2008
NCC President named to TEAM Westport
Source: Westport Minuteman
Date: December 30, 2008
Norwalk Community College President David L. Levinson, Ph.D., a Westport resident, has been appointed by Westport First Selectman Gordon Joseloff to TEAM Westport, a volunteer organization dedicated to diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism.
TEAM Westport is an acronym for “Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism.” The group was launched in 2003 as former First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell’s taskforce on diversity.
In 2005, Westport’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) made TEAM Westport the town’s official committee on multiculturalism and diversity. Westport’s traditional ties with neighboring Weston quickly added volunteers from Weston, with the sponsorship of Weston First Selectman Woody Bliss.
TEAM Westport includes volunteers who live and/or work in Westport and Weston. The group operates Education, Governance, Marketing, Outreach and Program committees. Members undertake a variety of activities, including working with the Westport school system to ensure a diverse curriculum in areas including race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. This year, TEAM Westport has sponsored a three-part “Conversations on Race” series of open public forums exploring racism and politics.
In addition to NCC President David L. Levinson, TEAM Westport members include Joseloff and Second Selectwoman Shelley Kassen. Westport resident Harold Bailey Jr. is TEAM Westport chair.
Dr. Levinson is a sociologist and author of several books on sociology and higher education. He was invited to be the featured speaker at two recent TEAM Westport “Conversations on Race.” These forums invited community members to share their thoughts “in an open, honest atmosphere.”
Obama's Impact on Westport?
Out of the Woods / Woody Klein
Date: December 3, 2008
Source: Westport News
When Barack Obama courageously addressed the issue of race in a memorable speech at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia last March 18, he said, in part: "I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together, unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction: toward a better future for our children and our grandchildren."
The Democratic standard-bearer called for a national conversation on race so that blacks and whites -- indeed, people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds -- could come together and discuss their differences in the hope of forging a better understanding and therefore a peaceful resolution of the single overriding issue that has dogged our nation since its conception.
Race relations have permeated the body politics in this nation for too long. Seminal books such as Alexis deToqueville's Democracy in America and Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma have offered insights into the issue of racism in America. Yet, as influential as those works are, our town and our nation have not yet squarely faced the generations-old issue of racism.
Until now.
Showing vision and a recognition of the "real world" in Westport and Weston, that dialogue has been under way since 2003 when former First Selectwoman Diane Farrell convened a Task Force on Diversity, originally comprised of 14 residents, and led by Harold Bailey, chairman of the group now known as TEAM Westport. The title is an acronym for Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism -- an imposing name that reflects the mission of a committed group of people to recommend specific steps "to achieve and celebrate a more welcoming, multicultural Westport/Weston community." In 2005, the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) made the group the town's official committee on multiculturalism and diversity.
This not just another of those "do good" groups that talks the talk but fails to walk the walk. Among its many activities, it launched a number of panel discussions based on bias-related plays at the Westport Country Playhouse, established a dialogue with national academic and political leaders, enhanced the work of the local Interfaith Council, sponsored a number of projects in cooperation with the Westport Public Library, helped improve the school curriculum with the Westport Board of Education and Staples High School, collaborated with the PTA Council, impacted the business community by holding meetings with local leaders, established a rapport with churches and synagogues and met with numerous town bodies, such as the Police Department, and with officials of neighboring towns of Norwalk and Wilton to stimulate conversations on race.
Timed perfectly with the election of President-elect Obama, the group is holding its third in a series of "Conversations on Race" in an open forum next Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 7-9 p.m., at the Westport Senior Center on 21 Imperial Ave.
The topic? "How Will Obama's Election Affect Race and Intolerance in Westport?" Harold Bailey stated in a press release announcing the open forum: "Basically, the people who show up are the ones who decide what they want to talk about in an open, honest atmosphere. At these events, we've heard opinions and points of view from all over: professionals, homemakers, students, seniors, blacks, white and shades in-between."
Bailey added that the town was fortunate to have input from Dr. David L. Levinson, a Westport resident, who is a sociologist and educator now serving as president of Norwalk Community College. Bailey continued: "Racism has existed throughout America's past and present. So it's not surprising that it can be found in various forms in our community. Right now, we're interested in exploring how our reactions to Obama's selection will affect instances of racism and intolerance in Westport."
Having written the history of our town, I can attest to the presence of racism and a long-held negative view of school integration during our town's history. There were very few blacks in town at the turn of the last century -- and they were mostly the servants and house cleaners for wealthy white families. Since then, Westport has participated in a short-lived "Project Concern" program of busing in black and Latino children from Bridgeport; established summer camps that brought black and Latino kids to Compo Beach; and, in addition, residents with deep conviction in our town, risked traveling to the south during the bloody battles of the 1960s for equality and the vote.
I would guess that most people here believe we live in an accepting, caring community that is open to all who want to move here. Not true. Consider this: races in Westport, according to the latest Census data, are listed as follows: White, 93.3 percent; Hispanic, 2.2 percent; Black, 1.1 percent; Chinese, 1.1 percent; two or more races, 0.8 percent. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is a false perception. Westport remains among the so-called "Gold Coast" communities which have long subtly rejected minorities. Our children grow up -- despite all the nice rhetoric they hear and see around them -- in a pocket of plenty that has made it uncomfortable for blacks to move here.
This must change. We cannot afford to remain stuck in the past while other towns across the country are healing the divide between the races. Our challenge: to find out, specifically, what we need to do to let it be known that we welcome more African-American families into our community, and then to actively pursue specific actions. Maybe it's more stories and photos of local blacks in our newspapers; maybe it's the Realtors, believing the community is still biased, who need to change their own views and make it clear to black couples that there are homes for anyone who wants to come here. They, too, must react to the "fierce urgency of now."
We now have a president who fully understands the depth of racism. The son of a white woman and a black man, he has demonstrated, finally, that men and women in America can be judged on their character. He has reached out to us. Now it is our turn to reach back.
Can we really enlighten our town and our country? Yes, we can.
Correction: In my column last week, I described Paul Newman as a man with "a modicum of modesty." Westporter David G. Olsen wrote me that the actor "enjoyed modesty in abundance." I thank him for his note. He's right.
Woody Klein's column appears regularly in the Westport News.
Announcement from TEAM Westport
June, 2008
TEAM Westport is the official council of the Town of Westport whose mission is "'toachieve, extend and celebrate a more welcoming, multicultural WestportlWeston community."'*
The TEAM Westport Staples Scholarship for 2008
is awarded to:
Madeleine Abrams
Madeleine (Maddie) Abrams has been a stalwart member of Staples' Gay‑Straight Alliance throughout her high school career. This year she served as co‑president. She has reached out to the school and expanded membership, making it an organization at which all students feel welcome and accepted, regardless of sexual orientation. She has organized the annual Day of Silence, at which up to 100 Staples students have remained silent all day to bring attention to those who, because of their sexual orientation, feel they have no voice. She has also organized annual trips to the True Colors conference, the largest workshop in the country for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) youth and straight allies, and adults who work with them. And Maddie has actively reached out to other GSAs at schools throughout Connecticut, helping create a true "community" of gay youth and allies.
She is also an active member of Out5poken, Fairfield County's GLBT youth support group.
She has participated actively in a summer Social Justice and Leadership workshop/camp.
She has sung for 7 years in her church choir. As an active member of her church youth group, she has been involved in mission trips in the US and abroad. This year's trip, to Mississippi, will aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Her contributions to Staples High School, Town of Westport, and the community has earned the honor of this year's TEAM Westport Scholarship award.
TEAM Westport Wants Open Conversation
By Frank Luongo
Source: Westport News
Date: June 4, 2008
At its monthly meeting Tuesday, TEAM Westport committed itself to sponsoring an open conversation in town about gender, race and religion, three hot-button issues that have surfaced during the presidential primary season.
TEAM member Nicholas Rudd said the focus of the conversation should be on bringing home such issues in a meeting format that would allow the agenda to emerge freely from the audience, a process, he said, that would create the open space necessary for a genuine exchange of different viewpoints.
In response to a concern about the possibility that biased topics might come out of such a process, Stephen Daniels said that could serve a useful purpose.
"We hear a miniscule amount about peoples' attitudes. What we hear is sanitized and politically correct. Racism exists. But it's buried and hidden. Let's get it on the table," Daniels said.
Harold Bailey, chairman of the multiculturalism committee, said the conversation was needed in response to what he characterized as an "insane" and "out of control" current climate that results in a candidate resigning from his church because of something said from the pulpit.
"We always thought of a church as a private place. We have to resolve this or keep going around in circles in a campaign," Bailey said about the impact of such constraints on present and future candidates.
He said the group's program committee would make arrangements for the event to take place later this month, or early in July, to be well ahead of the party conventions this summer.
Stuart Losen, a licensed psychologist, said that one of the challenges in dealing with the race issue is the duality that exists in the way the issue is treated.
"There's a sociological and a political viewpoint," Losen said, adding that the first seeks an understanding of the reality of racial divisions, while the other seeks to use it "to play the race card to get elected."
On the religion topic, Dolores Paoli said as a Muslim, she would be concerned that the free-form agenda might generate "hateful statements" which she said would be rooted in a lack of knowledge about Islam.
Rudd responded to both concerns by saying that in the open-space format "everything goes. Transparency and the light of day are effective. Anyone can post any topic and then the audience will vote with their feet." He was describing how the audience would divide by topic, move into small group discussions and later report the results of their discussions to the reassembled audience.
If the program committee is successful in attracting young people to the conversation, Rudd said high school students might be recruited as secretaries for the small group discussions.
"They could use their laptops to create an interactive exchange of ideas on the Web," Rudd said.
123108