Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/caroline-bays/)
Caroline Bays seeks re-election as a Town Councilor At-Large. As part of the changes to the Watertown Charter all City Councilors must have an annual meeting to meet with the public. City Councilor At-Large Caroline Bays announced the date of her meeting. See info below. Caroline Bays will hold her annual meeting in the Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 149 Main St., on Dec.
Taking a knee is not disrespecting the flag. Nor is it disrespecting the sacrifices of those who have served. Rather it is exercising one of the freedoms that our forefathers fought to preserve. Freedom is like a muscle – it must be exercised or it will atrophy. Exercising one’s right to protest peacefully is in fact honoring the sacrifices of those who have preceded us.
Dear Watertown resident,
I wanted to say a few words to you before the town council meeting tonight. As many of you know I knelt during the Pledge of Allegiance at the inauguration. I did so because I can not say “with liberty and justice for all” while that is not true in our country. People of color throughout our nation do not experience the same rights and privileges as white Americans. From the disproportionate punishment young children experience in schools to the disproportionate arrests, convictions, and sentences adults receive in the criminal justice system, people of color live with discrimination and persecution that people who are white do not experience.
At the Watertown Inauguration on Tuesday, one of the newly elected Town Councilors stood out by kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance. Caroline Bays, who was elected to her first term as Councilor-At-Large in November, said she knelt in prayer during the Pledge. She then stood for the National Anthem. Bays said she was kneeling in support of those who have had their freedoms curtailed. “The Pledge of Allegiance states that we are a nation which stands for liberty and justice for all,” Bays said in a statement.