I wanted to catch you up on some things that have been unfolding here in Fontana and to get some help with a recent commitment from city officials on the council, school board and police department to participate in acommunity dialogue.
Attached is the press release, newpaper article, and an email that I sent to two of our councilmembers and to the Chief of Police about the derogatory comment made about children of immigrants made at a joint session meeting with City Council and the School Board by one of the board members. She publicly apologized and said she would work with us to move forward with some city-wide solutions to the long-standing perception of racism and intolerance in the city.
Also, in February, I attended an area community meeting held by city officials and facilitated by a lt. of the police department, where there were some ethnic slurs made by a couple of audience/community members that I brought to the council's attention. One council member (Warren) responded publicly about the incident and gave me her card afterward.
We are moving forward with a meeting with a few community members and some of these willing officials (school board, city council, and law enforcement) --- to begin the work of what might be possible to establish trust and understanding regarding race relations in the city --- not sure on the specifics but we do know two things:
Public meetings should be a place of respectful discourse and not yet another instance of intolerance and prejudice in our community.
We are clear in our assertion that elected officials and policy makers can help foster a respectful environment in the course of their duties (especially law enforcement) and must do so to establish and uphold public trust.
The initial meetings will be to work together to look at some tools available through the Department of Justice and a mediator and decide together the best course of action to take. I'll have copies of this information for all who attend... but in the meantime you can look at the website: http://www.justice.gov/crs/. Flyers and documents can be found: http://www.justice.gov/crs/publist.html
To include as many and as diverse a group as possible, and to not interfere with Council or Board meetings (which are held on Wednesdays) we were looking at a Tuesday or Thursday evening for an initial meeting within the next two weeks --- would you be able to attend? Or do you an idea of someone that would like to?
I wanted to catch you up on some things that have been unfolding here in Fontana and to get some help with a recent commitment from city officials on the council, school board and police department to participate in a community dialogue.
Attached is the press release, newpaper article, and an email that I sent to two of our councilmembers and to the Chief of Police about the derogatory comment made about children of immigrants made at a joint session meeting with City Council and the School Board by one of the board members. She publicly apologized and said she would work with us to move forward with some city-wide solutions to the long-standing perception of racism and intolerance in the city.
Also, in February, I attended an area community meeting held by city officials and facilitated by a lt. of the police department, where there were some ethnic slurs made by a couple of audience/community members that I brought to the council's attention. One council member (Warren) responded publicly about the incident and gave me her card afterward.
We are moving forward with a meeting with a few community members and some of these willing officials (school board, city council, and law enforcement) --- to begin the work of what might be possible to establish trust and understanding regarding race relations in the city --- not sure on the specifics but we do know two things:
The initial meetings will be to work together to look at some tools available through the Department of Justice and a mediator and decide together the best course of action to take. I'll have copies of this information for all who attend... but in the meantime you can look at the website: http://www.justice.gov/crs/. Flyers and documents can be found: http://www.justice.gov/crs/publist.html
To include as many and as diverse a group as possible, and to not interfere with Council or Board meetings (which are held on Wednesdays) we were looking at a Tuesday or Thursday evening for an initial meeting within the next two weeks --- would you be able to attend? Or do you an idea of someone that would like to?