[R]UTLAND — A soon-to-be-chartered regional chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hopes to serve as a resource for its members as well as others in the Rutland area.
“Our hope is to provide a support network for people of color and for people who are interested in knowing more or making sure that they are inclusive in their practices, whatever they may be,” said Tabitha Pohl-Moore, one of the founding members.
The group, which convened last summer, has more than 100 members, the minimum required to become a local affiliate.
The NAACP, founded in 1909, is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the country. In 2015 the Champlain Area NAACP became the first chapter in Vermont. There are more than 2,000 local affiliates nationwide.
Pohl-Moore said they’ve been working on establishing connections in the community and getting a better sense of how to address issues people of color face in the Rutland region.
She is a school counselor at Mill River Union High School and said education will be a top priority. The district could do a better job of providing support to students and families of color to ensure equality in education, Pohl-Moore said. Eventually the group will address other pillars of the NAACP’s larger mission, including political, social and economic equality.
Pohl-Moore, a graduate of Mill River, once vowed never to return to Rutland after feeling unwelcome as a student. She said she came back in the hope of providing some of the service and support she felt were lacking when she was a student.
“Essentially we’re trying to create a hub so that people of color have somewhere to go,” said Pohl-Moore.
Lisa Ryan, who was adopted by a white family at the age of 3 months, also grew up in Rutland and recalls being one of only four or five students of color at the local high school. It wasn’t uncommon, she said, to overhear people unknowingly make racist remarks or to be followed around in stores by clerks. People often asked her where she was from.
In 2007 she left Vermont to attend Temple University. She returned in 2011 and was struck by the degree to which she saw changes in Rutland — the city was wracked by a heroin epidemic, and there were deep-rooted tensions between law enforcement and the community.
Ryan remembers being devastated after learning about the allegations in a race discrimination lawsuit brought by former Rutland City Police Officer Andrew Todd. Todd, then the city’s only black officer, resigned in 2011 and said his superiors failed to adequately address charges of racism within the department. In 2015 the city settled with Todd for $975,000.
When she got news of the settlement, Ryan remembers crying.
“I know all of what it’s like to be raised as a black person in Vermont,” she said.
Lakeisha Brown also grew up in Rutland and has two daughters and a son who are biracial. Brown said that, before the Todd story broke, she was frequently pulled over for what seemed like minor offenses — not stopping in advance of the white line at a stop sign or on one occasion failure to use a turn signal, which Brown disputed. It got bad enough, she said, that Brown wrote a letter to then-Chief James Baker and told him she felt she was being harassed.
“I feel like I need to let you know what I’m doing in Rutland City,” she remembers telling Baker. The chief dismissed the $145 ticket for not using a directional signal and, according to Brown, assured her the city’s officers were well-trained and not in the habit of profiling people.
However, when Brown learned of what Todd encountered under a previous administration, she saw her own experience in a different light.
“I think they basically wanted me to be quiet,” Brown said.
Things have improved in the past several years. Brown said she jokes with her husband and kids that the department has her license plate number and knows not to stop her.
But she worries for her son, and that is the primary reason she got involved in the NAACP. “He’s a black teenager,” Brown said. “That’s my concern — police not treating him fairly.”
Though the police department has greatly improved its image in Rutland since the Todd lawsuit was settled, disparities in the treatment of black drivers have been found.
A UVM report released last week highlighted a much higher arrest and search rate of black drivers pulled over in Rutland than white drivers. According to the report black drivers stopped in Rutland are 2.5 times more likely to be arrested than white drivers. Rutland also had the greatest disparity in the number of searches — black drivers were searched at a rate that is more than six times that of white drivers.
Chief Brian Kilcullen, who took over in late 2015, said the department is committed to fair and impartial policing and will work on addressing any issues raised in the report. He said the department will also continue to collaborate with researchers.
Kilcullen, who has attended one of the NAACP chapter meetings, said he anticipates continuing the conversation. “It provides an environment for honest dialogue,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that discussion.”
Alan Held, a 68-year-old utility worker from the Bronx in New York, moved to Vermont 15 years ago. He said the debate over refugee resettlement in Rutland, the rash of police shootings nationwide, and some of the rhetoric that surfaced during the presidential campaign all compelled him to attend one of the NAACP’s recent meetings.
As a kid in the Bronx, Held recalled being stopped or pulled over by police frequently for offenses such as drinking or belligerence.
“If I was black I would’ve been killed 20 times over for the encounters that I have had with police officers,” he said.
Held said he was struck by the racial and socio-economic diversity of the NAACP’s members. There were farmers and office workers, lawyers and doctors, Held said.
Pohl-Moore said there’s been an outpouring of interest from the community. The group has members as young as 14 — Pohl-Moore’s daughter — and as old as 70 or 80. It currently has 137 members.
“I think it’s going to be a positive thing for Rutland,” Brown said. “Support not just for African-Americans but other minority communities.”
Ryan, who wasn’t sure she’d stay in Rutland after returning home from college, said she has no intention of leaving. She received a master’s in mediation and applied conflict studies from Champlain College and hopes to raise a family in the area. She hopes her children don’t have to encounter the same kind of racism she did.
“I’ll be damned if they have to deal with this stuff, because I’m not having it,” Ryan said.
“Not to say I’m going to save the day. I’d like to try to make things better here.”
Clarification: The type of degree Ryan received from Champlain College has been clarified.
