Fairfax Couple Says Racism Still Alive In Vermont

I just had to go back and quote this. I'm sorry for quoting almost ever line of this thing but it rubbed me the wrong way:

"Vermont's a hard place, and heartless.” - Why would you live here then? As far as I can tell, the State is very accepting. I work at the Housing Authority in Burlington and every effort is made to help with translations for refugees, equal access to all services and we work with quite a few local groups to provide activities open to all kids/families. The WARMTH program seems pretty full of heart. Fairfax has been very accepting to my family and I just moved here. When I moved from NH I didn't know anyone and I've made plenty of life long friends from this State.

"The Hills are African-American in a state where only 1.1 percent of the population is. Franklin County, where they live, is less so at just .6 percent. However, Hill says that African-Americans are the fastest growing minority in the state." - If we're so heartless as a State, why are so many African-American families moving here?

"Over 80 percent of the people who populate planet Earth are people of color," said Hill. "How can you say you are preparing a student with education that makes that person a fully functional, intelligent, marketable person when you exclude that community and teachers from within that community?" - Who is being excluded? Is the rest of the world teach US History? I remember learning about the history of many areas of the world. If you want to focus on what isn't being taught, that's a whole other problem where there isn't enough time to teach everything. And I'm all for the most qualified teacher getting the job, I don't care who it is as long as they can do it.

"Vermonters and Vermont students are "conditioned to believe it's only right when it's white," said Hill. The conditioning is reinforced when the only faces they see in positions of authority are white. Judgeships are filled with whites, as is the governor's cabinet and school superintendents. Even groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and the United Way have all whites leading them, noted Hill." - Could this have anything to do with only 1.1% of the population being African-American? I would ALWAYS assume that if you take the majority and look who they are, that would be the majority of representation at all levels. Again, that's an assumption, best person for the job gets the job in my view.

The media almost always go to a white person, especially a retired white person, to get their opinions "as though they are the experts on everything," said Hill. - I'm young and I think my opinion is right, but I thought most young people did. I watch Fox News sometimes, SportsCenter, and listen to technology shows, plenty of non-white in my media. Who cares who the host is.

When African-Americans are sought out for their views, Hill pointed out, it is often in January for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – as the Messenger did – or in February for African-American History Month. - That would be because you want news that matches the holiday. Like around Christmas I'd like stories about Christmas rather than Halloween. For African-American History Month, I'd like to learn about African-American History.

While Hill, who was appointed by Gov. Jim Douglas to Vermont's Workforce Equity and Diversity Council, urges the recruitment of African-Americans and other ethnic and racial minorities to work in positions of authority, he also acknowledges hiring people of color isn't sufficient if you can't retain them. - Why would you encourage the hiring of any group? Just encourage the hiring of qualified persons regardless of their group. Makes no sense, now your discouraging the hiring of one group by encouraging another.

He pointed to one African-American state employee in the Dean administration who walked into a meeting on diversity to find a noose hanging from the ceiling. Those responsible were transferred, but they remained state employees. - Fired, I have no problem firing any ignorant human being who does something like that. I'm not them, but those people should have been fired on the spot.

Gov. Jim Douglas appointed an African-American woman as director of technology. She resigned citing family reasons, but privately Hill said she told him "the white people circled the wagons." Hill described a situation in which she was buried in so much bureaucracy that she couldn't do the job she was appointed to do. - It's a government job, there is tape, especially with technology. If they added more tape, they wasted my money and she should have gone and complained. I'd listen, I like tech and I hate wasting taxpayer money.

It is optional for the heads of state agencies to meet with the Equity and Diversity Council, said Hill, and most do not. "Is it guilt that keeps them from coming? Or is it mandatory whites only?" he asked. - I wouldn't go either. If I'm at work, I want to work. I don't know anyone who enjoys those workshops/meetings except the people putting them on or that really wanted to go.

After six years on the Human Rights Commission, Boyd-Hill said she has opted to no longer serve on commissions. "I'm not a token," said Boyd-Hill. "I have more worth than that." She does not need to serve on a commission to speak, said Boyd-Hill. "I don't need anyone's permission because I am a child of God and I have a voice. I will always have a voice," said Boyd-Hill. - So there aren't enough people of color on boards or committees, but when she was, she was the "token" and quit? I'm not seeing the logic.

In addition to recruiting more people of color to work in the school system at all levels, Hill wants to see exchange programs to increase contact amongst students of various backgrounds. Pointing to the visit to Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax by Chinese students, Hill said, "You mean you have to go all the way to China to find a person of color?" - Why are we recruiting? Why aren't they applying. And maybe they missed the memo that China is one of the largest developing nations economically. I thought they said we should be learning more about world culture. Now we should only focus on people from America of color?

St. Michael's College has an ongoing exchange program with Mississippi, he pointed out. Culture shock, ignorance and one-upmanship would all have to be worked through to make an exchange program work, according to Hill. "White people have been conditioned to assume their experience of white supremacy is real," he said. - What does this mean? I'd be shocked by the culture in any southern state or other country. I was shocked when I saw the size of some of those southern malls, puts the UMall to shame.

When people of color are not in positions where "respectability and accountability count," the assumption white people make is that there is something wrong with people of color, explained Hill. - I make the assumption of all people in that situation that they either 1) were gaining experience for a higher job, 2) like their current job, 3) just got hired or 4) didn't have the skills for a higher level of accountability. I didn't realize that you get respectability and accountability at every level right off the bat. Am I less respected because I'm not a supervisor, or am I respected because of my skills and knowledge even though I'm not a supervisor.

Whites also tend to assume that the experiences of African-Americans are all the same, when black men and women are treated very differently in American society. - I don't but apparently all white people are the same. Interesting.

"While he was whipping me in the fields, he was raping her in the big house," said Hill of slavery, raising a topic few in America discuss – the historic sexual exploitation of black women by white women during and after slavery. African-Americans in the North and South also have very different experiences, said Hill. - I don't discuss the historic sexual exploitation of any group. Does that mean I don't care, no. I just don't talk about it.

However, he does get tired of people assuming he's the minister of the New Alpha Baptist Church in Burlington simply because he is black. He's also exasperated by questions about Michael Jordan, the former NBA superstar. "What are you asking me about Michael Jordan for?" he asked rhetorically. "I don't know Michael Jordan. I don't play basketball." - I get tired of assumptions that all white people are racist. I'm also tired of people complaining that I'm not talking about the topic they want me to talk about. This is a reference to the last paragraph. I also don't talk about the plight of pandas or elephants. I really don't mean to make less of the topic, but to make the point that, I don't talk about things because I don't. Because you do, doesn't mean I need to as well.

There are also the times he enters the room and the conversation stops. - I do this to, partially because I want to see who walked in and secondly, maybe it was private and now that you're there it's no longer private. I understand there are the situations when that's not the case. But making the blanket statement, well opens you up to this comment. I stop talking when my kid walks in the room too sometimes too.

"You know disrespect when you see it," said Hill. - I sure do and I'm not sure if it's how this article was written, but I'm feeling it now.

There is also the treatment of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. Both are products of some of the best universities in the country, Hill pointed out, calling them "the best the country has to offer." Yet Obama and his family have experienced more threats to their safety than any president in history. - Another generic wide open quote to frame the issue. I'd beg to differ due to a couple of assassinations in Presidential history. Has Obama been shot at? I'm pretty sure every President got threats.

"The issue is recognition, acceptance, validation," said Hill. - I'd like you to accept me as a young person who has never met you or heard from you until I read this article. I hope very much that the context of this article was wrong but reverse racism and blanket assumptions are no better than what they were complaining of.