Video Update for June 5
This is Mayor Paul Brodeur
The death of George Floyd is a clarion call to each of us to examine how our attitudes and actions have perpetuated structural racism in our communities and in our country. While we can’t control what happens nationally, we do have the ability to make our community a more accepting, equitable, just place for all.
Several days ago, I, along with Melrose Police Chief Lyle and Schools Superintendent Cyndy Taymore, committed to conducting challenging conversations about what we can do as a school system and city government. What we know is that all lives cannot matter until black lives matter, but saying this doesn’t simply make it so.
Instead we need to take action. That’s why I am launched a new initiative I’m calling Two Weeks Toward Change. I have asked each of my City department heads to examine their own department practices and policies, collect and review national best practices, and lay out blueprints for what actions we can complete now, in the near term, and in the future to make our City government more equitable. During these two weeks, I will begin reaching out to stakeholders, individuals, and groups to get their feedback and input. Please understand that this is just a start, but that we have to start somewhere. I will be relying on the Melrose community to help me and our City staff as we endeavor to match our words of sympathy and justice with action.
If you have an experience you’d like to share, and idea about how we can move forward or an example of what works in other communities, I’m all ears. Please email me at mayorsoffice@cityofmelrose.org and be sure to review the materials I’ve shared with my staff on our City website under the news and updates sections. I am grateful to so many in the community who have already reached out.
COVID-19 has demonstrated to so many of us just how little control we can have over our own lives sometimes. It’s been scary and has forced us all to adjust our expectations and attitudes. And it’s been hard. Addressing structural racism will be even harder because it also forces us to reexamine our own beliefs and biases and to confront some hard and uncomfortable truths if we are ever going to make real progress. At the local level, in our community, I am eager to identify the steps we can take with careful thought and input, the steps we can take today, in the months and years to come. I can’t do it alone and need your partnership.
Together, we have made great strides to stop the spread of the pandemic. Thank you for your efforts. Together, we will live up to motto, “One Community Open to All.”
Thank you, and have a great weekend.