I'm All right. Okay, everyone. Is everyone back? >> Uh we're still just waiting on Riswana to come back. >> I mean, it's possible that she doesn't know. >> Does anyone have her number?
Does anyone have her number? I can text her. Well, if we were ever concerned about security, we've got it because when the system shuts you out, it really shuts you out. Please come back.
on. Okay. Um Now, we don't have a quorum, so we have to wait. Who else did we lose? It was just Riswana, all right? 1 2 3
4 We need >> You just need Riswana or anyone to hop on. Silas, Milan. >> Milan said he would be a little late. I know he's coming. Let me send her a text. again.
>> I see her here. She's in the audience. I'm promoting her to panelist. All right, we have a quorum. >> Okay, great. Welcome everyone. I'm so sorry about the delays we had. But it is 6:08 p.m. and I'm calling the
meeting of the Human Rights Commission to order. Let's take attendance. Milan Clark, he's not here. He said he'll come be late. Rizwana? >> Present here. >> Silas is not able to come today. Ronnie,
I'm here. Jay? >> Present. >> Alex? >> Here. >> Okay, welcome everyone. I'm sorry again that we're late getting started, but technology really does rule our lives.
Thank you all for being here on this beautiful day here in Amherst. Let's go right into the agenda. Let's start. Do we have any members of the public? >> No. I've not seen anyone.
>> I hope we didn't scare anyone with all the comings and goings. >> Yeah, there was no one in the audience when all that was happening. >> So there's no public comment. Let's jump to member reports. Any reports? >> Shouldn't we
in first to read the rules about public comment and all of the, you know, legal >> I didn't I didn't read it because there's no one in public comment. I'll read it toward the end when we have our if we have people.
Do you still want me to read it, Jay? I mean, I could, but there's nobody there. >> I mean, it's okay. Um I like to share my report on the recent developments. The good thing it
is a positive thing because of activities that are happening or overall environment that we have. I went to this um Amos Middle School after a while and I got to have two people do um
people who work over there. They were interested in joining in any capacity HRC or in any way being part of social justice movement. So I think that was pretty good. And one of
them, he was reading my blog also. But otherwise, it was really positive. That they you know that these two guys that they're senior they're they see you know senior the young the young one is younger he's he controls he's the coordinator and the
second one has been there doing for a long time and he's like, I really want to do something. You know, so that was positive. That's my report. >> I think that's really wonderful. I too have heard of more interest all of a sudden in the Human Rights Commission
and I think in the retreat it would be good to talk about how we can include people who are interested in the commission but are not able to be members, especially young people. If we could mentor people and find ways to be
um I don't know aspiring commissioners or whatever. It would be nice and also a lot of people have experience that they could bring to bear on the commission by working with us on
set projects. So I think we really have to think more about how to bring more people in also to increase understanding about human rights in the town. So, that's wonderful to hear particularly about the younger people. That was one. Any other reports?
Uh Jay? >> Uh yeah. I mean, I have quite a few things. Uh the uh first is from the last meeting. Uh we needed to mail uh a certain letter, which is a clemency letter on
behalf of uh this human rights defender. >> I'm sorry to interrupt you, but that's an agenda item. That letter. If you look down the agenda, the action and discussion items.
>> Okay, then I will simply report on the fact that I spoke with a number of people, and then I will not share the contents until we get to the actual issues, which are in the uh agenda itself. So, over the last
week, I spoke with Chief King for for about an hour. I spoke with uh the town manager uh Paul Bockelman for about a half hour.
And then I spoke with our director, Pamela Young, for about 10 minutes. I spoke with the state representative uh Mindy Domb for about 15 minutes
yesterday. And I got some feedback from the senator's office uh Joe Comerford on certain issues. So, I will hold off on the comments of the
content until later. >> Okay. Um I'll just report for Silas that he went to the town council meeting last week and spoke in favor of the rent control initiative.
Um, and we had not as a commission taken a vote on it, but I certainly support that and I think a lot of us might. Anyway, he did go and speak up about that.
Um, anything else? Okay. Um, let's go to the action items. Approval of the minutes. Has everyone read the minutes? Is there a Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Jay, the second.
Alex. Um, vote. Milan's not here. Viswana? >> Yes, I approve. >> Ronnie, yes. Jay? >> Yes. >> Jay?
>> Yes. >> Alex? >> Yeah. >> Okay, the minutes are approved. Um, now the next item is the update on appeal for clemency for the Sudanese human rights lawyer. Jay, would you like
to give us that update? >> Uh, yes, following the um, you know, last meeting, there were some questions raised if we had breached any rules. First of all, with regards to the use of
um, you know, reply all prompt. And [clears throat] um, so the sending off of the letter rested on a you know, ruling by Athena in the town.
And so following the meeting uh I set up um a conference with Athena, Rani, as well as Sir Philip. And then Athena looked at the information and thought that what we had
done was merely housekeeping business. It was not an issue at all, and she asked us to, you know, mail off that letter. Uh and then following that, Rani had collected some uh signatures
uh for the letter and mailed it off uh through the post office. I think it was, you know, meant to be overnight, but there were some delays, and it eventually reached there. It was posted in on the Thursday after
our meeting. It reached there only early the following week. And in that time, I was frantically searching online to see whether this particular human rights, you know, lawyer
was uh killed or was hanged. Um and I you know, did a search up till the last hour, and I hear nothing from Amnesty International, and I hear nothing from the Front Line Defenders. So my
presumption is that he's still alive. Uh so if the letter, which apparently you know, did reach the uh permanent mission of uh Sudan, um I think that they will be alerted to the
fact that they are being watched. And um that's an important thing when it comes to human rights, that those who wish to, you know, take away the human rights of many of the others know that they are being monitored.
And uh while we are on the same topic, I know that Philip sent out, you know, a package for the information on on this particular person by the name of
Mr. Abu Bakr Mansour Abdallah. And that was something that Ethina suggested that we raise uh broad awareness of in the town. And I implore those in the town to also
write letters on behalf of that person. Uh you may send it to the United Nations um Council on this human rights. Uh it's also possible to send this straight to the uh embassy uh
of Sudan. >> So, Rizwana, before I call on you, let me just give a little bit more information. I happened to see Mohamed at the Youth Heroes Award, and I asked him, and he said he thought that this execution was being stayed because of
the excessive letters from all over the world. Uh but it wasn't final He had reason to think that it would be stayed, but he said it wasn't finalized yet. So, when it is, Jay, I'm sure you'll find out. And it will really be good to have been
part of the process of preventing someone from being hanged. Um Rizwana? >> Yeah, actually I was going to share the same thing. The It was a good news because I also met him at the farmers market, and I had actually strongly
recommended to him at that time that he should let us he should update the counselors also because every it was a group team effort of the town. So, and he was very he thankful that I told him about, you know, continuing that full
communication because I said we need to know the results also. It has to be done like the process. So he he was I I was hoping that he will contact Phil or Phil
or Pamela or somebody because he did thank you. He texted me afterwards that this was a good idea. That's it. >> Thank you. Anything else on the Sudanese letter? >> Yes, just one last point. I think you
know, the last meeting uh either I and or Ronnie uh through Muhammad thought that he might have lived in the town or had some kind of Amherst connection. I have yet to verify that information. So if we
misspoke, we should uh get some sort of confirmation from somebody like you know, Muhammad. >> Actually, I asked him that question, too, because I was really troubled about his association directly with Amherst,
and he said that this particular lawyer is a member of the Amherst branch of Amnesty International. That's the connection to us. >> Okay, that makes sense then. Thank you. >> Yeah. Anything else on that case?
Um I just want to add that one other agenda item that will appear on our retreat is this whole question of our focus being local versus international. And because a lot of people are asking this question, and um I think we're more local than
international, but it seems to catch everybody's eye when we do something international like plead for clemency for this one person. So we should um certainly have that on our agenda at the retreat. Um okay, so we come to really I think
the biggest agenda item, which is the debrief from the joint meeting of the Human Rights Commission and CSSJC with the town council and the follow-up to that. So, um I'm not sure of the best way to
debrief. I think it may be good if someone could start and then others could add to it and so we all know give our impressions of what was achieved there. And just by way of background, uh which you all know, you know, we did
solicit questions from you know, there was the executive order, the town council resolution. People seemed still to have questions and were confused and we still felt there was fear, so we solicited questions from residents. They submitted the
questions. They were organized into 30 different questions submitted to the town manager um and the police department and the June 8th meeting was where they gave us their answers to the questions and we
had an opportunity to follow up and so on. So, in order that meeting was indeed very powerful. So, who wants to start talking about debriefing on that meeting? >> Ronnie Milan just joined. If you could
just acknowledge and um a little >> now joined Sorry. Milan has now joined the Human Rights Commission meeting. >> Uh just a heads-up, I'm also streaming a uh the town uh school committee meeting, so my attention's going to be a little
divided, but I'm here and listening. >> Okay, Milan, we're just starting to We're just at the agenda item. We're We're starting to debrief on the joint meeting that I think we were all present at except Alex. Who would like to start?
>> Jay? >> Yeah, I think that the you know, that actual meeting was, you know, long overdue. And I'm glad that it happened because, I mean, a number of things came to be. Um
and I think that there was some serious concern about the lack of response uh to the questions submitted uh to the various stakeholders there, especially to the town manager's office and to the police
department. I think that they sidestepped many of the questions by calling them hypothetical, etc. And so there was a sense of disappointment, I think, in that area. Uh I tried to uh
you know, steer them uh to the argument that these questions were not hypothetical, that if they happened in some other part of the country, that those you know, conceivably, those kinds of scenarios could play out in the town of Amherst. And so we should
uh have a sense of preparedness about those kinds of things. I think overall, what I got out of that was that Chief King uh gave uh to due deference uh to the federal authorities, saying
that there's really nothing that he can do because of the supremacy law um of you know, federal entity uh having jurisdiction over local all right, jurisdiction over local
entities. And I could understand that, you know, from a legal perspective. Um I think uh from uh Paul's point of view, he also felt a bit uh
hamstrung in that uh he has limited resources and uh he cannot tell the federal government what to do. Uh so we went back and forth about that about
what the police can and cannot do. And then Chief King also noted that you know, for now what they're doing uh is you know, merely documenting, you know, their presence uh which
which I understand to be more along the lines of a journalist than active uh interaction. Um though I think, you know, it may be more than that. And um in
in a conversation following that, uh you know, one-on-one, he did tell me that they do ask for things such as ID, but they cannot do anything if they do not present it. That's all. Um so there is some kind of interaction at that level.
Uh I also sensed, you know, some disappointed uh from uh the CSS, you know, JC about the, you know, lack of engagement by the town and by the police department against um
you know, federal presence in the area. And I mean, we all felt that. And I mean, for the next, you know, agenda item coming up, I will tell you why I responded in the way that I did. But that's where I am right now.
>> Anyone else want to add to that? Milan? >> Uh >> protecting others. All right, it would seem to be from us, not for us. So, yeah. Those are my insights. >> Thank you, Liswana. >> Yeah, I agree with Melaner and and Jay
also. Also, the fact that it seemed like they were not prepared at all. Um first of all, as uh it's said in the last uh half of the first half, you know, uh Lisette, she was from uh CSSJC. I mean, she was the
member. And she had said about the body camera. So, you know, it was very unusual. Everywhere we hear that the because it's very it's very important to have a narrative of first-hand evidence. That is how it is working
nowadays. So, they weren't prepared with that. And then also, they were evading everything by saying it's hypothetical. Especially even if you think all the emergency um you know, um exercises or preparations are all
hypothetical. And the third thing was that the only credit I give them is that was an afterthought when they shared, which was really good after lots of repetitive questions about what you're doing and so on. Uh miss uh police chief did share that he they had
some tabletop design kind of exercises at Amherst College. So, we need to know more about them. And more preparation. So, something came out of that. Uh otherwise, I am Also, the fact the emphasis that
the all the residents, why were they repeating the same questions? Because they were panicking. They were totally uh very serious about um them doing something. So, that um that feeling was the vibes went to them
also. So, I'm hoping that uh something will come up. Some kind of a preparation on the same as the you know how you go ahead with the exercises and and the body camera and so on. Let's see. >> Okay.
Um I had some similar reaction to it that I didn't feel like they were really answering our questions. They came to make a statement more or less that um you know they were going to take a very
conservative line. In fact, if you look when I read the presentations, the backup material that they gave us, uh the police chief says in his presentation that uh municipal employees will not
obstruct, interfere with, or prohibit lawful federal enforcement. Our question was never about lawful federal enforcement that was happening during the Biden era and the Obama era. It's always been about the unlawful
enforcement. It's always been about the stuff of wearing masks and grabbing people and not checking their identification and not just grabbing people for how they look rather than um doing their research and providing
due process of law and not giving them due process, putting them on planes and sending them off to Somalia or Cameroon or I don't know where else, some other poor country in the world. Um so I don't think they got it that what
we were really asking for was what they would do to protect us when federal authorities operate criminally. Um and they didn't address that and I think the saying that the cases we
provided were hypothetical is a way of saying well, you know, we can't really do anything uh and we won't answer these questions because we will not ever encounter these questions. So, I really want to send them back the
questions that they did not answer. For instance, if there are surveillance cameras in Amherst, we need to know where that data is going, who authorized it, and so on. That's just one example that I got sort of hung up on. Um
I also felt that um they didn't address like some of the big state-level issues that are going on. I mean, we have one of the biggest attorney general offices in the country. We have over 600
lawyers. And they're challenging all these illegal actions of the federal authorities. So, why isn't that playing into the direction that they're giving to the towns? Why in many places illegal
actions of federal authorities have been challenged in court, and these actions like I don't know, killing people, um charging people with crimes because they interfered have been thrown out of
court. So, it's not settled law, or it's not uncontested um for them to act in this way. That is not the law. So, in writing what we've been told is they will follow the law, but we've also been told that
um when people don't follow the law, they're not going to do anything. So, my view really, well, I came out of that thinking, well, you know, we can continue to push the town, and I'm sure we'll come up with strategies to do that in this commission. But, I'm not going to wait on them to take care of me and
to address our fear. And I think people left feeling unsatisfied in coming and talking to us is because the fear was not addressed. And I I would like to look to our within our own community, not to town government, but all the coalition of
organizations that we talked with last year, who started the bystander training program and did all this other local work. So, I think we have to get back to together with that group and any others and think
about what we can do for ourselves and not depend exclusively on um the town. That I love feeling like they're not going to do anything for us. That's my debrief. Rizwana, and then you >> Yeah, I totally agree, but I'd like to
add to the fact that we didn't have any documented uh just one or barely any case of ICE coming here. So, it it I guess the result was that the town's police chief and the
man and the vocal man they got lethargic. So, they are just they just laid back or something. They didn't do enough of these preparation that we were expecting them to do considering as you said, there are so
many lawyers there because they were just putting everything onto the attorney general. Everything was they are going to do. They are going to do. So, as a town, we were not they were not taking uh responsibility um
because of the fact that there aren't any documented uh ICE cases. And then there I guess there might be, but they are not documented. >> Milan? >> Um I thought it was interesting also just the discussion about following the
law and uh what the law says, but then when the question came up about uh 287G or even unofficial uh collaboration between officers and ICE, there wasn't a, uh, uh, there wasn't a reasonable, a good
response to that. Um, there is a law in place that already restricts, uh, state officials from, uh, um, collaborating with ICE. So, the suggestion that an officer would be doing that, um, informally would be essentially breaking
the law, but there wasn't much concern for that instance of law breaking. That's >> So, maybe it's time, I feel, time to go to the next proposal, but before we go to that agenda item, I want
to say that I would really like us to think about, you know, we did this big thing. Now, they're go we could either disappear or they're going to be waiting for our response, and I think our response needs to be powerful and coordinated.
And it needs to come from us and CSSJC. It's a joint effort, and, um, I'm very keen to ensure that we do this jointly with them, and I think there's more power in us doing whatever strategy we come up with,
um, with them. So, I'd like to throw that out. Um, I did have a brief, very brief conversation with Deb Ferrera, and as you know, previously we tried, before we did this meeting, we tried to have a joint meeting to plan,
and it was impossible to get a quorum for both meetings at the same time. So, we're not going to try to do anything like that, but I think we have to find a way to work for some of us, and some of them maybe to get together and work together to do whatever we,
um, put forward. And in terms of our action, what will we do? I think a good place to start is uh, Jay's uh, work because he's already written up a whole proposal. Has everyone read that proposal? Okay, Jay, maybe you should summarize it
first what the proposal is so that everyone knows what we're talking about and then we can talk. You're muted. Jay, you're muted. >> Okay, can you hear me now? >> Mhm. >> Okay, thank you.
Yeah, so my, you know, response was really to the joint meeting and that is why I came up with a proposal because what we really need is to think a little bit outside, you know,
outside the box. Uh if if we have more and more of those joint types of meetings, I think we'll be stuck with the car simply spinning the wheels in the same place, getting the same answers, oh our hands are tied, we cannot do anything, blah blah blah.
So, what we have in the works right now is the a state legislature has passed through the House and the Senate something called the Protect Act.
This is about, you know, the state's answer to how the towns could respond and how the state could respond uh to an organization or to a group like ICE.
And there's one version in the House, there's one version in the Senate. And then those two versions are now in conference and they need to be, you know, resolved, okay? So, there's
So, are now, you know, working on that stuff. And so yesterday, I got a call from our state representative Mindy Domb because I left a message with her asking her to please call me back because I want to talk about that and our work in the HRC
because I think they all interconnect. Because at the core of it all is a violation of human rights. It's a violation of civil rights. And I mean, right down to the grassroots level. So if we start there and we interconnect that all the way up the
pipeline to the state, we could say, "Okay. So we are connected to that legislation. So what can we do from the ground level to build a pipeline all the way up so that we have access to the state legislature?" So when we recognize
things that are unaddressed in the at the state at the state level in or in the Protect Act, can we work with people like, you know, Senator Joe Comerford as well as Mindy Domb
to steer through legislation after we work it through our own commission here using also the power of the town council. And we have a liaison in Jill Promnitz. So in using the mechanisms that we already
have in place, I I decided to speak with Paul to see, "Okay, you know, how is it that he feels so hamstrung through this whole thing? You know, why
can't he do anything?" And his, you know, response again, like in the meeting, was similar along the lines that >> You know, it is an issue about, I guess, jurisdictional power. It's a federal versus the local. You
know, he cannot kill any federal agency that they cannot operate or do stuff there. My point to him was, they may be legal entities, but that doesn't mean you go conduct those uh job that you have to do the job in a
manner that looks illegal. So, in other words, if if an officer broke into a house to abduct somebody for the reasons of immigration, that violates our Fourth Amendment right
to things such as warrantless seizures and things like that. So, that's a breaking constitutional law. And if you're breaking the law already, then the police should step in on the powers of the Constitution that you are
breaking and entering without a warrant or anything of that sort, and you're conducting yourself in an illegal way, and therefore they should be arrested. And uh he said that he could speak with Ching again
about those things, uh but he feels that he needs more help. I said, "What kind of help? You You know, do you need state help? You know, what do you need?" He said, "Yeah, he thinks he would welcome any help that comes out of HRC, that comes out of, you
know, the state." So, I mean, that was basically the feedback that I got from him. And then, you know, following that, I had an hour's conversation, an hour and 3 minutes exactly, with Chief Ching. And he said that, you know, basically, his
concern is about wanting his officers to be able to go home alive to their families. He feels far too often that they are treated as if they are not human.
And I assured him that according to the Human Rights Commission, human rights are the rights of every human, including the police officers, but their job description may involve physical encounters. That's
a different issue altogether. Um and then his point was that he refuses to commit a crime to stop a crime. Meaning stopping a federal officer
in an act of duty to prevent the crime which could be like the violation of, let's say, the Fourth Amendment or something of that sort. So, he's caught in a quandary. So, I asked him, you know, what help do you want? He said that he he only has 42
officers and that three positions are frozen. Um and that UMass has 60 officers and they've tried this in the law in in the courts and that the UMass officers cannot work in the town.
He feels stretched and he says whenever they receive the call that they do go out and they do question things. Um but again, you know, I you know, ask him about this point about merely recording. You know,
merely observing. I said, "How is that different from a protester who is present and recording?" You know, how does it distinguish you? Because you've given up your your your badge to be a journalist at that point in
time. So, that was my point. So, in any event, he feels handcuffed, so to speak. He cannot act beyond that because he's he asked me "What will you do if the federal government arrested one of his
officers?" "How would you help us out?" I didn't have an answer to that. So, in any event uh you know, in gathering more information, I also spoke with Pamela Young because she's our director. In
fact, I started with her. And she said I should reach out to to the to the state representative and to the uh not to the senator. So, I did that. Uh and so Comerford's office, I mean, I
didn't get a call from uh Joe. Uh but I did you know, pass on our concerns that this is a very special case in this particular town because it's a college town, it attracts international people.
Highly educated, great artists. You you know, I mean, academic stuff, business people, a number of different areas. And uh we feel very very vulnerable because of that profile. And we needed helping that
way. So, I think the assistant took that message on to Joe. So, when I spoke with you know, Mindy about these issues, she she reminded me about the Protect Act. She said that they will reconcile that perhaps by the
end of this month. And after that has been reconciled uh she is happy to come along with Joe Comerford to the town council and speak with them and answer them. And she also assured me that she's very happy to work
with our Human Rights Commission directly. So, I I think that, you know, in building these kinds of uh you I guess you know branching networks, we you know could have access you know
to the state legislature and and have a real impact in the kind of legislation that's that will be drafted. But after this comes out of conference and there's a law, I fear that we will still be short of what we need.
And those would involve I think like the special profile of what this town is, how it affects other towns like Northampton and South Hadley where you have the PVTA buses coming to the town and having vulnerable students there. And it's not just you know international
folks. They're they're also targeting American citizens who look a certain way. This is a racial profiling. And I mean this violates so many laws. Uh you know one cannot keep tabs on that.
And so this whole effort then in the proposal was to see how we could identify uh at the grassroots level here through the HRC because we're all residents in the town. It cannot be be more grassroots than that. And we identify
those issues and then escalate those issues to the town council using Jill you know Jill Brevik as a conduit to the larger body. And if they wish us to share information with them, we could do that. Any one of us could do that.
Uh all of us could do that. >> Jake, could you conclude your comments? >> Yes. >> We're watching the time. >> Thanks. >> And then from there um work with you know work with the state legislature on these issues.
Um I think there are certain things such as supplementary laws that could be added to the Protect Act and we could be a part of that. >> Okay. I want to ask if there are any more comments before I summarize a little bit
and then move us along to our action steps. Okay. >> Actually, if I could add one more thing. >> Okay. >> Um uh in you know, looking uh at the US Constitution, it does have a thing called state
rights. That's the 10th Amendment. And we are relying, you know, heavily on that aspect. And under the 10th Amendment, it says that the states are in charge of things such as public health and public safety.
So, we can set the rules about how police officers and any law enforcement officer conducts himself or herself in the state. So, that's you know, sort of a loophole there, which we could use uh
you know, in dealing with the issue. >> Okay. So, I know that you wrote this proposal for us to vote on today, Jay, but honestly, my feeling is that it's not ready for that. And my own personal view on it, it's not
your solutions. I agree with the solutions you proposed, but your problem statement, it's all about what the police need and don't have. And I don't think this is really the forum for how the police are saying they don't
have enough staff because it's not like they're going to do anything if they have three more officers or 50 more officers. So, I think their staffing, their all that sort of is outside the scope of this. For me, the central crux of the context is fear.
That people are feeling fear. I know I feel it, as I said at the meeting. And what we need is solutions that's going to help people feel confident. So, I definitely think one part is um the state. And I agree with you, Mindy
Domb and Joe Comerford. But I would ask that while all of us can do what we can want to do individually, we're perfectly within our rights and we should do it. I think we have a certain amount of power as the Human Rights Commission. I'd like
us to try to do it with CSSJC. If that's not possible, we don't have to, but I think we should try because this initiative was a joint initiative, and they were very proactive in getting us that forum on June 8th and having us be
panelists at that forum. So, I don't feel like we can just leave them, and I think we have strength when we go together. Um so, I think we definitely need some kind of strategy that will take us to the state level, and I
think we need to talk about 287G because Protect is already there. It's in conference. It's going to be done, as Mindy told you. It's already there. The problem, in my mind, is the 287G. It's
you cannot allow collaboration. That whole thing they're not They're saying they don't like it, but they're not talking about it. Nobody's doing anything about it. So, I think our strategy has to force them to address that. It has to force them to address where we're seeing the problems. It has
to pressure them to give permission somehow to town authorities to take localized action that makes sense in each context. As you said, our context is different because we have all these international people
here. So, we have a lot more people at risk. We have a lot more people with all kinds of visas that makes them vulnerable. And um so that I think is definitely a big part of it. I have two other pathways I'd like to suggest that we do in parallel. One
is to send is to review all the questions and review all the answers and send back the questions that haven't been answered. I'm happy to do that, but I would need one person to work with me to go over everything to make sure we covered everything.
Then we have a third pathway which is the earlier coalition that we built that's community-based that's not dependent on town government. And so I had a brief conversation with Pamela. If we agree, if we the commission
agrees, because we called that coalition together in the first place last year, we can call those people and some others who we've gotten to know now together to sit around the table and say what can we the community do to address the fear that people are
feeling. And I don't know the answer to that, but I think we have to sit down and talk about that. There's no reason while we're doing that that we shouldn't be pushing uh the state government to give our town the permission to help us
and making sure the legal framework exists. So I'm proposing that Jay um and one of us, there aren't many of us, maybe two of us work with CSS JCN carve out this agenda
and submit a request to Mindy and um Joe Comerford, but I don't think we need to go through the town council. I think it'll take too long. I think we have power. I mean there are very few things we can do, but one of the things I mean we have
convening authority. We can write letters and I think that our state leadership will listen to us if we give a provide a thoughtful letter and ask for a meeting with the commission and CSSJC.
And Jill, because she's our representative to the town council. So, this is what I'm proposing and I sort of want to get to agreement on whether this is adequate or does someone have a fourth pathway and then we'll just take a vote on
whether we agree or not and go forward and do the work that needs to be done in smaller groups, maybe groups of two or three, okay? Jay? >> Yes, definitely we should be working with, you know, CSSJC because they were so instrumental in the joint meeting and
I think that we have a lot of, I think, common and overlapping interests. So, it makes a whole lot of sense for that to happen. Uh with regards to the 287G, uh what struck me was that there was a
ruling by a judge Sorokin. There was um the, you know, I guess Department of Justice that sued uh Mayor I think Michelle Wu
sued the Boston Police Department and sued, I think, I think and sued the, like, town council or something. And then that particular judge, you know, dismissed the case because he said that the Department of Justice
doesn't have standing. And in any event, by law and by [clears throat] Massachusetts Constitution, the, you know, police officers cannot work, you know, with those far you know, with
the federal authorities, you know, regardless. So, those were the reason that that he dismissed the case. You can look it up again, but you know, that was an interesting read from the judge. >> Okay. So, I'm going to go with these
three options and ask you to say to vote I'm I'm going to move that we pursue these three pathways. One is sending back the questions that they didn't answer. Number two is the state developing the state level strategy for a potential meeting and discussion with
Mindy Dome and Joe Comerford. And the third is following up with the community-based coalition to see what we can come up with to help people address their fear. Um if you're generally in agreement with this, um
I move to go forward using that three-pronged strategy. Is there a second? Jay? Okay. Um I'm going to start at a different place in my list. Rizwana?
>> Okay. >> Um Ronnie, yes. Jay? >> Yes. >> Alex? >> Can I abstain on this one or no? >> Uh you can because we have enough people. Okay, then then I will We need
four, right? Do we need five? No, we need only four cuz we're seven. You can abstain. Well, abstention is a vote, so that's fine. And then Milan? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Motion is passed. So, now
all I want to do is figure out who's going to do what. Um I'm happy to do the questions, but I need someone to work with me who will listen to the recording and see where all the they said, "We'll get back to you. We don't have this information,
etc. Questions left unanswered. Who can do that? Milan, thank you very much. So, Milan and I will work on that. The state level strategy Jay >> Yes. >> I'll work with you. Is there somebody else who wants to work on that? It's
going to be involved looking at the law and all that. We might actually call on Roy to provide some support on that research support. Would that interest you, Roy? And I'll be able to do that, Philip? >> Yes. >> Okay. Great. >> If that's okay with Philip and Pamela.
>> [laughter] >> That's right. >> Okay. Um and then um the last part is the local coalition. Um anybody interested in working with me on that? I got to know a lot of people in town and what we need to do is make
calls and find a place and organize everyone around the table. Find a place, a date. UU Church was great. Rizwana, anybody else? You can do two things, you know. Okay. Milan, great. Okay, so
we now have people in charge of these things and I'll be in touch with you so we can figure out what the specific action steps are. Is there anything else we need to do on that, Philip, before we move to the bylaw? >> Nope, I think that's good.
>> Okay. Great. So, moving on. This is our big agenda, guys. We really have to get our heads and hearts to work because the way people are afraid in this town is not acceptable. It just We're human
beings. It's not tolerable. We have to find a way to support each other. So, I don't have the answers, but I think we can come up with something if we sit down together. Um the next agenda item is the Human Rights
Commission charge and bylaw update. It's all been passed. You guys have seen a copy of it. Um basically, it's all done. The only big change is that we're now a group of seven instead of a group of nine, which
means our forum is four, not five. Um the piece that they didn't tackle is the procedures piece, what used to be called procedures, and that has to do with um what we actually do.
Including how complaints are filed and all that kind of stuff. So, my suggestion is to do that, have the procedures discussion at our retreat. Um there's one other issue, which is the
complaints, because we talked about um we talked last year about looking at the complaints, and if we see a repetition, if we see the same organization or the same person um repeatedly violating human rights,
you know, then we said we would make that public. So, another thing we have to discuss is what is that process, cuz you don't want to just call out someone. You want to try to talk to them first. So, those are all things we'll have to work on somehow, because the report is
coming up. Alex has started the draft of the report, and we'll look at it next month. Um are there any questions about the bylaw? The new bylaw, the charge. Okay, we have our mandate there. Youth
Hero Awards update, Philip. >> I thought you were going to give that update. Um >> Well, I've been talking so much, I think somebody else should >> Got it. Yeah, no problem. >> Otherwise, everyone will fall asleep. >> Uh Sunday, we had the Youth Hero Awards. Um
really great turnout and Um, Ronnie was there, Milan was there. It was It was a really great time. Liz was also there. We presented nine awards to awardees with one being a group, Amherst FemGen. And
yeah, I think it's just a great moment to take that time and recognize our young youth. Our youngest youth was in elementary school and our oldest were in high school. So, just so broad a range of, you know, seeing seeing people and
just hearing everything that they do. I think one that sticks out to me, that I remember reading, was that there was a youth that really goes above and beyond to help a um person with disabilities
on their everyday, you know, from going around to stomping down snow to create a path for this person to access places. So, just I think it just is a really great time to take those moments and, you know, recognize youth.
>> I want to add that, you know, in our society, we value so many things. You know, there are exams, there's sports, there's all kinds of stuff that people get recognized for, but nobody gets recognized for being nice. And yet,
that's what constitutes a good society. I mean, if we want peace in our society, we have to learn to listen to each other and be and think of each other. And this kid that Philip was talking about, he's this little tiny kid, you know, and he just
looked a little bit scared as he walked up to get his award, but you know, hopefully he has been told what a great great thing this little kid was doing. And so, I think these Youth Hero Awards are really important and
we've relied a lot on Liz to um identify the kids and somebody in the school system. I was thinking of you, Orswana. We don't have anybody else who's in the school system to be on the lookout, to be talking to the teachers, you know, for candidates next year would
be nice. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. I think really good in that moment. Yeah, definitely someone taking on the the aspect of writing up what it is that the kids did cuz you know they they write up on their submission, but then it goes above and beyond, right?
You can only put so much in in a writing. And I just want to also mention that Mindy Don was also there and gave um citations to all the youth um there. So, just adding on um to this um specialness of the awards there.
>> And, you know, if she wants to do that again next year, it would be good to coordinate a little bit more to know she's coming and to coordinate the awards, but it was great that she got awards for these kids that were signed by the uh not the Secretary of State, the head of
the House of Representatives of the State of Massachusetts. So, Orswana? >> Yeah, might be. If I do it, it'll be a privacy issue because they're very sensitive in the schools as to whose
names um go out. So, it'll be basically the flyers and that will be work better than any other person saying it. >> They they they always write up what they always write up what they want to say.
You just sort of try to make it read powerfully and well. >> Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, I can do that. >> Yeah. I thought I was going to write it up. >> I was going to nominate them because I cannot nominate them inside the school in situation.
>> up the award and you encourage the adults to nominate somebody they know. >> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay, yeah, I I'd love to do that. >> Because in the schools you came to mind and I think >> Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I'd like to get involved in that.
>> Okay. >> That'll be great. Thank you. >> All right, Philip, DEI update. Oh, any other questions about Youth Heroes? Okay. >> All right, DEI update. For staff training, we've come to an end here.
First staff training, we'll pick back up in the fall. For department training, we were able to give trainings to all departments. We did see a good number of departments of attendance. I will note that no one had 100%
attendance, but for various reasons, also sick days, you know, whatever it have you, but just noting that. Last month we hosted our last youth programming for the fiscal year and we'll start back up again in the fall.
That was a career fair. Very well attended as well as our panelists there. We have received the Community Heart and Soul Grant and we are in the works of making that happen. More to come in the
fall really for any kind of big announcement. I will say one thing to note about that is that the grant requires us to hire a part-time program coordinator. So, we are in the process of doing so. Interviews should be starting in the next week or two. So, if
you have anybody in mind that's interested in a part-time position, you can go on to the town's website and we are hiring for that position. The town with the public health department, the Crest department, and the DEI department are hosting community wellness and
resiliency conversations. It's a four-part series. So, one has occurred on May 28th, the other one was last week on Thursday, and the following two are in tomorrow and then the next Thursday. And they're conversations around kind of
big impacts that have happened in our community. The murder of the person at UMass, the racist letter that was spread around in town, and the closing of Hampshire College is what kind of prompted these
conversations. And so our three departments, public health, Crest, and DEI, felt that it was a time for our take a moment and just hold space for people to discuss conversations around those topics. So again, that is happening tomorrow at
the Banks Community Center at 5:30 to 7:00. And then the next one is next Thursday, also same time, same place. We talked about the Youth Hero Award. Just want to say thank you to all of our sponsors there and partners, and really
just shout out Marita Bando for the Race Amity Day proportion of the events. I think it brings, you know, a celebratory type of environment. And so I just want to acknowledge her in my shout-out there. Upcoming, we have Pride happening on the
28th. So if you are around and in town, if you would like to march, there's still time to sign up. If you would like to just attend and see all the vendors, we're going to have 80-plus vendors on the common and performances throughout the day. So it's
going to be a really great time. That is from 12:00 to 3:00. Just want to put that on people's radar. Again, that is June 28th. Our newsletter goes out. You all received our newsletter. If anybody's looking for the newsletter, it is on our
town's website on the DEI's page. And if you would like to be added, just go ahead and email me. Uh this upcoming month here of July, we are going to be hosting um or putting up a panel display of
um a July 4th celebration that's titled We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and then dot dot dot, but because it is kind of acknowledging um the 250th anniversary of this um founding of the country, but
that, you know, not everything was equal for everybody when that so or when the country came to be. So, the panel display is going to be at Town Hall. Um I really encourage you all to take a look at it. Um if you're included in our our newsletter, which you all are, you
will kind of see a digital copy, but we are encouraging people to go to Town Hall if you're able to. On Sunday, July 5th, um we are co-sponsoring um the reading of Frederick Douglass' What
to the Slave is the Fourth of July speech. Um it's going to be the annual reading that exists at South Church um there with um various community partners. There's going to be a panel discussion um moderated by me. Um we're going to
talk a little bit about kind of the speech there and then just a gathering. So, just want to highlight that event and then lastly for events that are happening in July is uh Disability Pride Month and so there are two events um happening, one on July 16th, which is a
story time reading and it's um from a local um Paralympian, Tori Dixon, and her husband, Juan Dixon, will be um joining us at both of those events. So, um July 16th is a story time reading and July 20th will be at No River Pool and
really highlighting some of the adaptive um and sensory equipment that the rec department has for access for people with disabilities. So, we encourage you to attend any of those upcoming events. And as you can tell, we are very busy in
the department for the last few months here of the fiscal year. >> Yeah, Philip, I have to say one special thing for you. Since you have joined us over here, your newsletters are just super super good. They are very comprehensive and they
cover everything. Makes me so happy. This is I It's not the first time, you know, you've been here for a while now, but they're really very good and it really helps me figure out where to go and so on. So, keep up the good work. Good job. >> I appreciate you saying that and I do
have to shout out our interns because they do a lot of behind-the-work scenes. Definitely for for that. So, thank you, Roy and Valentine. >> That's a good leadership, basically. Good leadership. >> Ronnie, I think you're muted if you >> We're moving to the retreat now.
Um and in I think last year Alex reminded me we had it in September. Uh I'm going to be out of the country September 10th onwards for a whole month. Uh Alex will be back September 1.
Um what do people's schedules look like? We usually did it on a Saturday, right? But we could do it on a weekday, couldn't we, Philip? >> Yeah, we could definitely do it on a
weekday on a um if it's closer to possibly evening hours when people are out of work or whenever. >> Mhm. We can do it in August August. >> I think Alex is not going to be there until September 1st. >> We did it in August, Alex would have to
join online and I think only in the worst case scenario would we go that route because we like having everybody be physically present. So, who has constraints, let's say the first week of September? Because the alternatively we could do it
in October. We've done that before, too. >> Mhm. >> So, it's not you know, it's it's more a question of when everybody's available. I would like to hear some thoughts on what your preferences are. >> I'm good with anything between September
1st and 10th. Like just anything in September before you leave. >> And does that work for you, Alex? >> Yeah, >> [laughter] >> what about the 5th, you know, which is a Saturday? >> If you want to do it on a Saturday, then
I think we're we either do that Saturday that's Memorial not Memorial Labor Day or we have to go to October and either of those is actually fine. We really just want to have everybody there. Milan?
>> I I like September. Um I was just to answer the constraints, Tuesdays and Wednesdays aren't usually good days for me just cuz there are uh meetings, but uh
Thursdays and or also Fridays and the weekend are fine. >> Yes, so for me I I like 5 or 6 Like in September, either either the Saturday or the Sunday. >> Um Rizwana, would the weekend work for you?
>> Yeah, that'll be perfect. Not a problem. >> And Alex, September 5th or 6th that weekend would be okay? And >> Yeah. >> Philip? >> Uh I prefer the 5th, but we could definitely do the 6th.
>> Well, since the weekend, let's go with the 5th then if the 5th is your preference. Okay, and basically we tend to take like the bulk of a middle of the day. Like we don't start first thing in the morning and we try to have lunch in the middle
so that we have some time to socialize with each other in person as well. So like 10:00 to 2:00, 3:00. What do you think, Philip? >> Yeah, I think that's what we've historically done. I think we overshoot
it probably an hour and then we we kind of end early, but I guess it really depends on your all's agenda items. >> early because of the agenda this time. >> Okay. Yeah, so I think that that probably should be either you and I can work that out and
we can let people know, but I I think the time frame of a two or of 10:00 to 3:00 and then if we cut it shorter than that would make sense. >> if we finish soon, we can go home. Nobody's going to force you to stay. Um okay, so if everyone could mark
September 5th on your calendar, just block out the daytime. Um Who's missing here? We have a new We Silas is missing and we have a new um commissioner who will come on board by then. >> Mhm.
>> Great. Okay. Um >> I think parking permits? >> Yeah, I'll make sure that we have parking permits cuz yeah, it's a Saturday, I think. Yeah, cuz Yes, I will make sure. >> Thank you.
>> Okay, um is there any other agenda item that we haven't talked about? Okay, I think we've talked enough. So, I'm going to follow up with you all um about the work that we said we would get to on our own time, and I just want
to make sure I have the right person. So, for the part that um is the write-up of the strategy to go to um Mindy and um Joe Comerford. Jay is there, and there was one other person who signed up for that. >> Yes.
>> It's me. Who? Okay. And then um for the local thing, it's me with um >> I think Milan. >> Rizwana, Milan. >> Yeah, Milan. >> Rizwana, did you say that the quest-
questions is Milan? Yeah, I need your technical ability. Okay. And the local meeting, it's me, Milan, and Rizwana. Is that correct? Did you say yes to that, Milan, or was >> Yeah, I had the I signed up for I agreed to two. Um
the local uh organizations and um the first >> from that. You'll find lots of people to interview for your show. >> Yeah. >> Okay, then we're all set. Um I am now seeking a motion to adjourn.
>> Second. >> Who moved? >> I second. I second it. >> We need a motion. >> I thought you just moved. >> Milan has seconded. Okay. Um it is now 7:20 p.m. and the meeting
of the Human Rights Commission is adjourned. Thank you all. >> All right. >> Thank you and good night everyone. >> Okay, bye-bye. Have a good night. >> for coming the distance. Bye.