ITHACA, N.Y. — A slew of recent racist incidents have prompted a response from dozens of local politicians and the formation of a community group dedicated to intervening in future situations.
The incidents include racist remarks made toward Black children at Stewart Park twice in July, as well as the threats made against Ithaca City School District leaders in June over a planned leadership event aimed at students of color after the event drew the attention of conservative groups and was featured on Fox News, among other examples cited in a letter from the Tompkins County Office of Human Rights.
Rev. Peaches Gillette, a Black preacher and program associate at the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca and a member of the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission, started circulating a letter last week calling for community members to form a “Community Watch Group.”
As Gillette envisions it, the group would resemble a neighborhood watch group inspired by similar groups from her childhood in New York City. Gillette said she’s sensed a “frightening” uptick in racist interactions and rhetoric, both locally and around the country. The group’s first interest meeting is scheduled for Aug. 10 at the Quaker Meeting House from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
“I figured, let’s form a watch group against racism and let people bond together that way, commit themselves to being part of this and also meet regularly,” Gillette said. “I don’t want this to be a one-time thing.”
Gillette said she didn’t anticipate too much response from the letter, since she wanted it to sharply communicate her anger, fear and disappointment in her fellow residents. But while she was planning on maybe 20 to 30 people to respond with interest, she said the number has climbed to over 70 as of Aug. 7.
Gillette wrote the letter specifically to communicate her disappointment in the community after two recent racist experiences in Ithaca that she said happened on consecutive days, which she detailed in an interview with The Ithaca Voice.
On the Fourth of July, Gillette said she took her 10-year-old grandsons to the splash pad at Stewart Park. After about an hour, they returned to the car happy but told her they had accidentally splashed a younger boy while playing on the splash pad.
The boy’s father, in turn, called them the N-word and said “You people are what’s wrong with this country,” according to Gillette. She looked to confront the man but he had already left. Two other Black children, friends of Gillette’s grandsons, were also there.
The next day, during another trip to Stewart Park, a teenager followed the two as they were going to the bathroom and called them the N-word repeatedly. Gillette said the two boys ended up running back to the car instead of entering the bathroom.
Gillette said the involvement of an adult is what prompted her to circulate her letter and start trying to generate immediate change.
“Children do stupid things, they call each other names. My kids do the same thing,” Gillette said. “But when an adult comes up to a child and does something like that, they have no defense. It is a type of bullying that cannot be managed by any child at all. To me, it is the most vicious form of racism, to attack someone that can in no way defend themselves against it.”
Gillette said she has dealt with racism in her life, including since moving to Ithaca. She was most angered, though, by the thought that other people were around when these incidents occurred and nobody stepped in to help.
“This community is constantly patting themselves on the back for being activists, for standing up for social justice, for doing what’s right, for believing in fellowship between black and white,” Gillette said. “And not one person did anything to help my children or those other Black children.”
She wants to teach members of the group how to respond to racism in the moment, confronting it head-on instead of trying to “negotiate” with it — something Gillette said is too often emphasized in local working groups focused on combating racism.
“If we’re a community, then let’s watch out for one another,” Gillette said.
With the Community Watch Group, Gillette wants to show others how to understand and confront racism from a Black perspective, rather than centering the views of white people who often lead similar groups.
A letter, released Tuesday afternoon by the Tompkins County Office of Human Rights cited the incidents as evidence of a renewed need to rebuke racism locally. The letter includes 66 signatures from local elected officials, county staff members and local organization leaders, among others.
“We commit to speaking up and using our platforms to condemn hate and foster dialogue,” the letter states. “Calling out and addressing hate is our civic duty. We support community-based efforts to stand up to and call out racism and harassment. We also acknowledge the role government and other institutions play in preventing and responding to such acts.”
The letter doesn’t introduce a plan of action to address the incidents mentioned, but directs people who witness such situations to report them to authorities either locally, like the county’s Office of Human Rights, or elsewhere, such as the state’s Division of Human Rights.
“For those of you who participate in such hateful and aggressive behavior, you fail to acknowledge the humanity of those you target,” the letter continues. “We hope you will seek the higher ground of respect for and acceptance of those whose ethnicity is different from yours. To those who want to foster justice and peace in our community, your role cannot be understated.”
The letter can be read in full below.
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