This commentary comes from Liz Schlegel, The Alchemist Foundation; Cathy Edwards, New England Foundation for the Arts; Dan Smith, Vermont Community Foundation; Karen Mittelman, Vermont Arts Council; and Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup, Vermont Humanities.
The recent report of the Vermont Human Rights Commission on racial and sex-based discrimination by the Vermont State Police demonstrates how far Vermont has to go before our state provides a safe home where everyone can thrive, regardless of their race, gender, or background.
The commission’s report details months of harassment and outright discrimination and injustice experienced by Dr. Lydia Clemmons, her brother, and her parents, who maintain one of Vermont’s rare African American-owned farms. This remarkable site is both a cultural and historical treasure. Through her vision and leadership, Dr. Clemmons has built and sustained the creative work of hundreds of African diaspora artists across our state. The mission of the farm reads, in part:
—PRESERVE and maintain the Clemmons farm in Charlotte, Vermont, as an educational prototype, and a model for preserving other African American-owned agricultural land, cultural and heritage assets in the U.S.
— EMPOWER a growing network of Vermont’s Black artists and culture bearers with opportunities for professional development, advocacy, visibility, networking, paid engagements, collective healing, and a safe haven for creativity that helps them to thrive;
— BUILD a loving multicultural community around African-American/African diaspora history, arts and culture.
According to the report, the Vermont State Police allowed a disturbed and violent individual “to prey on Dr. Clemmons and terrorize her and her family and destroy a building on one of the few African American farms left in Vermont. The building that they allowed [this individual] to destroy was the heartbeat of the Clemmons Family Farm — a place that the elder Clemmons bought and cherished and developed over decades and where the next generation of Clemmons worked to bring people from across the country and the world to celebrate and create African and African American history, culture art and community.”
As Vermont community leaders, we find this unacceptable. All Vermonters benefit from the untiring work of the Clemmons family and the many other black leaders in Vermont who face harassment in their homes and communities.
Vermont needs to change, and to confront the persistent systems of power and authority that are built upon and perpetuate centuries of racism, even in the communities that so many of us hold dear.
We stand as allies with Dr. Clemmons and her family, and alongside their many Charlotte neighbors, religious leaders, and other supporters.
