FAQs

WRJPR is an actively anti-racist grassroots community organizing group formed after the Black Lives Matter/Justice for George Floyd protest in Williamstown drew over 500 people to Field Park on Friday, June 5, 2020. A group of citizens who attended that event started reflecting on and taking action on issues of racial justice and police reform here in Williamstown.

Our two overarching goals are to promote racial justice and police reform in Williamstown. Under those two goals, there are specific issue areas for RJPR action. For example, there is a subgroup of social workers who have written a proposal for improving mental health services separate from the Williamstown Police Department, and a crisis support phone tree.

WRJPR is a safe place to connect with community members who want "Black Lives Matter" to be more than a popular yard sign, who want town leaders to prioritize policies that actually make this town more safe and equitable, who want our town employees—especially the police—to be transparent about policies and to be held accountable for their actions.

Some members had left the Williamstown community and recently returned. Others have been here for 20 years, and still others who are new to this community and see ways for it to be stronger.

Some members’ end goal is police abolition, and others’ end goal is a smaller, more accountable police force. We welcome those disagreements and encourage respectful debate.

Our backgrounds, experience, and training all differ. What we all share is a commitment to reimagining "the way things are" in Williamstown.

Thank you for committing to anti-racism work!

In Williamstown, you can contact WRJPR or any of its members to share interests and goals to see how we can work together. We also encourage you to “attend” DIRE zoom meetings, the Select Board’s advisory committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Equity. The official town calendar lists DIRE’s meetings.

In Berkshire County, the two primary ways to get involved in active anti-racist work are: the Berkshire Branch NAACP and the Multicultural BRIDGE.

In 2017, BRIDGE launched the Not in Our County - Berkshires campaign to unify communities throughout the county (part of the nation-wide Not In Our Town campaign) to stop hate, address bullying, and build safe, inclusive communities for all. Take the pledge: https://www.multiculturalbridge.org/not-in-our-county---berkshires.html

Briefly, in November 2019, a complaint was filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) by a Sergeant in the WPD alleging that his not being promoted to Lieutenant was due to retaliation by the Williamstown police chief. The filing enumerated several alleged incidents of discriminatory behavior, beginning in 2011. The suit names the Town of Williamstown, Police Chief Kyle Johnson, and Town Manager Jason Hoch as co-defendants.

The Town filed its required response in January 2020. In the response, the Town admitted to some of the behaviors, but characterized them differently from the way they are characterized in the complaint, and denied that they had anything to do with employment decisions related to the sergeant.

The response was submitted by the police chief and town manager who signed in two places, once as defendant, and once on behalf of the Town. The town manager neglected to inform his supervising authority, the Select Board, about this complaint or any of the allegations. The Select Board first heard about the MCAD complaint when the lawsuit was filed, the second week of August 2020. Not informing the Select Board is a violation of the Town charter.

The MCAD determined that the complaint should move forward to be investigated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This is a rare finding and suggests the MCAD found some merit to the claims. Rather than pursuing that course of action, the sergeant withdrew the complaint in August 2020 and instead filed a federal lawsuit against Johnson, Hoch, and the Town on the same matter. Because federal lawsuits are a matter of public record, news media reported on the lawsuit, which triggered the information finally coming to the Select Board.

NOTE that these are the separate streams of concern now:

1) the lawsuit;

2) Some of the admitted behaviors are no longer “allegations.” A dispatcher used the N-word, an officer displayed a picture of Hitler, and an officer sexually assaulted a town citizen. The chief also admitted to engaging in “locker room behavior” early in his tenure as chief. Concerns remain about these behaviors and what may have—or have not—been done about them; and,

3) The town manager’s failure to inform his supervising authority about any of this until the lawsuit made it public.

4) The officers involved, the police chief, and the town manager continue to work for the Town.

The Brady List is a list that the district attorney retains to track police officers whose past conduct raises questions about their credibility in court cases, thereby placing the success of prosecutions in jeopardy.

The Brady court decision upon which this list is based (Brady v. Maryland, 1963) requires prosecutors to seek out and disclose to the defense any material exculpatory evidence, including evidence that could be used to impeach police witnesses. Because of this duty (the violation of which has numerous consequences), many prosecutors have established Brady lists—names of officers whose credibility could be impeached at trial based on information about their truthfulness, honesty, bias, or an issue central to the particular case such as use of force. Prosecutors then decide whether Brady requires them to provide the information to the defense in any case in which the officer might testify. [Source: https://www.police1.com/legal/articles/brady-lists-ignite-conflicts-between-police-and-prosecutors-management-and-the-front-line-jaBRldmLu8wSdPnN/]

NOTE: A currently employed WPD officer is on the Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington's Brady List. That should give everyone pause. The question it raises is, what kind of policing do we all want to have? Can an officer on the Brady List fully conduct his duties as an officer? Any case he is involved in is automatically called into question because he cannot reliably testify in court. We already know an officer posted a photo of Hitler. What exactly did our WWII soldiers fight and die for? The same officer sexually assaulted a town resident. And a dispatcher used a racial epithet in the presence of a Black college student inside the station. These acts speak to a frame of mind of that officer and dispatcher, still employed here. It's shocking. This isn't a complaint about "the police." It isn't a call for no policing. It's a real question about qualifications for having the honor of policing us.

In Massachusetts, any power a town has is derived by consent of the Massachusetts state Legislature either as a home rule petition or an act of law. In Williamstown, our Town Charter, which outlines the structure of our Town governance, was enacted as State law in 1956.

In most Massachusetts towns, the basic functions of the Select Board are: calling town meetings, proposing budgets to the town meeting, setting public policy, calling elections, licensing, setting certain fees, overseeing certain volunteer and appointed bodies, and creating basic regulations. The Select Board members are elected by the people of the town and are accountable to the public. They have the power and authority to hire and fire the Town Manager.

Because we have an outdated Town Charter (unamended since 1956), our Town Manager has power to perform some of these functions – such as fiscal decision-making and all personnel decisions - with only oversight by the Select Board.

Our Town website says this about our Select Board:

The Select Board monitors the activities of the municipal government and Town Manager. It reviews and approves warrant articles for Town Meetings. The Select Board also performs a variety of statutory functions related to water, sewer, alcoholic beverage licenses, fuel storage permits, cemeteries, parks, and roads.

Current (2020) members are:

Jane Patton, Chair

Hugh Daley

Andrew Hogeland

Jeffrey Thomas

Anne O’Connor

NOTE: The more power a Town Manager has and the less power allocated to the elected Select Board, the more of Town governance that happens cloaked in secrecy behind closed doors.

DIRE is the Select Board’s advisory committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Equity. It exists only in an advisory capacity. It makes suggestions to the Select Board in the form of “Resolutions” which are available here.

It is a nine-member committee made up of one ex-officio Select Board member (currently Jane Patton) and eight Williamstown residents of diverse backgrounds who were appointed by the Select Board.

Current (2020) members are:

Bilal Ansari

Andrew Art

Gina Coleman

Aruna D’Souza

Drea Finley

Jeffrey Johnson

Mohammed Memfis

Kerri Nicoll

Jane Patton

Their statement of Principles is available here.

Both Select Board and DIRE meetings are listed on the Town’s official calendar. During the current pandemic, they are accessible “live” on Zoom and on Wllinet channel 1303 if you subscribe to Spectrum Cable TV. They also are recorded and can be viewed at a later date on Vimeo online.

Speak up, please!

We encourage you to “attend” the DIRE zoom meetings and participate in the public comment part of the agenda. DIRE meetings generally take place every other Monday evening at 5 PM.

The Select Board meetings, while open to the public for viewing, do not always include a time for public input. When they do, you must be on the Zoom call to participate, although you always may write them a letter afterwards: selectboard@williamstownma.gov.

DIRE and Select Board meetings are official government functions. Therefore, when you ask to participate, you will be asked to give your name and Williamstown address.

Town Meeting is both an event and an entity. As an event, it is a gathering of a town’s eligible voters, and is referred to as “the Town Meeting.” As an entity, it is the legislative body for towns in Massachusetts, and is referred to simply as “Town Meeting.” So you may say, “I went to the Town Meeting. Town Meeting approved the budget.”

Town Meeting decides three major things: it sets the salaries for the elected officials; it votes to appropriate money to run the town; it votes on the town’s local statutes, which are called by-laws.

The Annual Town Meeting (ATM) occurs typically in late Spring because the state’s fiscal year is July 1 to June 30. A town or several citizens may call “Special Town Meetings” (STM) at any time of year to vote on special by-laws or expenditures outside of the ATM.

Citizens may submit petitioned articles to ATMs or ATMs. In August 2020, citizens submitted Articles 36 and 37 to our ATM which were voted for nearly unanimously.

Article 36: "Not in Our County Pledge"

-We proposed this Citizens' Petition in order to call on all institutions, organizations, and businesses in our community to speak out in the face of intolerance or hate based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, country of origin, ability, or any other factor.

-We proposed that Town representatives pledge to report personally witnessing potential incidents of bias, discrimination, hate, exclusion or intolerance on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, country of origin, ability or any other factor.

Article 37: Equity Petition

-We proposed this Citizens' Petition to recommend that Williamstown boards, committees, and agencies critically reexamine policies with a renewed commitment to accessible housing.

-We requested that boards and committees make changes that allow for our Town to become more supportive of people with a wide array of racial and economic backgrounds.

-We proposed that the Town of Williamstown commit to providing ongoing equity training for Town employees which focuses on confronting and breaking down systemic inequities.

The lynching of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, shocked many of us in its sheer, intentional brutality. It was the proverbial last straw. People in town, led by the First Congregational Church Williamstown’s Outreach Committee and Greylock Together decided to hold a vigil for Mr. Floyd and all the other people of Black and Brown skin color who have been executed by police around the nation.

We aim to remind the public that these people’s lives mattered, that the lives of Black and Indigenous people matter, and that all lives will matter once Black lives do.