03/21/2023 MASHPEE INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE Minutes

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Mashpee Inclusion and Diversity Committee 16 Great Neck Road North Mashpee, MA 02649 Mr. Kupferman brought up the issue with the Select Board involving Mr. Fahd. He did not want to bring it up unless Mr. Fahd was comfortable with it. He continued to say that it was brought up that some of the issues may be due to cultural differences. Mr. Klein mentioned this to the Chair and was asked to table the discussion until next meeting. His wife spoke on behalf of Mr. Fahd in front of the Select Board and brought up several issues. Not once did she mention anything about racism. When you have one finger pointing at someone you have three fingers pointing back. The first thing the Selectman did was jump up and say “we are not racists”. Ms. DeBoer stated when his spoke on Mr. Fahd’s behalf there was a mention of his food being weird. She knows it was not meant to be perceived in a negative way, but who is determining that his food is weird. She viewed this as a micro-aggression. She knows there is a lot of layers to what is going on and Mr. Cotton’s reaction was strong. We have to be better than that. Ms. Kent has spent time in many countries among cultures. She agrees, the use of the term weird, we are teaching the kids not to speak like that. She thought Mr. Cottons answer was very defensive. Mr. Kupferman added that the Selectman didn’t just deny being a racist he stated, “If you are accusing me of being a racist you are crazy”. We have not been careful about how we treat people who are different and we are trying to be better hence the need for this Committee. We saw this occur in this year’s election with David Weeden to Chair of Select Board. Mashpee High had the incident with racism and social media. There is a pattern here and he writes about this in his column. If we aren’t talking about it here in the MIDC, then where? Ms. Johnson-Graham agreed and there will always be a time to educate people. She noted sometimes when we speak from our heart we say things differently and we need to be mindful of our audiences. Mr. Klein brought up an incident that happened a few years ago in the Jewish community that sparked the inauguration of No Place for Hate. He would like to see something take place in Mashpee and the schools where it can be organized as No Place for Hate. Mr. DeBoer stated each school has completed that process. A steering committee plans family events that focus on improving that. Within the Anti-Defamation League process you need approval. She thinks schools reach a significant amount of families but there is still a disconnect. She doesn’t think this Committee is populated enough, Mr. Klein added or strong enough. The schools report each year to recommit to the expectation of the program for ADL (Anti-Defamation League). There are modules and trainings that are provided to teachers and students. Mr. Klein would 4