Ravi Koil, Colleen Jones-Turner, Pedro Vazquez, Margaret Brownlee, Jill Barkley Roy, Jade Rose Sangiovanni, Amy Berry, Stephanie Weaver, Alma Ogweta, Brendan Williams
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South Portland Human Rights Commission Meeting Minutes Thursday, April 22, 2021 7:00 – 9:00 pm In Attendance: Ravi Koil, Colleen Jones-Turner, Pedro Vazquez, Margaret Brownlee, Jill Barkley Roy, Jade Rose SanGiovanni, Amy Berry, Stephanie Weaver, Alma Ogweta, Brendan Williams. Absent: Erick Giles, Milan Nevajda, Jodi Mezzanotte. Meeting called to order at 7:05 p.m. Pedro Vazquez facilitated the meeting. Published Agenda: [Reordered when meeting began from the published version below.] 7:00 – 7:20 Call to Order Reading of FOAA Statement Check-In Comments Acceptance of Minutes 7:20 – 8:00 • Maine Youth Justice Support Discussion. William Mann and Sari Green. • Racial Equity Institute [REI] Discussion Jake Fahey • MAEC [Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (?)] Report Discussion [Postponed] 8:00 – 8:10 (Opportunity for Public Comment) 8:10 – 8:50 Atlantic Black Box Project – Seth Goldstein 8:50 – 9:00 Final Reflections [Postponed] 9:00 Adjournment Minutes and Meeting Summary • 7:05 – 7:20 Call to Order, Reading of FOAA Statement Check-In, Acceptance of Minutes Stephanie called the meeting to order and read the meeting requirements. Pedro began the meeting by calling for the members in attendance to check in. Acceptance of the minutes of the previous meeting was not brought up. New commission member Brendan Williams was introduced to the commission and gave a brief description of his experience and qualifications. He has been in this area for about 5 years and is originally from the San Francisco Area. Brendan described himself as hearing impaired, and is also a stand-up comedian. Each member of the commission welcomed him. After calling the meeting to order, Pedro proposed that agenda be modified to allow guest Seth Goldstein to provide his presentation on the Atlantic Black Box Project before the other agenda items. MOTION: Ravi made a motion to allow changes to the agenda. • Atlantic Black Box Project. Seth Goldstein, who teaches history at Maine College of Art, offered a presentation of the Atlantic Black Box Project, of which he is the educational coordinator. The project is described on their site [The Atlantic Black Box Project – researching & reckoning with New England's role in the global economy of enslavement] as “a public history project that empowers communities throughout New England to take up the critical work of researching and reckoning with our region’s complicity in the slave trade and our extensive involvement in the global economy of enslavement.” This presentation was enthusiastically received, and was the major component of this week’s meeting. Seth commented that he would love to come back and talk more about Portland’s history with enslaved people. Colleen, Jill, and others agreed it would be worthwhile. Maine Youth Justice Support. In a follow-up to last meeting’s discussion of Maine Youth Justice support, Jade Rose said that she is working with state legislator Brendan McQuade, who has written a bill to close down Long Creek Development Center, which she described as a youth prison. She suggested that perhaps the Human Rights Commission could support the campaign to close Long Creek and explore ways to do so. Racial Equity Institute [REI] Discussion Jake Fahey, an interfaith chaplain and community organizer who has worked with the Racial Equity institute for the past couple of years, talked with the commission about the goals of the REI, and specifically about their workshops. He said his group has connected with different groups who are interested in bringing this training to different parts of Maine and our most recent efforts have been trying to get system leaders and change makers throughout the state to attend, so that we can recognize that this these problems of racism are crossing all of our systems all of our institutions He invited commission members to a virtual workshop to see if it would be a good fit for the commission. Margaret commented that she had experience with REI a few years ago and described the experience as life changing. Ravi brought up the idea of the HRC sponsoring 5 spots in an upcoming workshop either for Members of the Commission or four members of the public from South Portland Pedro said it would be a good thing to get involved in that I'm so happy about that, and I think that it would be great for us to take part in some of those workshops and then maybe designing something specific to our Community, so we can bring it to our Community. Jake said the full price for an individual is $375 and that scholarships are available. Brendan put forth a motion that would allow people who were not present at the meeting to have a chance to hear about this before a vote and potentially be among those allowed to attend the workshop. [not sure if this correct], which was seconded by Pedro. A roll call vote was unanimous. Additional Meeting. Due to time constraints and extended discussions at this evening’s meeting, Colleen made a motion that we have an additional meeting next for us to finish the work that we need to do. Pedro seconded the motion. A roll call vote was unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 9:31. [I searched the transcript and perhaps to the length of the meeting [2 hr 26 minutes] and the late hour, a formal adjournment did not happen]? Motion to adjourn by? Second?] – My copy of the transcript cut off at 2:26 on the recording. Transcript of the Meeting as recorded by Zoom [Please Note: This transcript is based on the Zoom recording and as such, contains Zoom’s “best guess” at what each participant has said. As a result, there are numerous mis-spellings, incorrect names, and similar errors and omissions. To access the actual recorded audio, please refer to the shared drive for the Human Rights Commission.] WEBVTT 4-22-20211 00:05:30.270 --> Stephanie Weaver: hey.2 00:05:31.980 --> Check In [back] Pedro A. Vazquez: Hello there how's it going.3 00:05:33.840 --> Stephanie Weaver: Okay yo.4 00:05:36.000 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: really good excited about going away tomorrow we're taking some time out cool.5 00:05:42.390 --> Stephanie Weaver: sorry about what we're going away on a road trip tomorrow so oh nice yeah I can barely hear you.6 00:05:49.560 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: Oh, really, let me try is that better.7 00:05:52.020 --> Stephanie Weaver: Much okay excellent.8 00:05:58.710 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: hi amy hi brandon.9 00:06:03.120 --> Amy Berry: Hello Pedro.10 00:06:05.520 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: And I see ravi.11 00:06:07.380 --> Amy Berry: hi brandon.12 00:06:09.060 --> Brendan Williams: Hello Howard on.13 00:06:12.210 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: Excellent Thank you good to see you.14 00:06:14.220 --> Brendan Williams: know theater.15 00:06:17.580 --> Ravi Koil: Random greetings and welcome Brenda.16 00:06:20.460 --> Brendan Williams: Thank you well.17 00:06:22.590 --> Ravi Koil: Welcome to the CBC group.18 00:06:26.370 --> Amy Berry: yeah that's us.19 00:06:29.730 --> Ravi Koil: I think that applies to all the three.20 00:06:32.490 --> Ravi Koil: i'm hoping that.21 00:06:34.710 --> Ravi Koil: they're pretty cheap amy very becomes the chief permanently fire police department that's one which.22 00:06:40.980 --> Amy Berry: Oh well.23 00:06:42.720 --> Amy Berry: For that vote of confidence.24 00:06:44.880 --> Ravi Koil: Oh, my gosh if somebody's interested, you would be fabulous Stephanie viva is always have guardian keeps us in line protects us shepherds us.25 00:06:57.060 --> Ravi Koil: And then there is no hippie the big boss Pedro.26 00:07:05.520 --> Stephanie Weaver: And ravi is our cheerleader cherry cherry leader.27 00:07:10.770 --> Ravi Koil: Thank you.28 00:07:14.760 --> Stephanie Weaver: It comes Margaret.29 00:07:16.290 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: it's absolutely terrific that's for sure.30 00:07:20.010 --> Ravi Koil: Yes, Margaret.31 00:07:24.600 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: Margaret how you doing.32 00:07:26.280 --> Ravi Koil: you're muted.33 00:07:28.260 --> Ravi Koil: you're muted.34 00:07:30.390 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: You can hear us.35 00:07:31.770 --> Ravi Koil: she's muted.36 00:07:33.060 --> yeah.37 00:07:41.730 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: How about now can you hear us now and jade rose welcome.38 00:07:49.980 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: Can you hear us now Margaret.39 00:07:52.320 --> Stephanie Weaver: She left and maybe i'll come back.40 00:07:54.630 --> Pedro A. Vazquez: Okay, I see.41 00:08:05.880 --> Here we go.42 00:08:07.590 --> Ravi Koil: To Brendan Brendan did you grow up here.43 00:08:10.890 --> Ravi Koil: From south brooklyn.44 00:08:13.770 --> Brendan Williams: Yes, and no I originally grew up in California and then I moved to Ohio.45 00:08:20.370 --> Oh.46 00:08:21.720 --> Brendan Williams: yeah yeah that and so i've been in the area for about five years, five years now 2015 yeah you don't.47 00:08:30.960 --> Ravi Koil: know how that has some very nice restaurants in Baja.48 00:08:34.410 --> Brendan Williams: They do I I love going I worked at some of them back in high school and I love I love better than the time my mom go up there, so I go back and forth a lot occasionally.49 00:08:46.830 --> Ravi Koil: And oh yeah and they have that car fairy that goes to Canada, you know to Newfoundland our brand speak we've we've done that you know, on behalf of.50 00:08:57.240 --> Brendan Williams: The ferry.51 00:08:58.140 --> Ravi Koil: Yes.52 00:08:58.680 --> Brendan Williams: you're talking about the copper.53 00:09:01.980 --> Brendan Williams: They do I don't know if they have it, I have now Now I know they did have it yeah but there's like a bunch of part of the whole up.54 00:09:10.290