Lexington CommUNITY Group is a community based grassroots group based in Lexington Massachusetts. This group was originally formed in 2006 as the Planning Commitee for the CommUNITY Commemoration honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., with support from the Lexington Coalition for Racial Equality.
Present Members:Claudia Lach, Larry Link, Charles Martin, Brenda Prusak, Yukari Watanabe Scott, Jill Smilow, and Sam Zales
Lexingtoncommunity at gmail.com
Mission Statement
Unite the community of Lexington by reflecting on
and celebrating both our diverse history and present to find our common ground,
by offering educational events, engaging in meaningful conversations and social
action
Our History
The most of Lexington CommUNITY members were former members of Lexington No Place for Hate which took over the Martin Luther King Jr events from Lexington Coalition for Racial Equality in 2006.
About Lexington No Place for Hate:
About LCRE (Lexington Coalition for Racial Equality):No Place for Hate™ Campaign:
No Place for Hate is a community outreach program developed by the Anti-Defamation League in partnership with the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which empowers communities to promote respect for individual and group differences and prevent hate crimes. From 2000 – 2007 Lexington was re-certified each year for its No Place for Hate work and received matching grant funding for its programs from NPFH Corporate Sponsor Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts each year Lexington was active with the program.
Lexington No Place for Hate Mission Statement:
To work with citizens and town employees to create a community-based, shared vision of Lexington as a prejudice- and bias-free community where tolerance is the norm, each individual is protected and respected for his/her unique characteristics, and respect and civility govern public discourse. To recognize and celebrate diversity; challenge bigotry, racism, discrimination, hate crimes, civil rights violations, and acts of bias; and build inter-group understanding and respect. Affiliation: Lexington was part of a state-wide campaign sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League of New England and the Mass. Municipal Association. The Lexington No Place for Hate Committee was formed by a unanimous vote in 2000 and ended by unanimous vote in 2007 by the Lexington Board of Selectmen.
Steering Committee Members:
Chair: Jill Smilow, Rev. Judith Brain, Lexington Interfaith Clergy Association; Joseph O'Leary, Lexington Police Department; David Horton, Charles Martin, Claudia Lach, and Yukari Watanabe Scott, Community Representatives; Leona W. Martin, Lexfest! Connecting Our Cultures; Brenda Prusak, Respecting Differences Liaison/Welcoming Congregations; Mary Sullivan Kelly, Lexington Public Schools; Linda Crew Vine, Lexington Town Manager's Office; Hank Manz, Board of Selectmen Liaison; Ravi Sakhuja, Indian American Association/School Committee Liaison; Becky Kosterman, Youth Services Coordinator, Mary Haskell, Lexington Coalition for Racial Equality.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Created the Guidelines for Civil Discourse which established a common set of expectations regarding public discourse which are consistent across groups and organizations, including town government. The guidelines were simple and reinforce freedom of speech within a framework of respect and civility.
Lexington Listens! Study Circles Initiative engaged people from all sectors of the Lexington community in discussing the social, communal and political issues of importance to the town in a safe, respectful environment with pairs of trained facilitators.
In partnership with the Town Manager’s Office, the Town Clerk and the Town Moderator, planned and participated in the Town of Lexington Board and Committee Training, “Leading and Conducting Effective Meeting Workshop”. The training included suggestions to town leadership on utilizing the Guidelines for Civil Discourse in challenging situations in public meetings.
In partnership with The Friends of Cary Library, co-sponsored a film series based on the themes of diversity, intergenerational family function and dysfunction and immigration. The film series was inspired by the themes of the NPFH Fall 2005 Lexington Reads! Book selection, The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri.
In partnership with the Lexington Coalition for Racial Equality, Lexington citizens and businesses participated in the planning of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration and CommUNITY March events (January, 2007).
In partnership with the Town Manager’s Office, planned and participated in the Town Employment Diversity Training. Training was conducted to raise awareness of the diversity represented by Lexington’s residents and employees and to gain practice in discussing diversity issues within our community.
In partnership with the Lexington Police Department, Town Manager’s Office and the Board of Selectmen, created and implemented conflict resolution programming and strategies with a Lexington neighborhood in conflict. This initiative was an outgrowth of The Incident Response Team (IRT) established in 2004.
In partnership with many groups in Lexington, including the Lexington Interfaith Clergy Association and the Lexington Police Department, developed and implemented Community Response to Hate training over 200 citizens to respond in a peaceful, silent protest against a homophobic hate group which targeted Lexington based Houses of Worship as well as Lexington High School’s graduation in Spring 2005.
Our group came into existence subsequent to the Los Angeles(Rodney King) uprisings in the spring of 1992. Racial concerns groups were formed by the Follen Unitarian Church and the Lexington Clergyperson's Association. They called a public meeting in order to form a coalition to work on issues of anti-black racism.They were joined by individual "unaffiliated" residents as well as representatives of the Concerned Black Citizens of Lexington, the social action committees of Temple Emunah, Temple Isaiah and the First Parish Unitarian Church; the Baha'i Community; the Church of our Redeemer; the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee; the METCO Advisory Committee and the Diversity Committee of the Lexington public schools. The first MLK unity walk and commemoration was in January of 1993.
A program was found from February11,1963, when MLK,Jr. spoke at Lexington High School. On the program was a list of the members of the Lexington Civil Rights Committee. We tried to reach as many of them as we could by phone to invite them to this celebration thirty years later. A number of them came and we asked them to stand to applause. Father Thomas E. MacLeod, an associate pastor at St. Brigid's Church in l963,spoke to us of King's visit to Lexington.
Past and Present Members of Lexington Coalition for Racial Equality:Kay Apgar, Art Ballou (deceased), Richard Ballou, Bernice Baran, Stephen Baran, Florence Baturin, John Beebe (deceased), Kay Bell, Marcia Butman, Christine Chase, Diana Cole, Pat Costello, Richard Crawford (deceased), Lisa Drake, Beatriz Dominguez, Michelle Waters Ekanem, Hamed Eshraghian, Eva Gordon (deceased), Bruce Gordon, Sherry Gordon, Anne Grady, Susan Halevi , June Hall, Sara Harrington (deceased), Mary Haskell, Alice Hinkle, Karen Watson Holton, Jan Howell, Gerry Howell, Marion Kilson, Claudia Knight, Paul Knight
Gregory Kotonias, Jim Long, Charles T. Martin, Leona Martin, Eleanor Mattes, Ella Mazel, Judith McCloskey, Matthew Proujansky, Susan Robert, Patricia Rubin, Betty J. Ruth, Sara Schoman, Melinda Walker, Lt. Col. Willie Smith, Jr. (deceased), Sharyn Wong-Chan (deceased), Steve Wong-Chan, Gerri Weathers,
