Charlie Breitrose
Andrea James, the keynote speaker at the Unity Breakfast, admires a portrait along with the artist who created it, Watertown’s Michael Altarmari.
The 16th annual Watertown Unity Breakfast was filled with calls to action, and speeches that made people think about discrimination felt by groups in today’s world – poor minority communities, Muslims and the LGBT community.
The keynote speaker, Andrea James, has been working to change the “mass incarcerations” due to the War on Drugs, which she said has unfairly targeted “poor communities of color.”
James is the founder and executive director of Families for Justice as Healing, and was an inmate herself at the Danbury Federal Correctional Facility, made famous by the show “Orange is the New Black.”
The system is broke, James said. In Massachusetts, for instance 60 percent of inmates come back into the system after being released. Many of them are there due to drug related offenses.
She sees some hope, however, because the problem of addiction has reached even wealthier and more powerful communities.
“Now people of value, from communities of value, are dying from addiction,” James said. “Now finally we are calling addiction a public health here in Massachusetts. Now it is at the doorstep of all.”
James applauded state lawmakers for putting together a panel to study the state criminal justice system and come up with a system for the future. She was disappointed, however, when she saw the make up of the group.
“Not one formerly incarcerated person was included in the working group to form a forward thinking criminal justice system,” James said.
She would like to see a criminal justice system “founded on spiritual consciousness and awareness.”
After her address, James was presented a portrait of her and other inmates from the Danbury prison painted by Watertown artist Michael Altamari.
Unity Award
Watertown’s Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin received the 2016 Unity Award, which is presented to the person or organization that has demonstrated outstanding community service.
Hershman-Tcherepnin has lived in Watertown since 1980, and she has been very involved with leading efforts to bring groups together in difficult times. She brought together people of Middle Eastern descent after Sept. 11, 2001 to give them a safe place to talk about what they have gone through and report any threats they experienced, or worse. She convened the group again after the Boston Marathon Bombings.
Charlie Breitrose
Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, the winner of the 2016 Unity Award.
More recently she organized a march in support of the residents of Ferguson, Mo., after the shootings there, and she held an event where Syrian Refugees could talk about their experiences. The event led to a drive to collect food, clothing and more to send to refugee camps.
In her acceptance speech, Hershman-Tcherepnin thanked the people of Watertown.
“The people of Watertown are some of the most committed, welcoming, dedicated and caring individuals I have ever known,” she said. “Watertown is a very small town with a VERY big heart. I want to tank you for your inspiration.”
MLK Jr. Essay Winnners
The winners of the Martin Luther King Jr. Essay contest from Watertown Middle School and Watertown High School both wrote about powerful experiences that have impacted their lives.
Eighth-grader Rouaa Alwaz started her essay asking “Are you a terrorist?”
Alwaz wore her hijab – a head scarf worn by Muslim women – as she read her essay about what she has seen her mother go through. One day while shopping at BJ’s, she said, she noticed a man look at her mother and then leave the aisle only to return after her mother moved on. This happened several times.
Another time, while stopped at in intersection, her mother stopped to let a man driving a work truck go. She was surprised by the reaction.
“He insulted her by saying ‘Go back home!'” Alwaz said.
Alwaz said her sister has had similar experiences. She said the discrimination faced by Muslims in America today is something Dr. King would fight against if he were alive today.
“I began by saying ‘Are you at terrorist?’ I end by saying, will you help end discrimination?” Alwaz said.
Charlie Breitrose
The Greater Boston Intergenerational Choir performed several songs during the Unity Breakfast.
WHS junior Stella Varnum was in Washington, D.C., the day that the Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was legal across the United States. The ruling had a special meaning for Leader and some of her friends who were in Washington on a trip with a church youth group.
Varnum said she is somewhere on the spectrum of sexuality between gay and straight, and sometimes has feelings for girls. Some of her friends struggle with their own sexuality and one even cuts herself because she is afraid to come out to her family for fear of not being accepted.
When they heard news of the ruling, the group hopped on the Metro to go to the Supreme Court, where they found rainbow flags waving and people hugging and cheering. While it was a joyous occasion, Leader, however, soon realized the ruling was not and end for all problems faced by the LGBT community.
“As photographs were being taken in front of the Supreme Court, I became depressed when I realize the ruling had not solved every problem,” Varnum said.
While Varnum has been supported by her family and friends, many children still grow up in the “shadow of hate,” she said.
“I tell you these things today not because I want pity, but because every person does not feel the love I have had in my life,” Varnum said.
Charlie Breitrose
The mural created by Watertown Middle School students showing Martin Luther King Jr.’s Six Steps to Non-Violent Social Change.
At the end of the Unity Breakfast, a new feature was introduced. Chuck Dickinson, a member of the Unity Breakfast planning committee, said each year people leave the breakfast feeling inspired and ready to make a difference, but the momentum is lost when they don’t know how to help.
They had suggestions from people at the breakfast:
From State Sen. Will Brownsberger:
Span Inc. – a Boston-based organization which assists people who are in or were in prison to achieve healthy productive and meaningful lives (www.spaninc.org)
Paratakes – a group that allows prisoners in Massachusetts attend the Boston University Prison Education Program (www.partakers.org)
From Andrea James:
New Start Project – a group created to help people determined to overcome the personal barriers, social stigmas and economic marginalization the face after being released from prison (www.newstartproject.org)
Black & Pink – an open group of LGBTQ prisoners who support each other and work toward ending the violence in prisons against LGBTQ people (www.blackandpink.org)
Upcoming Watertown Events:
Syria Near and Far: Sharing/Celebrating Neighbor-to-Neighbor – on Jan. 31, from 2-4:30 p.m. at the Watertown Library the Watertown Citizens Refugee Support Group will present an event about the history and culture of Syria through the personal stories of Middle East refugees and immigrants. For more information contact watertowncitizens@gmail.com
Dr. Bernard Lafayette in Watertown – The World in Watertown, the Watertown Public Schools and Watertown Police Department bring Dr. Bernard Lafayette, a civil rights activist and close associate of Dr. King will come to town to speak at school assemblies, work with police on conflict resolution and have an event open to the public on March 31 at the Watertown Middle School (details to come).
Watertown Walks for Peace – Watertown will again participate in the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace in Dorchester. The walk raises money for the Louis D. Brown Institute which is a center of healing, teaching and learning for families and communities dealing with murder, trauma, grief and loss.
{The name of the high school essay contest winner was corrected on Jan. 20}