The Highgate Selectboard voted this month to rescind a statement it adopted in October condemning racism and discrimination, after at least one board member said he took issue with content published by the group that’s asking towns to adopt the statement.
About 90 cities and towns have adopted the “declaration of inclusion,” or another statement with similar wording, as part of a statewide campaign that started in 2021. But Highgate is the first to adopt, and then revoke, the statement, according to Al Wakefield, a Mendon resident who helped organize the campaign.
The group’s boilerplate declaration states that a municipality condemns racism, welcomes all people “regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity or expression, age, disability, or socioeconomic status, and wants everyone to feel safe and welcome in our community.” It also states that a municipality commits “to fair and equal treatment of everyone in our community, and will strive to ensure all of our actions, policies, and operating procedures reflect this commitment.”
Sharon Bousquet, the Highgate Selectboard chair, said in an interview Thursday that the board did not rescind the statement because members disagree with what it says. Rather, she said, the decision came after the board found out that Highgate was listed on the declaration of inclusion campaign’s website among other communities that have adopted the statement — something the board decided last fall that it didn’t want.
At its meeting Oct. 6, 2022, the board discussed the declaration — and at least one other item — in an executive session, then approved it after returning to a public session. Asked this week why the board could not publicly discuss the anti-racism statement, Bousquet said members wanted to consult an attorney about whether the town was opening itself up to legal challenges by approving the document. The consensus, she said, was that it wasn’t.
Ahead of the board’s unanimous vote to rescind the statement at its meeting Jan. 5, 2023, Vice Chair Vern Brosky III said he thought that the body “hadn’t quite done our homework” when it approved the declaration several months prior.
“I’m not sure we want to be associated with that group,” he said, referring to the people who are advocating for the declaration to be adopted across the state. “I invite all of you to go on their website and research for yourself. And don’t just go on the front page, go through the whole website. It’s eye-opening. They say don’t judge a book by its cover — in this case, you definitely don’t want to do that. Read the whole thing.”
Besides Wakefield, two other people are working to get the inclusion declaration adopted: Norman Cohen of Rutland and Bob Harnish of Pittsford. The statement was drafted and approved first in the town of Franklin, which borders Highgate to the east. Harnish’s cousin, Dave Bennion, chairs the Franklin Selectboard — and, after hearing about the statement, Harnish decided to start taking it to other communities, Wakefield said.
Brosky did not specify what, specifically, he took issue with on the website. He could not be reached for comment this week ahead of publication, and two other selectboard members did not respond to requests for comment about the vote.
The website includes details on the declaration’s purpose, potential talking points for local officials, as well as ways to implement the values outlined in the statement. Those include, according to the site, forming a diversity, equity and inclusion committee; identifying biases in local policies and services; bringing diversity and inclusion work into local schools; and starting a local concierge service to help new residents get settled.
Brosky said at the meeting he thinks local, state and federal anti-discrimination laws already on the books “cover everything and more than what’s in that declaration without the controversial issues associated with the website that pushes that declaration.”
“I think we’re just fine with the existing laws,” he added.
Bousquet declined to say what specific issues board members had with the website. In response to a question, she acknowledged that people who live in and visit Highgate could interpret the board’s vote to rescind the statement as a rejection of the values the statement lays out, but maintained that is not the case.
“I mean, everyone is great with the inclusion — everybody agrees that all people matter and that all people are important,” she said Thursday. “And that basically, you know, all diversity is welcome.”
Wakefield said in an interview Thursday afternoon that he and others pushing for the declaration “regret” Highgate’s decision to rescind the statement. The group has asked to meet with the selectboard, he said, but hasn’t gotten a response.
Wakefield said he and the other advocates “love this state and want to do what will help it grow. And diversity is certainly one of those things it’s got to seize upon to continue its economic growth.” Adopting a declaration of inclusion, he continued, is, at a basic level, about “doing the right thing.”
The group hasn’t reached out to every Vermont municipality yet and is prioritizing the more populous ones, Wakefield said. Right now, the towns that are on board represent nearly 60% of the state’s people, he said.
Wakefield said no municipality has outright rejected the declaration. Most have adopted it as written, though some have made changes to the language before approving it.
Bousquet said this week that the board is willing to draft a new statement similar to the original declaration of inclusion, but only if more local residents are willing to get involved in the process of creating it.
“We’re willing to look at our own version,” she said. “But we would like more town input.”