Editor’s note: These are the opening and closing remarks delivered at the June 13 Town Meeting by Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden.
By Sarah Canon Holden
I want to welcome everyone here today. If you are new to Town Meeting, I can assure that we are all new to Town Meeting in this place, at this time, in this abbreviated format, and in late spring. At one level this is an experiment for all of us. But, as usual, we are here to deliberate, reflect, ask questions, and vote.
As we ease into the meeting I ask that we pause to remember our fellow citizens who have died since we last met. Many volunteered on boards and committees. They were our neighbors and friends. Let us pause for a moment of silence in their memory.
As your Town Moderator, I want to share some brief thoughts with you during this time of crisis and social unrest in our country, but before I do, I want to speak directly to our police officers here in Lincoln. Most assuredly this has been a most difficult and stressful time for each of you. You are professionals caught up in a tidal wave of anger against law enforcement. But the protests are not against you; they are against those who would abuse the dignity and authority of their badge to engage in abusive and at times criminal behavior. Under the leadership of Chief Kevin Kennedy you maintain the dignity of your badge and exercise properly the authority it bestows upon you. We are grateful for your service.
And so just like our Lincoln police officers, we have come face to face with racism in this country in a way that no one can ignore. We have seen racism in its most cruel and blatant expression. We must have the difficult and long overdue conversations, uncover facts and history, and we must demand systemic changes. We must speak out for justice and equality. We must engage in the critical thinking required. We must reflect on the words of the 13th Amendment — please go home and read it — and acknowledge its escape clause for those not ready for the end of slavery. We must look at our prison system, our schools, our housing, our courts, our pay scales, our assumptions — here and beyond. And the “we” here is everyone — black, white, brown, everyone — everyone together. You are thinking about all of this. We all are. So, please let us pause again for a moment of silence for George Floyd, whose brutal murder may have finally forced the conversations which will result in the changes we must seek.
* * *
Before we leave this place to go back to our worlds — in whatever form that may be — I would like to say a few closing words. We have shown that even under unusual circumstances we can pull ourselves together. That is because we have capable leadership in this town which was prepared. They kept abreast of the state restrictions and protocols. They met the required deadlines. They deliberated and they did all they could to get information out to the town via Zoom and the U.S. Postal Service. And all of you showed up. Thank you. We all value our right to vote as well as the unique New England institution of Town Meeting. There may be procedures from this year that we will continue as we go forward. I am sure there will be plenty of introspection and review.
As we leave here now, I ask that we listen again to our town’s vision statement as mentioned by Jennifer. It says that we will “foster economic, racial/ethnic, and age diversity among [our] citizenry through… educational, housing and other public policy.” This is the town’s vision, agreed to by the voters. Let it be our collective 2020 vision to take the necessary steps to breathe new life and vigor into this goal.
”My Turn” is a forum for Lincoln residents to offer their views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
