Thumbs up, thumbs down

Thumbs down to a thoroughly embarrassing incident involving a Shelton student at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Shelton Intermediate School’s principal insists it was stupid, but not racist, when a student from that school spit from a balcony onto a black museum patron. It’s possible that’s true, but it’s not much of an excuse. The episode made national news, and comes just weeks after Shelton schools investigated a Snapchat image of a girl in blackface making obscene gestures captioned with a racial slur, and a separate instance of racist language on social media. This is now a pattern. Greg Johnson, president of the Ansonia Valley NAACP, said the museum incident showed “a total and complete lack of respect and (is) one of the most degrading acts one can commit against another.” Some in Shelton, including Mayor Mark Lauretti, have denied a systematic issue, calling them “isolated incidents.” But it’s clear by now that the town needs to do more to educate people, young and old, about racism. Shelton is a more diverse community now than it was in the recent past. Like any town, it is not monolithic. But no matter the intent of the student in question, the effect is severe, and everyone, in the schools and beyond, needs to take steps to ensure people understand why it was so troubling and that it never happens again.

Thumbs up to the University of Connecticut giving remaining donations from Purdue Pharma’s owners to support addiction research. It’s understandable that UConn will retain the portion of the $4.5 million to continue paying for work in a regenerative engineering lab. It does not escape notice that such announcements were made in the wake of an Associated Press story on the state of donations made to colleges by the producers of OxyContin, further evidence of the role of the media as watchdogs. It’s also notable that many other colleges have not made similar overtures.

Thumbs down to further evidence of the scope of the wealth gap in Fairfield County and in Connecticut in general. A new study released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York points to the county’s highest earners raking in nine times as much as their lowwage neighbors as evidence of the highest income disparity in the nation. Fairfield County may own the dubious distinction, but it’s hardly alone in the United States. Wage equality was identified as being closer in the Midwest, Great Lakes region, Washington state and parts of Florida.

Thumbs up to the National Audubon Society for sounding the alarm that North America has lost some 2 million birds, a number that is expected to climb unless formal action is taken to ward off climate change. Even the best outcome is bleak. The study, “Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink,” suggests successful changes in policy and human behavior could spare 76 percent of atrisk birds. This is truly the canary in the coal mine, and more policy makers need to start listening.

Thumbs down to the Partnership for Connecticut still playing coy about how transparent it will be to the public. The publicprivate collaboration between the state and Dalio Philanthropies could surprise and maintain its discourse before the eyes and ears of taxpayers when it convenes Oct. 18, but it’s not encouraging to see prepared statements such as “We will communicate openly to the public about decisions made in these meetings and the rationale behind them.” The phase “about decisions made” is not the same as making decisions in the public. There’s still a chance the process will be more open than feared, but the lawmakers involved should be persistent in reminding foundation representatives that taxpayer money is involved, and all of it is intended for public use.