Action urged on ‘institutionalized racism’
By TOM RELIHAN
Gazette Contributing Writer
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
(Published in print: Wednesday, April 9, 2014)
(Published in print: Wednesday, April 9, 2014)
During a vigil Tuesday evening on the Common, about 150 community members, former teachers and local students called for an end to what they termed a culture of “institutionalized racism” in the Amherst regional school district.
The vigil was organized in support of Amherst Regional High School math teacher Carolyn Gardner, who has been the target of racist graffiti and threatening notes since October. A number of those in attendance used a portable microphone to deliver speeches, including Sonji Johnson-Anderson, a graduate student from the University of Massachusetts and friend of Gardner’s, who served as master of ceremonies for the event. Many of those in the crowd wore orange ribbons as a symbol of solidarity against racism, and some wore shirts that read “I stand against institutional racism.”
“If anything good has come of these racist attacks, it is that we have been able to re-energize the community of Amherst and beyond,” Johnson-Anderson said.