Anti-Racism Alliance

MARA has reached out to Maynard's candidates for School Committee, Select Board and Housing Authority.  We have asked for candidates to respond to a set of questions that raise issues of interest to members of the Maynard community.   We are posting responses as we receive them.

Here are the responses from Mike Stevens, candidate for Select Board 1 year:

1. How are you actively working to make Maynard a more inclusive and welcoming place for all of its residents? (Please note concrete examples of actions or policies you have promoted/supported or that you would like to see implemented).

I grew up as a privileged white male during the 1960’s and 70’s in a world which was institutionally and structurally inequitable in all too many respects, but where there was little in-depth education at the time to provide a more comprehensive understanding of these dynamics.  Fortunately, as I grew into an adult, I was drawn to the need to combat the many forms of oppression and discrimination, and to recognize unconscious bias as it occurs.  I worked deliberately to educate myself about how to improve my awareness and understanding, and how to apply this in daily life - a process that continues to this day. My reading list in the last year for example includes the writings of Frederick Douglas and the 1619 Project essays.

My experiences as a teacher in Maynard and a school administrator in Framingham have provided me with considerable informal and formal training in matters of promoting and reinforcing equity and inclusivity, lessons that would continue to be valuable as a member of the Select Board. I know, for example, that we must continue to recognize and celebrate the many different communities within the town in multiple ways (such as the movement for Maynard to mark National Indigenous Day in October).  We must ensure that all those in positions of influence in town are educated about matters such as implicit bias and how they can affect decision making. We must strive for a powerful institutional culture in which differences are highly valued, and where messages of hate are not tolerated. These cannot be properly accomplished without ongoing educated commitment to the quest for full inclusivity.  

2. In recent years there have been a number of incidents in Maynard that have caused harm to members of marginalized groups (for example, most recently, racist/anti-Semitic graffiti in one of the Maynard schools).  How do you see your role in working to prevent further harm for members of minoritized groups? If you are running for re-election, please also talk about what you have done to prevent harm during your time as an elected official.

Sadly, despite ongoing attempts to prevent them, some people choose a path of expressing hatred of one form or another.  We have only  to look at our wider culture and history to witness any number of forces that enable children and adults to indulge in such terrible expression.  Our job as parents, teachers, friends, colleagues and leaders is to recognize that our community can only be healthy if it is truly inclusive of all groups, especially those that have been historically marginalized, and then to take the necessary steps to bring this about. 

We need systems in place to respond to incidents just as we do for fires and weather emergencies, and these need to be more visible to the community than they currently are. We must remember that an incident such as the one described in the question does not define a school or community. There are many important questions to ask, including; Is there an existing strong culture of identifying and calling out  troubling behavior such as ‘casual’ pejoratives? Is the community overtly engaging with those at risk of being marginalized? In school, do all students have adults whom they trust and can share any concerns they might experience? Does the community exhibit consistent high expectations at all levels (students, administrators, parents, teachers, drivers to name just a few) that hate and intimidation have no place here? Fortunately, there are abundant resources to help us reach a point where the answers to these questions are firmly positive, including many skilled and motivated residents of Maynard as evidenced by the existence of the Maynard Anti-Racism Alliance.

Fortunately, Maynard already exhibits a strong culture of support for inclusivity. We have a well established foundation on which to build continuous improvements.  Establishing policies and putting them into practice should always be viewed through lenses that filter for personal and institutional bias.  If a policy or practice is not appropriate for all, then it is very likely not appropriate. The role of town leaders is to ensure that we lead by example in our actions, to maintain and strengthen a deep-seated culture of intolerance for hate, discrimination and oppression, and to respond quickly and emphatically when harmful incidents occur.  I look forward to the opportunity to contribute more directly in this leadership role.