A new chapter of the NAACP held its inaugural public meeting last night in Vermont. The group is aiming for social justice in one of the nation’s whitest states.
The Champlain Area NAACP is believed to be the first chapter of the organization created in Vermont. There’s a little uncertainty over whether there was a group in the 1960’s. But this newly formed group is fully affiliated with the national organization; it introduced its officers and goals to the public Tuesday evening in a crowded meeting room of the University of Vermont’s Waterman Building. Chapter President Mary Brown-Guillory says the group formed during a rally at the Burlington YMCA. “With things happening in the community, discrimination at the YMCA, discrimination at the mall, individuals not being able to buy homes in the area or complaints about stores and issues that were happening in the area. They started to happen more and more and more. We just said one day lobbying the YMCA we need more help. That’s how it happened.”
The state is just 1.2 percent black according to the latest census data. Travon Groves says he’s dealt with acts of racism and hopes the NAACP chapter opens Vermonters’ eyes. “I have goosebumps right now because I’m very excited about this. I live in Randolph. I’m probably the only black kid in the town so I deal with a lot of racism there. I used to work at a company where I dealt with a lot of racial tension because I had a very high management position and the older white people there didn’t like taking, I guess, commands from me. I was very respectful about it and I dealt with it a lot. I like that this is opening up now. It’s going to start opening up people’s eyes up to stuff more and I have so much stuff I want to share with kids. They just have no one to look up to or anything like that. So there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in Vermont.”
University of Vermont graduate student Daniel Fairley believes that while Vermont has a progressive reputation for social justice it’s skewed away from race issues. “In Vermont I think a lot of the social justice is focused on food equity and gender differences and sexuality and things like that. These are all things that white people can be a part of. White people can agree that we should recycle more and compost. But when you get into race you see people become very uncomfortable talking about their privileges and talking about things that have given them advantages in life that they haven’t earned.”
Brown-Guillory is particularly concerned that many Vermonters do not acknowledge that acts of racism are occurring locally. “I was at a city council meeting and a city councilor said that there was no racism in Burlington, Vermont. I was just appalled. There is discrimination. There are rights being violated. It’s time for us to stand united with all groups that are working from age discrimination to gender discrimination, there are so many agendas to address and so many concerns to talk about in this state, in New York, in the whole Champlain area.”
Attorney Robert Appel, who retired as the Executive Director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, calls fighting discrimination his life’s work. “My struggles over the years, particularly as a white male Vermonter, is to have people who don’t experience discriminatory practices to realize they in fact do occur to our sisters and brothers who are not white male or are not fully physically able, have mental issues, are persons of color, all sorts of folks who have historically faced discrimination, gay, lesbian, trans, questioning, etc. There’s plenty of discrimination. There’s both overt and subtle. It happens. White folks who don’t experience it put up a wall of denial and say ‘Oh that doesn’t happen here in Vermont. We’re different. We’re better.’ Well we’re not.”
The Champlain Area Chapter of the NAACP had 168 members as its first meeting began. The group plans to meet with other organizations, churches and business groups to discus discrimination issues. It will also train members on how to report incidents and individuals’ rights when stopped and questioned by police.
