UPDATED, Nov. 17: "Creating Safe Community in Arlington," a discussion hosted by Arlington Fights Racism and two other groups, was held Sunday, Nov. 17, at First Parish Unitarian Universalist of Arlington.

The effort has received funding for a facilitator, Dr. Rick Pinderhughes, of Visions Inc., at left

The Arlington Diversity Task Group and the ​Arlington-Teosinte (El Salvador) Sister City Project also cosponsor. The Arlington police will not be present, a Facebook posting says.

Given the 2018 bigoted, concerning writings of Lt. Rick Pedrini and the community response to how the situation was handled, the posting says, several residents have met to organize this community meeting to give residents and affected groups an opportunity to share their personal stories of how they were negatively affected not only by the officer, but the town police and the town in general.

Many residents have expressed frustration that there has yet to be an open, communitywide forum for expressing concerns. [Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine has promised to schedule one.]

The Facebook posting by Lynette Martyn says that the purpose of this gathering is to create a safe, open forum to collect people's stories, to hear from others that we are not alone in our experiences and to offer validation. The goal of this meeting is to collect "deidentified stories," identify themes and concerns and communicate them to town and APD officials in the hopes of making changes to address community concerns in order to make our community safer and more welcoming for all.

Who's invited: Anyone with a personal story about discrimination of their identity, including but not limited to discrimination based upon their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious identity, disability, class or substance addictions. In addition, those who believe they are targeted by forms of activism, such as Black Lives Matter supporters or social-justice advocates.

The mission of Visions Inc. is to:

• To equip individuals, organizations, and communities with the tools needed to thrive in a diverse world;
• To remove structural and cultural barriers that prevent full and equitable participation; amd
• To help create environments where differences are recognized, understood, appreciated, and utilized for the benefit of all.

For more information, email FightingRacismInArlington at gmail.com or call 617-584-9428.

RSVP here >>

This news announcement was published Monday, Nov. 11, 2019, and updated Nov. 13, to add a speaker and an RSVP link.