Newport officials met on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but they weren’t exactly celebrating it.
Councilors chose not to act on a request to officially observe the holiday after an acidic, 40-minute debate about racial equity, union barriers and the civil rights leader’s legacy Monday night.
“In this country and in our community, people of color do not have an equitable share in society, and one small thing we can do to change that is to recognize Martin Luther King Day,” said Council President Julie Raboin, who argued that city employees should be given the holiday off.
Raboin made the lone vocal case on the council to officially observe the holiday, after resident Anne Chiarello asked members to do so.
Raboin lamented the homogenous makeup of Newport — where black citizens have accounted for less than 1% of the population in recent years — and said “we have no clue what racism is like to experience.”
“To refuse to acknowledge that — racial inequity, racism, classism, sexism, but especially racial inequity — how can we ignore that and call ourselves decent citizens who care about an equitable society?” she asked.
One problem with accepting the proposal would be negotiating with city unions, Councilor Dan Ross said. He suggested asking union members about the idea — perhaps they’d agree to swap one of the 12 existing city holidays for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The comments from Raboin and Ross drew rebukes from council member Melissa Petersson.
“It’s a management decision,” Petersson said. “To start going out and saying, ‘Let’s get a poll, let’s see who wants to celebrate Martin Luther King,’ I think is baiting for racial discord.”
She added: “I think it’s a dangerous precedent to go arbitrarily do work outside of contracts, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to start saying, ‘OK, who’s a racist because they don’t want to take Martin Luther King Day off?’”
Ross and Raboin responded that they weren’t suggesting going outside union contracts. And “nobody brought racists into this,” said Ross.
“Anne did, and Julie did,” Petersson replied, referring to Chiarello and Raboin.
The back-and-forths prompted Mayor Paul Monette to rebut Raboin’s assertion that those in the room didn’t know what racism is like.
“I was going to not say this, OK, because I am white,” Monette said, before describing how his grandparents and father faced discrimination as Catholic immigrants from French Canada.
“My father did experience a form of racism,” he said, adding, “There were cross burnings up on the hill over here.”
His comments were echoed later by an audience member, who said she grew up ostracized in the area due to being French Canadian. The speaker repeatedly talked about having friends of color and said she was irritated with the singular focus on discrimination against people of color.
Raboin responded by pointing out that she, too, had family members of French Canadian descent, but they didn’t live in fear of being raped or lynched.
“My ancestors were not slaves — yours were not slaves — in this country,” the council president said. “To recognize Martin Luther King Day is to say, ‘The way we behaved in the past is disgusting.’”
Chiarello, the resident who pitched the idea, listed nearly 20 Vermont municipalities that recognize the holiday.
“They’re not all silly, and they probably had unions, and they probably had to deal with some of those problems,” she said.
When Chiarello pivoted to describe what King faced in his time, Monette shouted, “We know the history,” spurring another spat.
Petersson then told Chiarello that maybe she should organize a celebration, and the two began talking over one another before Petersson waved her hand and said, “Forget it.”
A few minutes later, fellow resident Pam Ladds chided Petersson for that exchange.
“I think you might not want us organizing anything,” Ladds told Petersson, “because I think we’ve organized enough around here and already pissed you off.”
Earlier in the discussion, City Manager Laura Dolgin said declaring a holiday would cost the city more than $11,300. And toward the end of the debate, she said the request was a reversal of how the union-negotiation process works.
“You’re setting a very dangerous precedent for future negotiations,” the manager said.
Raboin asked the council to agree to at least talk about the idea. But Monette said he didn’t know what else needed to be discussed, and he soon moved the meeting on to other issues.
