Vote for a Fairer, More Just Brookline

This letter is posted on behalf of Dave Gacioch, Town Meeting Member Precinct 13:

Brookline needs a new course. 150 years ago, Brookline (unlike Brighton, etc.) resisted Boston annexation at least in part to keep growing ethnic and socioeconomic diversity outside of our town borders. 50 years ago, redlining sought to keep many of our neighborhoods “safe” from non-white people moving in. Just ten years ago, a Brookline Fire Dept. officer left “f*ck*ng n*gg*r” on a black subordinate’s voicemail and soon thereafter was promoted to department leadership. Since then, our current Moderator refused to allow a black Town Meeting member to call out racism he saw in local government on the floor of Town Meeting, citing decorum and civility reasons. When an ACLU of Massachusetts lawyer (also black) wrote to our current Moderator politely suggesting that the First Amendment required otherwise, our current Moderator responded by sarcastically calling the ACLU lawyer’s polite (and legally well-founded) message “ignorant drivel.”

On May 4th, we have a choice of whether to continue this troubling pattern of protecting the entrenched status quo at the expense of long-marginalized voices. Those who want to see more of the same will support the two Select Board incumbents and our current Moderator’s handpicked successor, Kate Poverman. (Channeling our current Moderator’s prioritization of “civility” over honestly confronting racism, Ms. Poverman herself wrote just last year, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, that “Allowing any person to be verbally assaulted and seriously insulted — which is what allegations of racism are — violates [Town Meeting’s] rules, is against Town Meeting principles and is totally unproductive.” White fragility in a nutshell.)

I hope you will instead join me in voting for long-needed change—to make Brookline government more welcoming of and responsive to diverse perspectives, and to more intentionally confront and dismantle structures of institutional racism that have long plagued us. Scott Ananian would be a great Moderator both because he knows Town Meeting procedures cold (having brought and coached more than a dozen warrant articles) and because he is best positioned to apply those procedures in a way that truly is fair and impartial (which requires getting the status quo power structure’s thumb off of the scale, where it has long sat) as well as inclusive of all voices. Miriam Aschkenasy would be a wonderful addition to our Select Board because her deep professional expertise in, and commitment to, equity and anti-racism are much needed in overseeing our town departments.

Please join me in voting for Scott Ananian for Moderator and Miriam Aschkenasy for Select Board on May 4th, to help lead our beloved town forward.

Dave Gacioch
Spooner Road
Town Meeting Member, Precinct 13