follows the intention of Alderman Lemmerman and the changes in the City Charter, it must have diversity of skin color, economic background, religious belief and sexual orientation.
"Its characterization of "white women with their mommy agendas" is a racist remark? What complete balderdash! It accurately describes the group he/she is referring to. [:-?]
Not every comment about race is "racist" (whatever the hell that means). Man shoots and robs another. Cop shows up and asks witness to describe suspect. Witness refuses to divulge race of suspect for fear of being accused of "racism". Suspect is never caught.
Swell.
translation of the last two posts...I am a bleeding heart liberal so things are only racist when I say they are. What a bunch of jokers.
This is the same group that wants to be involved in the discussion of diversity in our city as they post messages on social media advocating for the US to bring in Syrian refugees.
What a waste of time and energy. Will there soon be a commission for men?. This mentality is such a setback for women and society in general. Lavander states its' purpose is “to provide a unified voice to promote issues in the community, such as family policies, equal pay and women’s health, and recognize the accomplishments of Melrose women past and present.”(Wicked Local).
Do women need a universal voice? Is that even possible? Is it healthy?.
And, yes, I believe the OP was borderline racist, but mostly ridiculous.
How about this? Upper middle class suburban women with mommy agendas.
Definitely not racist but still stupid.
When then the BOA votes Monday evening to establish a Melrose Commission on Women, any male alderman who opposes it would probably find himself locked out of the house when he got home and labeled a misogynist.
Yet, there there should be cause for concern.
Despite the fact that we already have a Human RIghts Commission, Melrose Alliance Against Violence Commission. Birth to Five, and the League of Women Voters, the Mayor and Alderman Lemmermann believe we need “to provide a unified voice to promote issues in the community, such as family policies, equal pay and women’s health, etc..”
Sounds more like gender/Identity politics - which is a political style that focuses on the issues relevant to various groups defined by a wide variety of shared characteristics, including, race, social class, religion, sex, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.
I suspect a number of Melrose women resent having a Commission established to meet their special needs. According to Atlantic Magazine, in America today, women earn the majority of bachelor’s and graduate degrees. “An escalating number of single women younger than 30 earn more than their male peers. Nine out of ten jobs job industries with the most projected growth are women-dominated. Finally, in 40 percent of American marriages, the wife earns more than the husband. “
Maybe it’s time for the Mayor to establish a Melrose Commission on Men headed by a male alderman. Could come in handy for the Alderman on election day. (Why should the Mayor single out any
Alderman to create a Commission ?”)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reverse-racism-isnt-a-thing_us_55d60a91e4b07addcb45da97
"Why isn't there a White History Month?!"
08/26/2015 11:38 am ET | Updated Jan 20, 2016
excerpts:
Reverse racism isn't real. No, really.
The "reverse racism" card is often pulled by white people when people of color call out racism and discrimination, or create spaces for themselves (think BET) that white people aren't a part of. The impulse behind the reverse racism argument seems to be a desire to prove that people of color don't have it that bad, they're not the only ones that are put at a disadvantage or targeted because of their race. It's like the Racism Olympics. And it's patently untrue.
It really all comes down to semantics. At some point, the actual meaning of "racism" got mixed up with other aspects of racism -- prejudice, bigotry, ignorance, and so on. It's true: White people can experience prejudice from black people and other non-whites. Black people can have ignorant, backwards ideas about white people, as well as other non-white races. No one is trying to deny that. But racism is far more complex.
Before you cry outrage and send me a nasty email about how reverse racist this article is, calm down. Listen.
...
Some people simplify racism as one group not liking another, and think "racist" and "prejudiced" are interchangeable. But racism is a concept that operates on both an individual and institutional level.
At its core, racism is a system in which a dominant race benefits off the oppression of others -- whether they want to or not. We don't live in a society where every racial group has equal power, status, and opportunity. White people have never been enslaved, colonized, or forced to segregate. They do not face housing or job discrimination, police brutality, poverty, or incarceration at the level that black people do. This is not to say that they do not experience some of these things (like poverty and police brutality) at all. But again, not on the same scale -- not even close. That is the reality of racism.
What's astounding about the reverse racism argument is the way in which it reveals some racists' deep need to deny the idea of having any privilege. Rather than acknowledging the realities of how people of color deal with racism, white racists' do mental and hypothetical cartwheels in order to justify these injustices.
There have been so many explainers on why the concept of reverse racism is inherently wrong, so many breakdowns, but perhaps another way to tackle this discussion is to address some of the main topics and issues that get called out as reverse racism. Here are four common arguments that have no merit:
1. Affirmative Action takes jobs and scholarships away from white people.
The affirmative action debate has been raging for decades, with many people arguing that it's a prime example of reverse racism. They believe deserving white students are discriminated against while academically unqualified students are given highly coveted college or company positions -- just because they happen to tick the "ethnic minority" box. This argument ignores the fact that affirmative action did not come out of nowhere -- there was a need for a system that would address the decades of underrepresentation of people of color both academically and in the job world.
Affirmative action does not favor people of color over whites, but ensures that they are considered equally. Even now, white college students are 40% more likely to get private scholarships than minorities, and although 62% of college students in America are white, these students receive 69% of all private scholarships. Someone with a “white sounding” name is 50% more likely to get a job call back than a person with an “ethnic” sounding name, according to a 2003 study. Affirmative action doesn't take anything away from anyone. It levels the playing field.
2. White culture can be appropriated, too.
Recently, I wrote an article explaining why it's problematic for white women to wear black hairstyles. I got hundreds of messages from angry people asking, "Well, what about black women straightening their hair or dyeing their hair blonde?" First of all -- there are, gasp, black people in the world with naturally blonde hair and blue eyes. But that's besides the point. The need to flip the script when it comes to cultural appropriation is wrong because it willfully removes context and history from the equation. Black people conforming to white or Western standards of beauty is the product of a need to survive in a society in which wearing hair in its natural state can cost black men and women their jobs and even their educations.
...
3. Black-on-white crime is proof that black people just hate all whites!
When conversations about police brutality or hate crimes come up, there are some racists who are quick to point out the rate of black-on-white crime, and argue that these instances are racially motivated attacks against white people -- in other words, hate crimes. It's simply not true.
According to the FBI's most recent 2011 study on homicide, 83 percent of white murder victims were killed by fellow whites, while only 14 percent of white victims were murdered by blacks. But beyond numbers, black-on-white crime is a social problem -- it isn't systemic. More than 1oo unarmed black people were killed by police in 2014. Guilty or not, this number of deaths in comparison to how many white people were killed is staggering.
4. BET, Black Girls Rock and Black History Month exclude white people. How racist!!
Things like Black History Month, BET, and Black Girls Rock are not “reverse racist” against white people, they’re not examples of a double standard in which White History Month, The White Entertainment Channel, and White Girls Rock would be considered offensive. "Why isn't there a White History Month?" you ask? To repeat a very true cliché -- all history is white history. Most black children in America will learn they are descended from slaves before they learn they are descended from ancient African civilizations.
...
If you think about it, reverse racism is actually kinda great. Because if it did exist, it would mean we lived in a society in which all racial groups have an equal amount of power. But we don’t....
Just to add some balance here after reading the referenced article in the above posting. One reader of the article made the following comment which is worthy of reflection:
_________________
You clearly don't know world history very well... Here are some simple facts for you to concider:
- All races kept slaves all throughout history. Including Native Americans.
- Africans enslaved 1.5 million White Europeans in the Barbary Slave Trade.
- Whites were the first people to outlaw and stop slavery in modern times, whereas slavery still continues in parts of Africa to this day.
- Less than 2% of Whites in America ever owned slaves back when it was legal.
- Most slaves transferred across the Atlantic didn't come to America, they went to Latin America to serve Hispanic slave-owners.
White people are responsible for slavery in the same way that Joe Smith whose great-great grandfather smoked a pipe 120 years ago is responsible for the entire tobacco industry and current lung cancer cases.
This is what happens when people write a story with personal bias.
____________________
No matter how bad minorities think they have it in this country - just try living in any other country! This country is in a constant state of "continuous improvement" in race relations - and thank goodness for that! Now if only we can find a President to draw us all closer instead of dividing us - then even more progress can be made.
Very disturbing post from "United."
"No matter how bad minorities think they have it in this country - just try living in any other country!" This is an outrageous remark that shows exactly how low this poster is willing to go and how little he/she is willing to think.
https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/290ji1/racist_user_comments_on_history_of_black_slavery/
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/08/european-racism-africa-slavery
"For much of the period from the 15th century till now, during which Europeans and Africans have been connected through trade, empire and migration, both forced and voluntary, Europe has viewed the people of Africa through the distorting veil of racism and racial theory. In the British case much of the jumble of stereotypes, pseudo-science and wild conjecture that coalesced to form racism arose from the political battles fought over the slave trade and slavery, during the last decades of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th. The men who set out to defend slavery assembled a vast arsenal of new claims and old theories about black people, which they then codified, refined and disseminated through books, pamphlets, cartoons and speeches.
Racial ideas were aimed at Africans in their home continent, as well as at those in bondage in the New World
That propaganda campaign, along with the institution of British slavery itself, was ultimately defeated by the moral energy of the abolitionist campaign, and by the determination of the slaves of the Caribbean to resist their enslavement, yet the ideas about the nature of African peoples and the cultures of Africa that had been marshalled by the pro-slavery lobby lived on. Some, in more subtle forms, are still with us today."
http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02.htm
It is shameful to see that posters like "United we Stand" continue to exist in our community with such distorted and hateful views. Melrose really has become a community that is shameful in its lack of "cultural proficiency," as it were.
http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege
"White privilege is a hidden and transparent preference that is often difficult to address. Only on closer inspection do we see how it creates a sense of entitlement, generates perks and advantages for white people and elevates our status in the world."
Something similar can be said about sexism and all the other forms of discrimination.
You don't have to look far to see there is work to be done in Melrose. Only one minority working for the entire school system of several hundred employees. How many minorities working for city hall or the police? None that I have seen. In a city of 12% minorities something is wrong. In a city where the legal department publicly plants the seed that the child-victim of racial harassment has a history of behavioral issues and that he is lying in the local newspapers while at the same time, supporting the aggressor-teacher (who has a long history of making racially insensitive remarks) before any investigation has been carried out, well, there is clearly something wrong. http://melrose.wickedlocal.com/article/20140416/news/140416955
By Jessica Sacco
Posted Apr 16, 2014 at 4:32 PM
Updated Apr 17, 2014 at 4:57 PM
MELROSE
jsacco@wickedlocal.com
A Title IX investigation is underway at Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School (MVMMS) after an allegedly racial incident occurred between a teacher and student this month.
Superintendent Cyndy Taymore and MVMMS Principal Tom Brow declined to comment on the nature of the April 1 issue, which involves a female teacher and male student.
"Whatever exchange occurred — occurred between the teacher and the student — is under investigation," City Solicitor Rob Van Campen told the Free Press. "…What exactly happened between the student and the teacher, that is still being investigated."
Although school and city officials are staying mum on the personnel matter, it hasn’t stopped allegations from spreading like wildfire throughout the community, some of which claim the incident involved racial remarks.
"Whether or not such comments were made in this instance is a matter that is still under investigation," Van Campen said.
Taymore, however, confirmed a Title IX investigation is under way. Title IX refers to a section of civil rights legislation, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Others have said that following the incident, police escorted the teacher from the school.
"Any rumors that a Melrose Public Schools teacher was removed from the building because of this, they are completely false, without any basis," Van Campen said.
The woman in question, who has been an educator in the district for more than 15 years, will continue to teach while officials look into the conflict.
"The teacher involved has a relatively unblemished record with the school district, is a very good teacher, and that based on what I’m hearing in the community, whatever may have transpired, is being completely misconstrued," Van Campen said.
Claims that the teacher was fired are also unfounded, according to officials. Van Campen would not comment on whether the teacher could be dismissed in the future pending the results of the investigations.
He also declined to comment on whether the youth had a history of problematic behavior in the classroom, or whether the student remains under the teacher’s instruction.
Parents in the middle school were not notified of the incident.
"The matter was isolated," Van Campen said. "It was something that the district immediately addressed. There was really no need to notify parents en masse."
"Van Campen said. "It was something that the district immediately addressed. There was really no need to notify parents en masse.""
Yeah, right. 60 students witnessed this and to date they still have not been spoken to. It was all totally "misconstrued," according to the obviously incompetent and wrong-headed Van C (why has this man not been fired????). Instead of removing the offender from the district immediately, the administration advanced her to the high school, making sure that students would have to see her everyday and get the message that her conduct was sanctioned and rewarded by this administration and that students had better not dare question authority in Melrose, even when it is very clearly behaving in heinously illegal and malicious ways. It may have taken a year and a half, but of COURSE the federal investigators had no choice but to conclude that there is a "racially hostile environment"!
"The woman in question, who has been an educator in the district for more than 15 years, will continue to teach while officials look into the conflict." This is so disgusting and shameful. Everyone apparently knew from the first instant it happened that the woman said what she said (and worse, according to the Findings now published on the district website).
http://melroseschools.com/administration/presentations/ocr/
How this administration could have decided that they were within their rights to keep this woman in front of students and by doing so continue violating the civil rights of the students and further the "racially hostile environment" is a huge indictment of all those who were making decisions, which has to include the school committee since apparently they authorized their "Exemplary" employee, CT, to continue her course of action, hurting students and driving up the legal bills (that they, with one obvious exception, apparently don't care enough to want to see in full, perhaps so that they can claim ignorance as this all hits the fan). Nope, the SC cannot claim any kind of ignorance except willful ignorance and neglect of their duties! There is simply no way they can get off the hook in the end.
""The teacher involved has a relatively unblemished record" is a perfect example of a statement that is inexcusable and should be cause for dismissal (by any employer who abides by the laws and doesn't believe in subjecting a community to unnecessary litigation, that is). "relatively"???? Yes, now most of us (the ones who care, that is) have learned of the long history of bad conduct by this teacher (who quite obviously should have been fired, not allowed to retire with her full pension), but that's beside the point of this city solicitor's ridiculous statement. No city solicitor, who is supposed to be representing the city and protecting it from litigation, would ever say such a stupid thing, let alone in the press.
Shame on the reporter, too, for trying to lead the questions toward impugning the character of the student, which was totally unacceptable and wrong! (and now this same reporter works for the PR firm, Guilfoil, that CT hired to spin the whole mess of school administration for the next year!!!) When will this stop???? Wake up Melrose!!!!!
RD and his hired hand, RvC, were obviously driving the decisions that allowed CT and her incompetent (and uncaring, from the sounds of it--forcing the victim to be "interviewed" without a parent and in the same room as the teacher who made her serious of monstrous remarks) administrators to carry out their series of bad acts leading to a federal investigation, and resulted in a thorough condemnation of the district management, and who knows how many lawsuits. With this kind of "leadership" from the very top, it's unlikely that any "Commission on Women" is going to address anything other than keeping women like CT, PWL, NB, those maniac women in MEF who are so in league with CT and RD, in positions of power that they most surely will continue to abuse. RD may be trying to look like the good guy by supporting this new "Commission," but he doesn't fool anyone. As long as his go-to women in the administration include the likes of malicious Martha G (a perfect mirror image of RD's nastiness), there is zero hope that this Commission will be anything other than more phony window dressing, just like his Human Rights Commission, that so far has dropped every ball when it comes to the schools, where civil rights of students and teachers are routinely violated still.
Until the hydra-head RD and his many prongs of bad administrators are routed, there isn't much hope for this city to begin correcting its course of actions and stem the tide of further harm.
"Whether or not such comments were made in this instance is a matter that is still under investigation," Van Campen said. "The teacher involved has a relatively unblemished record with the school district, is a very good teacher, and that based on what I’m hearing in the community, whatever may have transpired, is being completely misconstrued," Van Campen said.
TRANSLATION: I have no idea what happened and an investigation by MPS will never take place but I will take this opportunity to publicly condemn the victim and witnesses who must be lying...
"He also declined to comment on whether the youth had a history of problematic behavior in the classroom...."
TRANSLATION: I want the community at large to infer that the child must have had a history of misbehavior because he is a METCO student.
"The matter was isolated," Van Campen said. "It was something that the district immediately addressed. There was really no need to notify parents en masse."
TRANSLATION: We scared the cr@p out of the victim, immediately forcing him into a meeting without representation, surrounded by administrators and the aggressor so that we could coerce him into apologizing to the teacher. Hopefully, he and his family will back off. If we bury our heads in the sand, this might just go away on its own and be forgotten.
[:-|]
The following individuals have been appointed as commissioners for the Commission on Women:
MFD
Peter Mortimer
PJ Spencer
Dan Burke
The first meeting is being held at Hooters with quick trip to the Golden Banana afterward so that the new board can appreciate women in their entirety. They are looking for a couple of women to pick up some coffee and then drive us to the establishments. In order to apply for the chauffeur position please send an e-mail stating your height, weight and bra size.