Two anti-racism events, one Sunday and another prior to Tuesday’s City Council meeting, planned

Melina Floyd-Torres, here addressing participants at a community conversation following the rally of white supremacists earlier this summer, will be leading a second community conversation on diversity, equity and inclusion this Sunday at the amphitheater at Rockwell Park. | TBE file photo

Posted By: David Fortier September 9, 2023

By David Fortier

Two separate events sponsored by local groups advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion against racism are scheduled in the next few days.

Melina Floyd-Torres will lead a community conversation, “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” featuring local speakers, organizations and leaders Sunday, Sept. 10, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Rockwell Park amphitheater.

Bristol’s Anti-Racism Brigade will rally before this month’s City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the Bristol Board of Education on School Street. The rally is titled, “Stand with B.A.R.B in Dismantling White Supremacy.”

Both groups are responding to the recent activity by white supremacist groups and the uncovering of racist language in personal Facebook posts from the manager of the Bristol Farmers Market.

The activity by white supremacists, last year in the form of leaflets dropped in neighborhoods and this spring in posters with racist propaganda along several major routes in the city, as well as a mid-summer white supremacist rally along Rt. 72 by the Todd Street Park and Ride, has met with a tepid response from the mayor and his administration.

In a video address, announcing the resignation of the individual from his position with the farmers market and the Bristol Rotary Club, Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano voiced his displeasure over the racist posts by the former Bristol Farmers Market manager.

The mayor has been invited to the community conversation on Sunday, Floyd-Torres said, in a listening capacity.

“My long-term goal is that we can educate Bristol on what it really means to dismantle white supremacy and racism,” Floyd-Torres said in a text. “It’s actually a conscious effort and that is why talking about and focusing on it is so important.”

Floyd-Torres led a similar conversation two Sundays ago at the location where white supremacist rallied the previous week. The conversation drew a small collection of local leaders from the Democratic party and individuals on short notice and was live streamed on Facebook.

In response to the appearance of the white supremacists and after Floyd-Torres rally, the Bristol Democratic Party held a press conference denouncing the mayor’s lukewarm reaction and disclosing the racist Facebook posts by the farmers market manager.

“When we lose focus because ‘it’s not trending anymore,’ we start to lose hope for change,” she said. “I would like to see the current mayor of Bristol formally and loudly denounce white supremacy and acknowledge that racism has been a public health crisis in Connecticut.”

She said that she will speak to this issue at Sunday’s rally and again at the BARB rally before the city council meeting on Tuesday.

As for Sunday’s community conversation, Floyd-Torres said, people from the community are invited and encouraged to share their experiences and ideas and needs for change.

In addition, speakers will include invited guests, among them members of the Bristol Democratic Party and those running in local upcoming local elections. Diversity Commission chair Jaymie Bianca and members of B.A.R.B will also be among the speakers.

The Bristol Anti-Racism Brigade, which was formed last year after the white supremacist leaflets were discovered in neighborhoods in the northeast section of the city, plans to rally before the city council meeting Tuesday.

Along with Floyd-Torres, speakers at the rally will include among others, Alanis Ashby of NB Racial Justic Coalition, Keren Prescott of Power Up, Cornell Lewis of the Self Defense Brigade and B.A.R.B’s Adam Antar.

Members of B.A.R.B raised strong objections to the mayor’s response to the presence of the leaflets and at one point drafted an anti-racist proclamation, which was presented to the mayor for consideration but never brought before the city council.

In city council meetings following the discussion with the mayor, B.A.R.B. members raised strong objections to the mayor’s responses. At times the objections showcased the group’s frustration in loud and profane language.

“We are hoping to celebrate everyone in our community, in juxtaposition to the hate groups,” said Adam Antar, of B.A.R.B. “We are calling out the inaction of the current administration in Bristol. They’re inaction is what has allowed these escalations in white supremacy.”

He said the goal of the rally is to strengthen the community and make it stronger.

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