Acton Board of Selectmen Condemns Racist Harassment Incidents

ACTON, MA — Acton's Board of Selectmen released a statement on Monday night condemning the racist hate speech used to target two Black School Committee members at a public meeting on Jan. 7.

During the meeting on Jan. 7, a man who gave the presumably fake name of John, played an audio recording during the public comment portion of the meeting that contained the N-word. The comment was directed toward Kyra Wilson-Cook and Evelyn Abayaah-Issah — the only Black members on the committee. This was the second time the two members were targeted by hate speech during a meeting.

The Acton Board of Selectmen held an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the incident. After the meeting, the board released a statement condemning the harassment.

The statement reads in part:

"Harassment and dehumanization of elected public officials is unacceptable in the Town of Acton and will not be tolerated. On behalf of the Town of Acton, the Board of Selectmen unanimously condemns the hateful, racist language that School Committee members Kyra Wilson Cook of Acton and Evelyn Abayaah-Issah of Boxborough, have been subjected to during a School Committee meeting for the second time in three weeks. The attack on Kyra and Evelyn is an attack against the community, including all elected members of the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee as well as the 250 community members who serve on Acton’s nearly 50 boards, committees and commissions. Together with Town Meeting we are part of the oldest, continuous form of local government in the world. We stand together."

A police investigation has been opened. The statement continued:

"It is sad and disappointing that despite our increasingly diverse society and very diverse town, racial and ethnic stereotyping persists. It is incumbent on all of us locally—the Board of Selectmen, Local Government, individuals, parents, our schools, our houses of worship and our businesses to impress upon our children and adult neighbors and friends that racism and racist acts have no place in Acton. It must stop."

Wilson-Cook and Abayaah-Issah were targeted in December during another School Committee meeting and the Board of Selectmen's response was criticized after an emergency meeting was called and Wilson-Cook and Abayaah-Issah were not consulted in advance about it.