Astronaut, musicians among alumni to back protesters
Note from Community Impact Editor Amelia Robinson: Nearly 700 Troy High School graduates — classes of 1954 to 2020 — signed a letter written by Allison Zelnick, a 2010 Troy High School graduate who now lives in Mahwah, New Jersey, and others in support of
“We acknowledge that Troy is a rural and predominantly white town where many residents have had limited exposure and limited education around the experiences of black Americans, past and present. Troy is only 4.6 percent African American, according to the 2018 ACS. But while Troy’s whiteness is a fact, it is not an excuse. We want to be proud of our hometown, which is why we are encouraging it to rise to the moment.
The black, indigenous and people of color alumni among us have noted that growing up in Troy meant learning to either accept or ignore the hate and covert racism in our hometown, and the recent community response to the black lives matter protest was a disappointing reminder of the racism that still exists in Troy today.
Troy protesters — you have taken steps to make the change we never did.
You put this knowledge into action and challenged us to demand more of ourselves. You asked us to stand against hate and you marched in the streets to tell our community that black lives matter. You rallied against white supremacy and the systemic racial injustices across this country, and instead of the community praising you for supporting life and equality, you were met with hateful comments online, questioning your intelligence and even threatening your life.
We are deeply saddened by the way you were treated. We are sad that there is so much knowledge — literally at our fingertips — on how white America has terrorized black people and systematically denied them equal opportunity, yet it seems some in our community do not understand or refuse to recognize the full extent of this history and how racism tragically continues today, even in Troy.
In light of the opposition you faced, we think it’s important to let you know that we unequivocally support you. You have courageously made the effort to let your education shine beyond the classroom and into the community where it belongs, and we are proud of you. We commend you for rallying against injustice and inequality and thank you for pushing our community to condemn racism in all its forms. We praise you for standing up for black lives, because all lives can’t matter until black lives matter. We see you, and we stand with you.
Keep marching. You make us proud.”
Response to supreme court ruling on lgbt work place discrimination
The U.S. Supreme Court decided by a 6-3 vote Monday that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, includes bias against LGBT workers.
Sampling of Facebook reactions from our readers:
Stephen Wilson — “The fact the were still ruling on basic human rights, gay rights and lynching laws... kinda sad.”
Monica Neiderman — “I’m glad. But we have a lot more work to do to end privilege and create a more just and equitable country for all.”
Jasmine Nicole Miller — “It’s 2020, this should be a given.”