Why #7

 “I’m here as a Christian, as a parent, as a former conservative Republican, and as a community member who loves my small town.

My faith instructs me to love my neighbor as myself. My love for my town compels me to recognize its faults and try to make it better. My experience as a parent reminds me daily that every human being is someone’s child. 

Since becoming a parent, I have watched crying children be intentionally ripped from their parents’ arms at the southern border; learned of the horrific suicide rates of transgender teens; and watched George Floyd beg for his mother as he took his final breaths. I started to realize the ways in which my own ignorance was contributing to these horrors. I began to imagine what it would feel like to be a mother at the southern border, or the mother of a transgender child, or the mother of a Black man murdered at the hands of the police.

I committed to listen. I was raised colorblind and taught that Pride flags were unnecessary celebrations of something that should be “kept private”: I had never actually listened to people who were members of marginalized groups about the ways they are daily made to feel unwanted and invisible. I learned with horror that racism doesn’t just look like burning crosses and racial slurs, and that something as simple as sharing my pronouns can make an entire group of vulnerable people feel seen and valued. 

I began to recognize problematic behavior in our community, often by elected leaders. I connected with others who shared my concerns. One night, we observed a particularly horrifying discussion in one of the town groups and decided that enough was enough. I know and love Buckfield neighbors who are people of color; who are transgender; who are addicts; who are lesbian, gay and bisexual; who are disabled; and who are members of other traditionally marginalized groups. These neighbors see and experience things every day that make them feel unsafe and unwanted. This is not okay, and I want to help make it better.

So many people are genuinely unaware of how ignorant and bigoted behaviors can make members of our community feel threatened and unsafe in town. I am here to help be a voice for our marginalized neighbors, to call out bigoted and ignorant behavior, and to help educate my neighbors toward making our town a truly safe place for everyone.”