When the Diversity Council meets Tuesday, the council will have four new members, and except for one vacancy, it will be the first time in months that the council has had this many people at a meeting.
“I have had individual conversations with all of them beforehand,” said Jaymie Bianca, Diversity Council chair, referring to the new members.
The new members were appointed at the last council meeting by Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano. They are Olivia Chapdelaine, Jordan Lopez, Antonio Lopes and Sandra Kamens. They join Bianca, Marcus Patton, David Rackliffe, Alison Willette and Jeff Israel.
The positions have been vacant for months when the city has faced increasing racist and white supremacist activity, including, most recently, racial slurs discovered in a local park and swastikas on and near a middle school.
During this period, the Diversity Council website has continued to list full membership. As of Sunday, the new members have not been listed on the site.
Among the initiatives that Bianca is eager to address is a reporting form where Bristol residents can report discriminatory acts, she said. The topic arose in her conversations with new members.
“We still have to iron out the details,” she said, “but we are hoping to work with the Bristol Police Department on it.”
Other initiatives that the Diversity Council continues to work on, according to Bianca, are a list of inclusive organizations in the city as a resource for resident sand a religious diversity panel in October.
“We are partnering with the Interfaith Coalition for the religious diversity panel,” Bianca said. “We will have speakers finalized at the end of the month.”
Bianca has been outspoken in her condemnation of racist and white supremacist activity in the city. She spoke at a community-wide discussion at the Rockwell Amphitheater last month.
“The Diversity Council continues to be angered and outraged with the racist and discriminatory acts in Bristol,” she said in response to the latest incidents which occurred after the Rockwell Amphitheater event.
The Diversity Council next meets at the Bristol Public Library, Meeting Room 3, on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m.
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