 Thank you. All right, wonderful. And Jennifer, is Pamela joining us today? I do not think so. We're trying to alternate the meetings. Makes sense. Going on. Yeah. Let me just check in quickly. And then I'll just go ahead and start the meeting, but I'm just going to check in with Alexis and Dr. Shavas. And let's see. I know Yvonne is unable to be here for sure today. All right. All right. Well, I'm going to call the meeting to order here. Let me just pull up my agenda. Calling to order the October 24th meeting of the African heritage reparation assembly at 202 p.m. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via zoom or by telephone. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. And now I'm just going to, I'm going to do a sound check for everyone who is here and I will start with you, Dr. Rhodes. I'm here and I can see and hear everyone. Excellent. And Ms. Bridges. Can you hear this went off? Oh, it did. Yeah. It just every once in a while click off and I have to put the. Get back in there. Just, just black screen. And I got to go back in, but I hear you. You hear me. I hear you. We hear you. Yeah. I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes. Very clearly. Great. Excellent. Okay. I do see we have one attendee. So I'm going to call our first public comment period. Just to see if that individual would like to speak. And then we'll also call a second public comment. Toward the end of our meeting. Thank you. So reading the statement during the public comment period, the chair will recognize members of the public when called on, please identify yourself by stating your full name. Pronouns and residential address. Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair based upon the number of people who wish to speak. The AHRA will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter of public comment. So that's what we're going to do. And we're going to do that in a moment. Hopefully. So if you would like to make a comment at this time, please go ahead and use the raise hand. Feature. And we will bring you into the room. Okay. So let's see here. I think what I would like to do first, I just. I would like to make a comment. I would like to make a comment to the agenda. And recognize. That this has been a challenging week for the Amherst community. And for members of the Amherst community. And maybe not everybody is paying attention to, you know, what's happening. But I think that a fair amount of residents are. Recognizing that it has been a very challenging week for, for many. And that we are here doing this wonderful work together of. Healing and repair. And so just really grateful to be in this committee and working with all of you. And also just want to leave a minute or any space for any members. If there's anything that you would like to say. We will get into the particulars of the July 5th. Agenda item in a little bit. But for right now, if there's anything that anyone would like to say. Just leaving a moment of space for that. All right. That wasn't quite a moment. That wasn't very long. However, please raise your hand at any point. So I think we're going to start by finalizing the details of our upcoming listening session. So I wanted to first. Let you all know that Dr. Shabazz and I had a chance to meet. With folks at the Hitchcock center last week and to. Be in the space to look at what the technology is in there. Consider how we might set up the room depending on how many folks attend. And so that was a really, really great meeting. They have some awesome technology in there. They have two huge projection screens that we're going to make use of great audio throughout. So we're going to have a look at all of the chairs and tables and everything that we need. So it's really well equipped for us to have this session. We also talked about creating a little space right outside of the indoor space. Sort of like a piece. Corner. Outside in case. Participants need to step out. There will be some Adirondack chairs. And we'll, we'll set that up nicely for folks. So, oh, and Dr. Shabazz is in the audience and I'm, I can do this, huh, Jennifer? Hold on. All right. There we go. Welcome, Dr. Shabazz. Greetings, everyone. Great. We can hear you. Welcome. We started with just a few seconds of recognition about the challenging week that we are having as a community. And now we're talking about the meeting that you and I had at the Hitchcock center. So I did get a chance to speak with the student senators at Amherst college who have offered to come early to the park. And so we're going to be talking about the engagement table, entrance table. And also to volunteer. Helping with parking. So that when, or actually helping if folks are coming off of the bus so that there are people down at the bottom of the driveway that will guide people either up if they've come from the bus or to show them where to park. So I would request that. Okay. So we're going to be at the listening session. Yes. Okay. Wonderful. Yes. Okay. And so we will, if we can plan to be there, I'll be there probably about five 30. We started six 30. So if you all can get there, maybe around six, that would be good. But if you, if you. If you don't get there, it's okay if you don't get there that early too, we'll have it covered. And so there were some logistics that I would like to go over particularly about the program. First, I'll mention that I have asked three people to record short video messages. The first being older woman, former older woman, Robin, Ruth Simmons, who led the first ever local reparations effort in the country in Evanston, Illinois. And she is going to provide a message to the participants. I've also asked rep Mindy Dom, who is unable to be there with us to record a short message as well as our town council president Lynn Reissmer, who is hoping to be there, but won't be there in the beginning. So a short message from her as well. So Dr. Shabazz created some really excellent, an excellent slide for us in terms of our agenda. And then in the meantime, since we've last met, I came across, I had actually come across it a long time ago, but Evanston put together a really excellent facilitation guide for listening sessions that they have used very successfully. And so I thought that we could go through the guide together. There were a couple of questions that I wanted to ask if you would like to use certain aspects of what's in there. Some other questions include how we want to acknowledge Indigenous and that this is a start of our work in the community reparations for our Black residents. But do we want to acknowledge that? Coming back again to the media question, and I think Dr. Shabazz had an excellent suggestion for that so he can share that. So let me share my screen here. And I'll just pause quickly, see if there's any, any just general questions right now. All right. So let me hold this up here. Can everyone see the screen? Yes, it's not just like a black screen because I had trouble sharing. Okay. Thank you. Great. All right. So again, we, I hope to use this as a model for us. And so I'm just going to start in the beginning here, there's, there's some facilitator tips. I will be sending this whole packet out. I'll give it, I'll send it to Jennifer and to everyone to have, you may want to print it out. It's, it can be opened up as a Google doc. So however you want to have it for yourself. So I would suggest reviewing these facilitator tips, but I'm going to move down here. So we're going to start off with some opening comments or about open meeting law, what, you know, canning can't happen in the meeting, particularly if there are town council members at which there, there will be an expecting town council and other committee members. And so we'll talk a little like housekeeping stuff, I guess I would call it, you know, initially. And then we will give an overview and we need to make assignments about who would like to do each of these pieces. I want to be really clear that some people. Like public speaking or are comfortable, others are not. And so there's no pressure one way or another will get it covered. So we'll give a timeline of our process. And things are sort of, we've already outlined with Dr. Shabazz's agenda, but the questions I wanted to ask for you are, this facilitation guide recommends that we provide two things to all participants that arrive. And once they've signed in the first is called, and I'm going to just scroll down to it here. It's called, we agree. This is a community guidelines. It's very simple. So if you want to just take a moment to look at that, just give me a thumbs up when you've had a chance to look at that. Okay. I have a question. Sure. When I think about what Dr. Shabazz has in relationship to ropes. So how does this tie into that? And when, when will both of them, when will they be given to, or participants have access to these two documents? I think that's a really excellent question. I actually, I think this is another version of ropes. And since we use ropes, we may want to use ropes at our listening session. And that's a decision for the committee to make. This or ropes would be given right as the participant comes in, they sign in, if they choose to sign in, and then they'll be handed this document or ropes. And then this one here, which is called an invitation to brave space. And I don't know if somebody feels like they would maybe want to read this out loud. Anyone feel like. Hala would you read it out loud. Right now or at the listening session. Oh, maybe right now. If you feel up to it. And also there. Sure. It is little font. I don't know what my 40, 40 plus eyes can do. Okay. And invitation to brave space. Together we will create brave space because there is no such thing as a safe space. We exist in the real world. We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds. In this space, we seek to turn down the volume of the outside world. We amplify voices that fight to be heard elsewhere. We call each other to more truth and love. We have the right to start somewhere and to continue to grow. And clearly my cat wants to contribute. We have the responsibility to examine what we think we know. We will not be perfect. The space will not be perfect. It will not always be what we wish it is to be or what we wish it to be, but it will be our brave space together. And we will work side by side by Mickey Scott B Jones. Yes. Thank you, Hala. So I'm going to take this share down because I'd like to get your feedback on both of these sort of foundational. Sort of a way for us to set the evening up for folks. I think Jennifer may have agreed to play the singing bowls. But we'll make sure that that's, which I think would be really beautiful. So first to herbs question, do we want to use our ropes or that shorter guidelines? Is there a preference? Also, the document that was shared with us last week in relationship to doctorship as in terms of framing the meeting. I thought that ropes was one part of that. Yes, indeed. All right. So that's, you know, so the first question is if we're going to use that framework. If we're not going to, if we're also if ropes is in there, we want to insert this document. And then that would be something we need to discuss. The other thing is I think we need to make it a conscious decision. At some point during this meeting. As to how long we wish. For this evening to be. So we are, um, we have advertised six 30 to eight. Jennifer has listed it as a posting. Um, did you do six 30 to eight Jennifer or six 30 to eight 30? No, I did six 30. I just did six 30. Oh, I didn't put an end time because. Um, I think that was, that was good. Um, yeah, I think, um, or if it's likely that we will not be finished within an hour and a half, but I think given that we're in the Hitchcock center space and they're staffing it for us, we'll want to finish up by eight 30 would be my, would be my feeling on that. Um, unless, uh, we have. If somebody has a different idea. Usually they have up there at the Hitchcock. If they are staffing it. And these are not voluntary staff. Uh, there is a hard time that they get to be out there. Um, I think that's a good idea. Yeah. So the person who staffing it is my best friend in the whole world. Um, and so she is super flexible. She'll stay there all night. If that's what we want. Um, But there will be at least one other person. Casey who will be there helping with technology and things. So I think they're very open and flexible, so I think that's a good idea. Um, so do we, can we just do a quick, like. Not like a formal vote, but do we want to use ropes? Or do we want. To use, um, we agree. For this particular, um, Meeting. So if you want to use, we agree, raise your hand. You don't care, Ms. Bridges. I don't mean to sound like I'm not ropes. Oh, I'm so sorry. You know what that is. I'm new here. So. Yes, you are. Sorry. No, no, no, you are absolutely right. Um, let me see if we can easily pull that up. I think it's. I'm sorry. I also say that we agree isn't. Um, detailed. I don't want to say detailed, but it's not expanded enough. Like I feel like it needs to be expanded on a little bit more. Yeah. Oh, that ropes probably would be the best. Okay. So let that sounds great. I'm going to pull up from his bridges. Um, a packet here. I think ropes in, um, Or early packet materials at least. Yep. All right. Hang on. Here we go. Do you see it? Absolutely. Okay. Um, so this is what we, um, adopted. Oh, I see. I see. I see. Um, and we refer back to it when you did. We really haven't, it's, it's something that sort of just become. Part of our. Part of us, I guess. Um, so. Let me see if I need to scroll down a little bit. No, I think I got it. Got it all. Yeah. I'm going to just. Take like a picture of it. If you. Um, so in this case, um, Did you get, oh, okay. I'm going to wait. Got it. All right. Great. I can also send, I'll send it to you. Um, And do we like the, the poem, the brave space poem? If anybody's opposed to that, raise your hand. Okay. So I will make, um, copies of the ropes and the brave space. Um, if somebody, uh, again, we need to kind of figure out who's going to, what I will open, I guess to talk about the open meeting law. Um, and sort of just set the housekeeping pieces in place. Um, I could review the ropes unless somebody else feels like they would like to take that piece. Um, and again. What we can do is to sort of talk about all the pieces. And then you can email me. If you want and say that you'd like to do this or that, and I'll put together a schedule. Yes. Dr. Shbas. I am, um, Just, this is just occurring to me now, but, um, in previous, uh, public comments or even in previous listening sessions of town bodies that I've attended, or been a part of, um, often the approach or the one guy aspect of the guidelines is that, um, we as the listening body, AHRA members are not really going to engage. Don't gauge, engage in a dialogue. With community members who come out. I've seen this oftentimes, um, relaxed a bit or fudged or sometimes the chair may take the chair's prerogative to, to, um, uh, to interact directly with, uh, an audience member in a listening session. Or they may designate a member of the body to perhaps respond if they want. But I don't know what our, what the sense is of our approach. Are we really primarily there in a listening mode? If people came and they had very direct questions, they, they want it answered on the spot. Are we not? Are we holding that and saying, let us get back to you. Or, or are we, are we talking back? So is what, That's an excellent question. And, um, it does lead us back to these facilitation guidelines. Um, the way that, uh, the Evanston facilitation guide works is that there are prompting questions, um, starting with, um, Defining reparations. Let me just, um, Screen. Okay. So questions for discussion. Um, again, beginning with defining reparations and giving some overview of that and then asking. Why do we need reparations? What does reparations mean to you? How would you like to be involved? Um, And reflections on what stands out about the definition. How does it fit with what was discussed? How does Amherst reparations fit into this? It also talks about target areas. And Dr. Shabazz, you have brought the five injury areas as a potential framework for that. I think. Um, But over, all it seems to me that we may have some overview of reparations, some of these prompting questions. And then as discussed last week. Step back into listening mode. And really allow for the flow to move through. Um, the audience of, of participants and setting some clear guidelines about, um, And then, of course, centering our participants, uh, that are black and of African heritage. Um, and we can't assume to know how anybody identifies. Um, so I think we have to be very clear up front. That we are centering the, I think we have to be very clear up front. That we are centering those voices and, um, Have some level of confidence that folks who do not identify that way. We'll also step back. Yes. Dr. Rhodes. So I'm, I'm, I'm struggling to, uh, because, um, At this point, my mind is saying we got to get organized here. So I can think about how this is going to flow. So the big question for me is, all right. How are we going to structure this particular document? Uh, talks about, uh, Ables enables us to look at and ask. Questions or questions to think about. Not necessarily have to be. Uh, talked about, but for the audience to think about. Yes. Um, I think it's important to, when you say centered on African Americans. Um, Does that mean that any person who's not African American cannot participate. And because if you say centered. That's automatically going to be saying to other people in art audience who are not African American. That you are not allowed to participate. That's what we mean. And if that's what we mean, then we need to talk about that. So do other folks perceive, um, that language of centering black and African heritage folks as meaning that, uh, others should not participate. No. Okay. Um, so I want to get sort of to the heart of what you're, um, um, Perceiving Dr. Rhodes and maybe you have some other language. That's the language that I've been using, um, to indicate that we'll be. Focusing on those voices, um, first and foremost, but that this is a, this, you know, I'll very clearly state from the beginning that this is a community dialogue that's open to all. Um, Um, I'm looking for how we might, like I've been in meetings where. The facilitator directly asks for. A particular group to. Speak first and then, um, Asks the others to yield, uh, until. but I'd be curious if there are any ideas about how we might want to set that framework up without really knowing who's going to show up. Yes, Dr. Shabazz. Well, so to my original question, I do have in my mind that this is very much like, you know, if the zoning board or the planning board or whatever had a hearing and, you know, then and that one number one is completely open to the public. I think number two, what we've said before and I would emphasize again in terms of just thinking about the flow that in order to hear from a maximum number of voices, we ask people to be time conscious and that like going beyond three minutes, we might find a way to make a gentle nudge, particularly if if the person has kind of made made the point they want to make, you know, to everybody's ears in the room, they've made the point that we might kind of gently nudge them to wrap it up, but the but it is open to all. I don't know that we need to say there's a focus or a centering in the meeting of any, you know, of any voices. The process is that the plan and the structure we're looking to recommend is one that will listen to the community who've experienced the harm from what gets addressed but what we will talk about or what we you know people may want to bring to the table for us to listen to. I think that should just be a level level playfield let anyone speak out let anyone give their input and we listen so but if we need to say something about how this ultimate plan is is going to be produced and what how we expect it to operate we can certainly speak to that. Finally I just would note you might have mentioned it before I got on but in this room there are two large screens with an LCD projector that can project onto the screen. It is on both sides of the room so you know through these two screens anyone sitting anywhere in the semicircle of the of the room will be able to see I think we ought to use these to convey some of the things we want to convey without having to read them and and speak them and and so much but we could just have it up there. The other thing that I do like in the Evanston guideline is where it mentions the timeline and so in the initial slide that I made last week that I'm emphasizing I feel that our work emanates from the sanction we have not only our charge but the commitment to end structural racism resolution that was passed December 2020 and I see they took a snippet out of their commitment to end statement and and have it in the guideline if we could take maybe a similar relevant phrase from our commitment to end structural racism and have that flashed up on the screen on the screens in the room that could go a long way toward establishing who we are what we're here for and you know what is the sanction and the charge of our work and and then it's really from there to listen I don't know some of these other questions if we just want to have them flash up there what is reparations are or what have you but to me it is really to create the widest opportunity for residents to come out share their points of share their views on what we're doing and we're more or less there in no taking mode I think if there maybe is a real direct question that we can try to answer or speak to then the chair through the chair or the chair asking any of us to speak to it we can then answer briefly but that we're really you know primarily they're in listening mode is how I would how I'm seeing it in my head that is yes all sounds just perfect very wise and yeah I very much agree with that Dr. Rhodes yeah Dr. Shabazz it's an excellent idea to have these things that we're talking about up on the two screens uh i.e. you know the ropes the questions possible questions ropes possible questions and any other significant thing that we want to focus on but those but those two at least there's another there's another one I can't remember but they should be primarily put on the screen that then takes out a lot of time of us talking about it or going over it we can just refer them to the screen and that's an effective way of having people be engaged and know what they're going to be engaged with because it's right there before them without us talking about it and that saves a lot of time and one of the things I am concerned about is not having this thing go ad infinitum through the evening absolutely and I think Dr. Rhodes you may have been referring that third thing is this commit the thing that I have highlighted up here from the commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity yeah that's our our charge exactly our charge so okay so what I have two laptops so I will be able to get things on both screens I will have my I will have Kim who will be there I'll be meeting with her earlier on and make sure that she can help us move through the slides or have whichever slides we want up when we want them I also had planned to have some music going when people arrive and was working on a playlist if anybody has a song or songs that they would like to have on that playlist please send that that's really just for like the first five to ten minutes as people are arriving so what I will do is I will create a flow based on everything that we talked about and I will send it out to the group if you have some particular suggestions please just respond only to me and Jennifer um and and and then we'll send that out to everybody with assignments and things like that um yes Dr. Rhodes just to be clear I think we covered this but I want to make sure it's clear in my mind because when this meeting opens up on Thursday we open it up we have to open it up as an AHR meeting because we're in a quorum yes we've posted it right good I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt I thought you had finished was there more I'm finished okay um okay I don't like when I can't see folks hold on let me just all right there we go um yeah we've posted it as a meeting and and so that covers us in terms of that but you're absolutely right we will have to call it to order just like we would um an AHRA meeting um the Dr. Chabaz do you want to share the thought process you had about media because I'd like for this group to get on the same page about that so I can send that email this afternoon um so the idea is we're likely to have media come out it might be a different variety not just journalists with a notepad but possibly even television stations with cameras and that being the case what occurred to me is that we could ask AHRA members and other town officials and state reps or whoever else is attending to kind of be over in this what I would call this this green room area we were show they showed us there the the space it's away from the main door kind of to the left it's a nice lobby area that some of us could could be parked there in the half hour to 15 minutes before the the start time and members of the media could be informed that that is an opportunity if they wish to uh to speak with AHRA members uh about the where we are in our process about the the listening session but that actually during the listening session we would not like to have them coming and going with cameras particularly with video cameras or or any equipment like that print journalists that are in a kind of more unobtrusive role um you know if they can if they're coming for for the entire session or what have you then you know they're welcome to sit and and to do that uh but the only thing we ask is is that in terms of any information taken from the session that if you are going to quote someone or use their words please try to speak to them uh at the end of the evening or you know if they leave early try to follow and ask to speak to them and ask their permission uh but that otherwise you know the words that are shared here are for each other in this in this space so those are the those are the thoughts I have thank you Dr. Shabazz yes um and Dr. Rhodes just to be clear Dr. Shabazz are you indicating that uh news media who show up with cameras not be in the room yes my uh a suggestion my recommendation is is that if they wanted to speak with people before the session got underway this would be an opportunity for them to uh to interview any of us about the purpose of the evening about what's what's happening but that yes uh we'd ask that uh they say not be there uh just coming in and and recording and then you know and then and then leaving in the middle of of of the evening all right so I'm trying to think if I were a person news media person I show up with my camera crew uh what I'm one am I what am I going to be told am I going to be told uh that after uh after you are going to film you must stay through during the entire session and not tear down your stuff until until the end of the meeting or not to record at all oh sorry that's what I'm trying to get clarified you're with you're saying they want footage and I think uh our chair is about to send an advisory to the press to let them know in advance that if they if they are covering the event and they want to come and get footage to come just before we start members will be available to to talk with them and uh but that in the setting of the hearing itself we would rather cameras not be not not be set up and operating um uh from from the press from the media are we making an exception for Amherst media for our own Alexis to be able to record audio for our purposes so that we have okay and also for folks coming from the indie or the Gazette or even a written NEPM do we want to allow those folks to stay in as long as there's not a camera with the disclosure that you gave Dr. Shabazz which is that you should talk to okay uh here's is there any conflict with this being an open public meeting in which we're just saying because we are going to be calling our meeting to order as a public meeting yeah and now and then I if I'm hearing people correctly is that media will not be able to record a public meeting I mean where are we what are we saying here and also the other thing is what uh is there going to be any video recording of all including from Amherst media I guess I'm I'm a little kind of ground we're getting on here we have an open public meeting and we're saying no no uh no video cameras etc people you know public meetings or there are some public meetings such as courtrooms there says no cameras can be allowed there are some public bodies who meet councils etc who say their policy is that there are no cameras or media but this is a hybrid you know we're talking about a hybrid here we're talking about a public meeting in which the public has been invited the public has been invited to make statements to make to comment etc and and it's in one way a person would be right to say where where where is the media being censored I mean it's a question that we need to talk about you know Dr. Rhodes the town actually has very specific guidelines on this so I will pull them up I know for example that I believe a member of the public is entitled to record in a public meeting on their own device for example and so I think you're raising a really important point and what I'll what what we can do is encourage um and and ask people to be sensitive to what we're doing I don't think we can require um that that's what I would think on that that makes me feel better because I would hate to see the news media publicly publishing the newspaper that they were being censored and not allowed to record I would not want to want that to happen absolutely absolutely so we'll I'll I'll sort of lay out a framework in the in the note to media that is welcoming and also asks for some sensitivity to the content content matter of of the listening session does that work for everyone all right great and I did like the invitation that Dr. Shavas is setting up to come prior because some folks may want to get some like footage of people coming in or there's just different I think you called it b-roll Dr. Shavas I don't know what that means really but I have an idea um so I've heard Alexis use that term before too so so yeah um okay so there was one other piece before we uh move on from this I'm going to once again share screen here all right and I I did mention this briefly in the beginning so I noticed in the Evanston guide that they talk about um indigenous people deserving reparations um and if we would like to make any acknowledgement of our work being a start to more reparative work for harmed communities if we want to acknowledge land um I know this has been a sort of controversial um topic at least from what I have heard so if anybody has thoughts on this I would really appreciate hearing um what and and if you could just look at what they're suggesting here um be mentioned at least Dr. Rhodes oh I see Hala and um Hala I'm sorry I just missed your hand um why don't we start with you Hala and then we'll go to Dr. Rhodes so I didn't do my electronic hand but now I have I think it's always imperative important to acknowledge um I still hold the fact that we're mostly performative and not really necessarily engaging in action steps that improves the lives and or might even begin to repair reparations for what the indigenous have sacrificed not sacrificed were forced to um but I think to not do it is an erasure so even if it's still kind of performative though we hope to make steps forward I think to not acknowledge that we're on this stolen land and that many have died and blood has been shed especially in a town called Amherst is um is harmful in my opinion thank you Hala and um Ms. Burgess and then I'll just because um Dr. Rhodes um since Ms. Burgess hasn't had a chance to talk yet please go ahead and Ms. Burgess I agree there has to be acknowledgement for the indigenous people there has to be that's a no-brainer to me that's a no brainer there has to be an acknowledgement where it goes from there we can talk about but there absolutely has to be an acknowledgement I mean I can't express that I just have to fall back and think about that but there's no there's no need to think about should there be an acknowledgement or not obviously they should okay and from here from then we just we got to what needs to be said about that we can keep talking about but we'll put an acknowledgement together you have to we just we just have to do that um so maybe no no thank you so much and and um maybe we can work on that together over the next couple days that would be lovely okay okay all right um okay Dr. Rhodes yeah some some some statement that acknowledges that would be good uh just to acknowledge it and because it's outside of our charge and we are we are with our charge but we can acknowledge it at minimum excellent okay great so we are on the same page about that and Ms. Bridges your hand is still up is it that do okay all right so any other questions comments concerns about the upcoming listening session I'll make one final request if you have social media and you feel comfortable sharing about the listening session please do um Dr. Shabazz put together a great post that I know has been shared but feel free to take that one or make one of your own um and yes Jennifer did it go out to the schools yes so last week we went through the list um the schools have been so great the PGOs have posted it on their social media in their newsletters um I have invited personally um the principal of the high school who will be in attendance um there are I've put out a lot of invitations and put it into different communities family outreach of Amherst ABC uh the Amherst Survival Center um I have a whole list um however I would like to send Jennifer we talked about you sending a reminder out to the committees that that you liaison for um so if I'll send you the the postcard and the information if you could do that and you said you have a list yourself that you could send it out to that would be fantastic um and if anyone else has I know Dr. Rhodes sent it out to a list of of people um so anybody that um wants oh and also should mention that Cyrus and some other senators went around um the farmers market on Saturday and handed out postcards um and talked to people um so but if there are any other ideas again we have the conflict of the spelling bee being on the same night um which is an unfortunate conflict but I think we're both still going to have very successful turnouts yes Dr. Rhodes did this get out to the band members through the band mailing list does anyone know I am not sure but I can make that happen tonight yeah you know Kathleen has that so if you could do that it would be great yeah yeah I have it as well so I will send it out great that would be awesome and I'll also have I also have a list of um all the folks that have included their names in the portal and so just to I think that they probably already know about it but just to send another reminder on that all right any other questions or comments about this before we move on and I just want to do a time check what time I know Ms. Bridges you have to what time do you have to leave today I think I can be here for another 15 minutes okay phone card absolutely have to take all right um anyone else have any limitations here on their time okay so I think given that we do not have Ivan and Alexis with us Ms. Bridges has about 15 more minutes we definitely I would definitely want to talk about the agenda item of the July 5th police youth incident interaction we may not get to the eligibility agenda item today I think that's okay given we're probably going to receive a lot of feedback at Thursday's session um so let me just take a moment um to sort of frame um first before I waste words is everybody familiar with the incident that is referenced in the agenda and has everybody somewhat been following the town council meeting and other meetings of the CSSJC perhaps and the human rights commission yeah okay that's helpful so um on Monday at the town council meeting there was a combined meeting of the town council and the community safety and social social justice committee there was a time limited one hour discussion that was related to two sort of two to three focuses I would say the first being a police report that chief Livingstone produced the second being an addendum to a report that Pamela produced back in September and those were two discussion points they were placed in the packet prior to the meeting um and they were also made available to the CSSJC um there was also the topic of a victim's compensation fund that was potentially to be discussed in that meeting um we if you've all probably read different versions of what occurred um we had a presentation by the chief we had a presentation by the DEI director and then we had a lot of discussion um and commentary from members of the CSSJC and the town council um it as I started the meeting off by saying this has been a very challenging week for many in the community and the meeting was certainly a challenging meeting in the meeting I proposed a motion toward the end of the one hour time period essentially um the motion was recommending that the CSSJC the HRC which is the Human Rights Commission and the A and the AHRA um look at the incident um and in collaboration with the DEI director other appropriate staff and the town attorney um or attorneys develop a recommendation for the town council on repair and reconciliation um the motion was made and seconded by Councillor Walker and uh we entered into brief discussion before uh Councillor Henneke used a rule in the charter which allows a counselor to end a discussion there are different interpretations of that rule um and of course um as you may imagine that created um a lot of pain and um a lot of concern for folks who were at the meeting um it was very abrupt um and uh Lynn basically said we will have to stop the discussion what that did was um push off the discussion and the motion that was before the council to the next regular or special meeting which happened to be the next day and it was a town council meeting uh a finance committee of the town council meeting and unfortunately um that didn't give the CSSJC time to post a meeting so they wouldn't have been able to participate um as panelists in that meeting so in the finance committee meeting a motion was made after polling members of both of those groups being the town council and the CSSJC um to move that discussion to next Tuesday uh let me just get a date here uh November 1st in the evening I believe it starts at six o'clock uh so the conversation for us is um one for me to inform you and let you know that I made a motion that evoked some presence of this body um to collaborate with other bodies to make this recommendation um since that time I have met with the council president and we are working on a way to turn that motion into something concrete to be brought to next Tuesday's meeting I will be reaching out to the chairs of the CSSJC as well as the HRC to um bring them into that discussion that is happening now the other important piece of information and then I'll step back here and be quiet is over the weekend um we received the town council received um an additional piece of information from a parent um that was uh a parent of one of the youths as well as a parent that arrived on the scene um and that information uh sheds new light on the incident and uh will very likely be a matter of discussion on the Tuesday November 1st meeting so I'm just going to pause there um and see if there are any um just whatever questions comments any anything that might be arising right now okay um so I will keep our committee abreast to what is um going you know as we move forward with this process um any information that I think would be relative um to this for this committee to be aware of I will of course ask Jennifer to distribute um to the group and if you have any questions um or concerns you know each of you know where and how to reach me all right all right um so I see that we do have a couple audience members and I just want to open up that second public comment period um to see if there are any members of the public who would like to make public comment and um I'm gonna uh just I'll read quickly the statement one more time during public comment the chair will recognize members of the public when called upon please identify yourself by stating your name pronouns and address um you're welcome to express reviews for up to three minutes and we will not engage in a dialogue generally speaking um sometimes there might be a question that can be clarified um but we will be listening very closely so if you would like to make a public comment please go ahead and use the raise hand function now okay not seeing any um I wanted to check in with Jennifer about minutes um Jennifer where are we with minutes right now do you have a sense of that or could we report back on that next time yeah no there'll be some included I was just been out and last week was my first week back after being out for months so I just I wasn't able to like get them in time for the meetings so I will we'll have them in for the well hopefully for the next meeting or at least an update on it all right that would be great um and uh I think let me just um see something um Jennifer could you make Dr Shabazz a co-host I think Dr Shabazz reminded me that he has a slide to share oh he should be able to share it but I will make him anyways but I'll make him co-host in the event that he can't yeah now it works thank you yeah just trying to advance our work and to be able to approve before Thursday since Thursday is coming up this is language um from the land acknowledgement that the University of Massachusetts uses I've modified it in a couple of portions I can even cut this part here about how the lands of 82 native nations west of the Mississippi were sold to provide resources that built the university if we want that out I can take that out just to shorten it uh a little bit as well since we're not we're not UMass here but UMass is a part of us but at any rate this is the language um that uh here I'll just go ahead and take that part out um and if it meets with your approval we can have this among the opening slides on our screens that you know share to share and and speak to it as well as a spoken uh reference as well thank you very much Dr Shabazz and um since Ms Bridges and Halla spoke to this previously I want to defer to them um to see if this um is acceptable or if maybe Dr Shabazz can offer this to Jennifer to send out and then Ms Bridges and Halla could um take a look at it and see if there's any anything to be added changed removed I think it's really important I'm not quite sure about you know the rest of the body of text but at some point that we acknowledge that hopefully that you know creating reparations for the Black community will open the doors to creating reparations for the Indigenous people I mean I think that that's the piece that um and then folks can make the other comments towards the the other um acknowledgement pieces I yeah yeah and I really I feel and and Ms Bridges I I don't I don't wish to put you on the spot however being that um you um our Indigenous yourself I'm wondering if you would want to make that particular verbal comment and then we could have this acknowledgement instead of reading it all you know just up on a slide so we have sort of both happening and and you can think about that if it's not if you're not ready to answer that right now oh you're muted Ms Bridges if I don't I know somebody else who will great I can I'll um if you can send that to me so I can go over it and then I can get right back to you like at least by tomorrow perfect right that's great that's great yeah thank you you're welcome um and Dr Rhodes so I was uh and when this came up this uh image came to my to my mind of a of a picture and uh a uh album that was put together by um relatives of mine of our our family history and it is a picture of my great great grandfather setting up on a wagon with my great great uh grandmother who was Cherokee and was right after the Trail of Tears and which there was forcible relocation of tribes from their lands west and it was a horrific uh really almost ethnic cleansing uh and when I think of when I saw that picture I thought how is it that an African American who was formerly just really freed as a slave marries a Cherokee and was an astonishing thing to me that that occurred that that person my great great grandfather and my great great grandmother came together at that particular time and I mean it's sometime I get overwhelmed when I think about it I think you know these are I would love to say to what was going through your mind you know what was happening with you what but that's that's what happened setting up on that wagon with his wife and everything around him was falling apart thank you for sharing that Dr. Rhodes oh I'm so grateful for this committee this is so amazing um I know you have to go Miss Bridges yeah is that why you were waving okay okay um I was just overwhelmed by I was just overwhelmed by that same as you you know how we get emotional I was that's what I was looking at you and I couldn't look at your face but that's how I felt yeah love to see the picture sometime if you'd like to share it yes absolutely absolutely you brought me to tears we sometimes just forget how when people are in the midst of history they don't realize that during the midst of history history I wonder if there's some of that going on for us too because we're in the midst of history all right we might need to pick up a bunch of box of tissues for Thursday as well um just so much heart energy so I am going to just say that I do not have any items that haven't been anticipated in terms of our next meeting I would like for us unless people have other suggestions to spend the bulk of our time unpacking and sort of processing the Thursday listening session so if Monday is a good time I'm just look at the date here um that will be Halloween if for those of you who celebrate come in your costumes if you'd like um and and yeah we'll we'll go ahead and we'll do our normal to 2 p.m and I think Yvonne will be back and hopefully Alexis will be too and so are there any other comments from members yes Dr. Schbaas um I think also for that agenda if you wish to keep us moving take up the who is old the eligibility question I've sent you some some a draft of some spots I have on a position paper I've written on it and I suggest that might also be a good time well spent as well beautiful okay and we can send that out um to the full committee prior like if you've already sent it to me I can send it to Jennifer to distribute and place in the packet essentially for our next meeting thank you thanks Dr. Schbaas all right all right any other comments questions okay I am going to adjourn the meeting at 3 14 p.m and we'll see you soon we'll see you Thursday bye bye