2/12/25

   VICTORY AT THE
   GRASSROOTS - WHERE
   IT REALLY COUNTS

MY HOMETOWN CHALKED UP A GENUINE VICTORY yesterday – the kind that gives us reason for optimism as Donald Trump seeks to crush American democracy.
     It happened in Newport, R.I., and it won’t make the national news.
     But it serves as an inspiring, practical example of what people can do when they get  the chance, especially at the local level, where democracy in its most basic form is  tested.
     The issue was a proposal by the Newport School Committee to “rescind” a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policy, which the school board had approved only a few months earlier.
     The reason for trying to “rescind” the policy remains murky.
     The committee chair, who proposed the move, maintained it was strictly procedural. When the board had approved the six-page policy last October, he said, it had not been reviewed by the committee’s lawyer.
     The presumption was that by rescinding the policy, the subcommittee that drafted the document and a lawyer would have a chance to tidy up any legal slights, after which the policy would be reinstated.
     But community and political activists smelled a rat.
     Why “rescind” the policy, meaning it wouldn’t be in force while it was being reviewed?
     Instead, was this really a sneaky way of deep-sixing the policy altogether, given the ugly national attack by President Trump to eliminate diversity programs in government, as well as those in corporate and academic organizations?
     Indeed, the Trump campaign is widely seen as racist – because of its argument that people (Blacks, women, gay, transsexual and disabled individuals) who benefit from DEI programs are unqualified and therefore crowd out more talented folks (White, straight boys and men).
    
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT was textbook American democracy.
     First, word spread fast, helped by an online news service, What’s Up Newp (WUN), which decoded the school board’s obscure agenda item: “Request to rescind Policy 1050 -Student Excellence and Success.”
     WUN quoted the committee chair as saying the concern was procedural, just to review legal issues. WUN also printed the text of Policy 1050.
    Secondly, people acted.

PART OF THE CROWD at the Feb. 11, 2025 meeting of the Newport School Committee to discuss a DEI policy. SCREENSHOT frin a school system video

 I’M NO EXPERT ON ESTIMATING CROWDS, but I’m guessing that between 50 to 75 people showed up for the school board meeting a few evenings later at an elementary school named for the late U.S Sen. Claiborne Pell, a much-cherished Newport resident.
     I can also tell  you, after a journalism career of covering too many city and town councils, boards and commissions, nothing focuses the attention of municipal leaders like an actual audience of disgruntled  “citizens.”
     Before too much time had passed, school committee members proposed changing the word “rescind” to “abeyance” – as in placing Policy 1050 in limbo pending its review.
     And then a final change in the resolution, to keep the policy in force while it was sent to a policy subcommittee for a legal review.
      Before the school board voted, 13 speakers variously questioned the use of the original word “rescind,” with some wondering how long any review would take, since time itself might bury the policy.
     When each of the speakers had their three-minutes of talking time, it was clear that the DEI defenders had won – and won big.
     Every speaker was cheered – and there were some eloquent statements about how important equity efforts are to a school system in which diversity itself is not in dispute: Whites make up 33 percent of the student body; Hispanics 39 percent; and Blacks 10 percent.
     One speaker identified as a transgender leader of a Girl Scout troop, said the scouts included gay, Latino and other Newport students, who came from a variety of economic backgrounds:
     When I see them after school, and they already have a smile on their faces, it  is because they spent the day in a classroom where they were welcomed and supported . . . This policy keeps a supportive and engaging learning environment possible, and it protects my kids' well-being.
     If  there were any DEI opponents in the crowd, they remained silent.
     The final vote, directing that a legal review be made of the policy, was 6 to 1, and the committee member who voted no did not explain his vote.

THIS IS A TIME when many people across the country are desperate to stop Trump’s demented and cruel campaign to wreck democracy and crush our souls.
     GOP acolytes hold both chambers of Congress, and the Supreme Court leans toward Trump, leaving few places where the Constitutional system seems to be working.
     Thus, there is a national chorus asking: “What can I do?" Calls overwhelm Congressional phone systems – at least for Democratic offices. Pundits  endlessly wonder where “The Resistance” has gone.
    But let’s state this as a fact, because the contrary is unacceptable: it is not too late to rescue democracy, which begins not in Washington, but always in the communities where we all actually live.
     The obvious venues are town halls and  school cafeterias, where simply showing  up can make a difference.
     And last night’s school committee meeting was an inspiring example that, at least in one seaside community, this kind of activism really worked.

 NOTES:

• Here's a link to What's Up Newp (WUN's) first story:  https://whatsupnewp.com/2025/02/newport-school-committee-to-vote-on-rescinding-equity-policy/)
  
• You can read WUN’s final school board story, and watch a video of the meeting at this link: https://whatsupnewp.com/2025/02/equity-policy-debate-draws-crowd-at-newport-school-committee-meeting/
• I used to write for WUN, but haven't recently.