The rough and unfair criticism of the Enfield March for our Lives protest


After the March for our Lives posted this on the Enfield Open Forum on Facebook. There was a lot of negative comments about student activism in Enfield. But Facebook forums are Facebook forums. They don't reflect the broader community.

Here's what I wrote:

Why are so many people on this Enfield forum so interested in tearing down the town's kids? Belittling their advocacy? There were a fair number of adults and families at today's Enfield event. It was very touching. There were several student speakers, whose names I don't know, who delivered articulate, passionate assessments of the problem. I was very impressed by them.

Enfield has always had a little bit of an off-center streak to it. When I was growing up here, I knew a fellow who was involved with the John Birch Society. They had an office in Thompsonville. Early 1970s. There's always been a conservative streak to the town, and a strong liberal one, rooted in the New England, Catholic tradition.

Something strange is going on in our society today and that includes Enfield. The people have been most impacted - the children - are demanding changes. But there's a lot of push back in Enfield. And overall, I think people in these forums have been pretty rough. A little too rough. And I think we need to step back a bit. People have hurled everything they can think of at them.

We're not in a good place, and hopefully we can agree on that point here. I know I can't change the minds of people who believe anyone should be able to own a AR15-type weapons. I give up on that. And the false flag arguments - i.e. it's bullying - are just that, but arguing on Facebook is pointless.

But what I will suggest is that we all agree is to remind the kids of this town that we are proud of them. We are proud of them when they take a stand. We are proud of them when they show civic responsibility. We are just, plain and simple proud of them. You may not agree with their stand, but don't use that disagreement to tear the kids down and belittle them. Some of you have been doing that, and it's not right.

This generation is inheriting a world that we left them. They have to clean up our messes. You can fight them when they run for office. But for now, we should applaud the spirit of this community. The entire community. Enfield was one of just several towns in Connecticut to hold a march. That's something. It says something about the town. Let's honor that spirit. Let's honor what's good, and that good is all around us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Enfield is in trouble? Facts with a dose of sarcasm

Image
Molly at School Rally People are going after spending in Enfield and trying to dissect it to see where they can find gross mismanagement. Since the Republicans have been in control for all but two of the last 16 years, let's assume that the town's spending is pristine and error-free and beyond reproach—except for the two years when the Democrats were in charge. As we all know, the Democrats dumped money out of the windows of Town Hall. The Town Council Republicans are going to try to set a token reduction in the Mill Rate. To reach that point, they may have to do some problematic things, such as deferring spending on things like police cruiser replacements and equipment generally, putting off some maintenance, and not filling vacancies and laying off where they can, and who knows what else. There's a lot they can't touch, namely contractual salary obligations. But they want to be able to say that they reduced taxes. More concerning will be how much of the costs are bein
Read more

Enfield Town Council's unprofessional action

Image
  Enfield's Town Council is apparently trying to kill a 70-unit housing project in Thompsonville that the Planning and Zoning Commission approved. The Council's behavior has been egregious and unprofessional in pursuit of that goal. It's doing this in secret and risking a lawsuit for murky reasons. Impact Residential Development recently received PZC approval for this project in a 5-2 vote. It was a remarkable and courageous moment for the commission. But the Town Council Republicans want to block it. They are designing in executive session a way to oppose it. They did not let the developer know of their plan until the last minute. Here's the background The developers plan to build this housing on and near the former Strand Theater site, land which the town had acquired. It combines primarily affordable housing and market-rate units with 70 parking spaces. It faced opposition over concerns about on-street parking. The idea is that since this is a transit-oriented develo
Read more

Voter turnout will be crucial if Democrats hope to retain Enfield's Council majority

Image
  In the 2021 municipal election, Enfield Democrats won 7 out of the 11 council seats, helped by a voter turnout of about 7,850 -- a substantial 19% increase over the 2019 municipal election. To maintain a majority, the Democrats will likely need a similarly strong turnout on Nov. 7 But the Democrats face obstacles this time because of revaluation. Property taxes increased by around 10% for many.  Meanwhile, council Republicans are leveraging this increase in taxes. They've taken to their mailers, chastising Democrats as having "gone hog wild with taxes and spending." Aside from being false, this criticism overlooks Enfield's underlying issues — issues for which the Republicans, after 14 years at the helm, cannot evade responsibility. You can think about revaluation like Warren Buffett talks about stock market declines: "Only when the tide goes out do you learn who has been swimming naked." It means everything looked good until the market crashes, and then p
Read more