Progress made following racial justice initiatives over the summer in Newport – newportri.com

Laura Damon|Newport Daily News

NEWPORT In May, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody brought scores of people nationwide to the streets in protest.

Cries for racial justice arguably characterized the summer of 2020. And as demands to "defund the police" and criticism of departmentsswirled, Randy Butler had an idea.

Lets talk it out.

The founder of the Butler Basketball Club organized a community discussion with Newport police in June to talk strategies and plans for a brighter future and stronger police-community bond.

The Daily News spoke with Butler in December to gauge if the changes this community discussion catalyzed.

The summer of 2020 also yielded Newport City Council resolutions thatcondemned hate speech and called for African heritage history education in all public schools statewide, starting in the 2021-22 academic year. The Daily News sought updates on those initiatives, too, on the cusp of the New Year.

Community Discussion

[With] the police, we have been doing a lot of ventures since [the community discussion in June], Butler said in a phone conversation. There have been between eight and nine events that police have collaborated on with community organizations and individuals, including a backpack giveaway, Butler said.

Any time I go to them, its always a yes. Its never a no.

Asked if the discussion in June strengthened community-police relations, Butler said by far it has. Hes seen longtime Newport families talking with police now in a casual setting, something the Newport nativehadnever seen before.

They broke the ice…they see that the police are out there trying to do something…even the kids, I think it broke the ice.

Butler said hell hold another community discussion in 2021; COVID-19 restrictions have put an event any sooner on hold.

The more things that we all do together, the better as a whole community were going to get, Butler said. Our progress is moving in the right direction.

Resolution condemning hate speech

The City Council in June passed on a 6-1 vote a resolution that condemned hate speech and instructed the city manager to provide implicit bias training for city employees and councilors.

Though it passed, the discussions around the resolution at that summer meeting were impassioned.

The Daily News asked councilor Jamie Bova, who was mayor at the time and sponsored the resolution, what she learned from those discussions.

Looking at it from a larger perspective…I think it did help to break the ice [and was] the start of a deeper conversation for the council, for the city government, Bova said in phone conversation in December.

Since that meeting, I do think that systemic racism has been discussed on the council in ways that it hadnt been before."

Plus, the discussion surrounding the resolution gave constituents insight into the thoughts and feelings of elected officials, Bova said. I think that people heard from their councilors in a way that they hadnt before.

Asked the status of the implicit bias training, Tom Shevlin, the communications officer for the city, said in an email Dec. 23 that virtual training was offered and saw broad participation from both employees as well as council members.

Looking ahead, well also be offering additional opportunities in the New Year for staff and council to discuss and learn about issues such as social identity, bias and stereotype threat as well.

We all have those [implicit biases] we dont always recognize, Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano said when asked the importance of the resolution and the training it instructed the city manager to provide.

African American history in schools

In July, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution that encouraged the General Assembly and Gov. Gina Raimondo to enact legislation that should authorize the Rhode Island Department of Education to include African Heritage history education in all public K-12 schools starting in the 2021-22 Academic Year.

Napolitano was the lead sponsor of the resolution but credited Theresa Guzmn Stokes and Keith Stokes, leaders in the Black Heritage Society, for playing a big part in its development, The Daily News reported previously.

A statewide effort to create a new curriculum was already underway. The 1696 Historical Commission was created by statute on July 1, 2014, and given the task of developing a comprehensive African American history curriculum for Rhode Island public schools from kindergarten through Grade 12, The Daily News reported previously.

The Daily News, in December, inquired of Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain the current African American history curriculum in Newport schools. Jermain forwarded emails from school officials over the summer that summarized the curriculum.

Currently Black History is being taught during the month of February K-12, Assistant Superintendent Kimberly Behan said in a July 15 email. However an entire unit on Black History is taught in Grade 7 Social Studies in Jan & Feb, along with Women's History in March.

Black history and its relationship to the slave trade is taught through RI History at the [high school], Behan added. And theres Black historical literature incorporated into English courses at the middle and high school levels, Behan said in that July email.

We are moving toward adopting an ELA curriculum K-12 that is culturally relevant, Behan added. History is a narrative, Black History should not be just a month, it is American History and should not be relegated to one month…In addition to teaching diverse histories one of the purposes of education is to humanize and this can be done through all subjects, not just one month of Black History and not just through Social Studies and ELA.

In a July email, Rogers teacher Coleen Turner, chairwoman of the schools social studies department, touched on the African American history and diversity topics covered in 9th, 10th and 11th grade history courses.

Behan, in a December email, said Thompson Middle School and Rogers High School currently provide racial training and [are] involved in book clubs. [Rogers Principal Jared Vance] is running a student led diversity group.

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Progress made following racial justice initiatives over the summer in Newport - newportri.com