This commentary is by Jill Krowinski, speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives, and Becca Balint, president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate.
Like so many Vermonters, we were sickened and angered by the experiences of the Vermont women of color highlighted in VTDigger this week in the article titled “As women of color leave Rutland and Bennington counties, Vermonters reckon with racism.”
These stories are horrifying. And also not surprising. There is no Vermont exceptionalism. Like the rest of the nation, we have real work to do here in the Green Mountain State.
When President Barack Obama was elected president, we heard a lot of commentators proclaim that we were in a “post-racial” society. Of course this was not at all true. And now, with the historic inauguration of Kamala Harris to the position of vice president, it’s once again critical to acknowledge that, although this milestone is both exciting and long-overdue, we must be honest and admit that systemic racism still exists in our nation and here in Vermont.
As we begin Black History Month and honor and celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in our state and national history and culture, we must soberly acknowledge the pain that racism has brought and continues to bring to individuals, families and communities in Vermont. And although it is an important start, it is not enough for us to simply to work on our personal prejudices and biases. We must work to dismantle the systemic racism and white supremacist ideology that exist within our institutions and actively practice being anti-racist in our work.
We’ve each had conversations with Vermonters who have a hard time with the term “white supremacist.” They’ve told us that this term conjures up images of Klansmen and racists spitting on young Black students as they walked to attend school.
Just this week, Sen. Balint had a conversation with a retired law enforcement official who said, “I’m not racist. I don’t think most folks on the force are racist.” He was not being defensive; he was giving voice to something that many white Vermonters believe — that racism only appears as explicit, violent actions or nasty verbal harassment. We don’t yet have a common language or common understanding of what is meant by white supremacy, and this is a real barrier to making progress on racial injustice.
We are the speaker of the House and the president pro tem of the Senate. We’re both white women in positions of power. Like all white Vermonters, we are each on a personal journey when it comes to educating ourselves about race, racial injustice, and how to be explicitly anti-racist in our work. We need to use our power and influence well. We must name that racism exists here in our beloved, flawed state and work to give our colleagues tools to understand how institutional racism and white supremacy has been baked into our nation’s history and culture.
The work we have to do here in Vermont is both personal and political. We began our session with an all-legislative training on implicit bias, and we will continue to examine the practices and structures within our own legislative bodies that perpetuate, whether intentionally or unintentionally, systemic racism and white supremacy.
In addition, we have spent the last month working with leaders of color and representatives of marginalized groups to develop a package of legislation that will continue to address systemic racism within our society and across state government. We are still working through the details of these important legislative initiatives, and we must be thoughtful and careful in our approach. We must make sure the priorities are set by those most affected by these proposals.
None of these changes will come fast enough to protect people of color who have stood up to serve their communities, only to be barraged with hateful rhetoric and race-based personal attacks. For women of color, the intersection of racism and sexism has made public service extremely uncomfortable and in many instances downright dangerous. We can’t deny this is the reality in Vermont today, but we can’t accept it either.
Therefore, we call on every Vermonter to join us in standing up against prejudice, discrimination and hate-driven conduct. It is important for all of us to remember that we don’t need to have the perfect words to stand up to hate, but it is the action of standing up to hate and inequity that is critical to supporting our families, friends and communities.
No one individual act or piece of legislation will solve the problem of racism in Vermont, but we can commit again and again to believing the experiences of those who face inequity and discrimination. We can — and must — commit to having courageous conversations and holding ourselves and our neighbors accountable.
May we all give each other courage and resolve in this work.
