Opinion: Why You Should Vote

My name is Philip Avila and I lived in Amherst for the past five years. Through being Co-chair of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and a member of the town’s Community Safety and Social Justice Committee (CSSJC), I gained firsthand experience within the government and the politics of Amherst. On the surface, the Town of Amherst values itself to be a progressive liberal town. Yet in my roles within town government, I have come to learn that some Town Councilors do not uphold the progressive values for which the town is known. 

This became abundantly clear to me in the mishandling of the July 5th incident (2022) (see also here, here and here). in which an Amherst Police officer told a majority Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) group of youth “they have no rights. This incident was a critical point for the town’s leadership to demonstrate that they in fact are supporting work to make Amherst an anti-racist town. Unfortunately, the town’s leadership failed to handle this incident properly and therefore failed to enact the values of anti-racism that they have claimed to hold. To this date, the town would like for this incident to go away and no longer be discussed.

This incident resulted in multiple meetings between the Town Council, Town Manager, the HRC, and the CSSJC. These meetings were not supported by some town councilors who openly expressed dismissive attitudes regarding the discussions taking place. For example, during the Town Council meeting on October, 3, 2022 (see video of meeting here), a vote was called to delay the discussion regarding the July 5 incident to another month’s council agenda, because the agenda for the current meeting was full. An important note is that the July 5 incident happened in July, as its name would suggest, and this Town Council meeting to have a discussion about a discussion with the CSSJC regarding the July 5 incident was happening in October. As if that was not late enough, this vote would push this conversation into November. Thankfully, the majority of the council voted against the effort to delay this discussion. It was only Mandi Jo Hanneke and Andrew J Steinberg who voted in favor of delaying this conversation (video at 39:00). This vote resulted in the Town Council inviting the CSSJC to a town council meeting on October 17, 2022 that would include a one-hour time slot in their existing agenda (see video here). In this meeting, during the final minutes of the allotted one-hour time slot, Hanneke enacted article 2.10c of the Town of Amherst Home Rule Charter to abruptly stop the discussion (see also here and here) and prevent the finding of a solution for how to address the July 5 incident. Having participated in this meeting myself, it seemed to me that Hanneke was more concerned ending the discussion than with finding a path forward on a troubling issue regarding racism in the town.

As a BIPOC resident and town-appointed committee member, my voice was silenced the night of October 17, and as I stated that night, any Town Councilor who moves to silence a majority BIPOC group (in this case the CSSJC) and especially when discussing race-based topics, is perpetuating White Supremacy. The act of abruptly ending this race-based discussion deepened the mistrust the community of Amherst had of town leadership. Understandably, the council is going to have set agendas to address the needs of the town, but when urgent situations arise, the council should be able to pivot to address the critical needs of the town’s residents. Not addressing pressing issues in town demonstrates neither leadership nor a commitment to social justice.

Furthermore, Hanneke has been known for her attempts to limit public comment which further deepens the mistrust from all community members. I ask this question to town of residents: are councilors like Hanneke people Amherst still wants in power or has their time to silence the community come to an end? I hope town residents have been paying attention to the actions of town Councilors and that they will vote for a different Amherst in November. Because any councilor not in alignment with the progressive values of the town needs to be voted out. So please vote on November 7, and make Amherst the progressive place we all want it to be. 

Philip Avila  is former Co-chair of the Amherst Human Rights Commission and a former member of Amherst’s Community Safety and Social Justice Committee.