Editor’s note: We received the following letter from a reader who was upset by an incident she experienced in neighboring Ridgefield. The writer volunteers with Wi-ACT in working with the Syrian refugee family that has resettled in Wilton. An organization in Ridgefield is in the advanced stages of doing the same thing, preparing to welcome a family, and the writer had hoped to offer volunteer time to that group as well. During the meeting a small group of very vocal protesters interrupted the discussion. She wrote the following letter about what happened.
Dear Editor,
I am a concerned local resident who had a most unexpected encounter with racism and hate-speech at the Ridgefield Public Library on September 15, 2016, and I was sufficiently appalled to become urged to write this letter.
I attended a free and open presentation by a Ridgefield group that is involved in the late stages of a planned and privately-funded community co-sponsorship of a refugee family in Ridgefield. I have been privileged to be involved as a volunteer in similar initiatives in this area, and was ready to lend a hand to another successful endeavor in that town.
Following a slide presentation by the committee co-chairs about the level of commitment involved in voluntary co-sponsorship, the meeting became quickly hijacked by a small but vocal group of area residents who had apparently come to protest the initiative.
Their arguments ranged from a desire to prohibit refugee children from accessing public school services in Connecticut, to a concern that Ridgefield property values would decline if a refugee family were permitted to move within the town lines, to a more generalized indictment of the perceived “dangers of Islam” in which spurious case arguments were lifted from various websites. Some of the speakers appeared to have come with prepared comments, and were under the impression that the private sponsorship of a refugee family should be subject to a public referendum, as if individuals could be “voted out” of Ridgefield on the basis of their ethnic or religious background.
One opponent, who identified himself as the leader of a religious organization, argued that allowing people from “that part of the world” to Ridgefield was akin to “putting them on the moon,” and that they would be better off sent to Danbury, Norwalk or Stamford, where there were more people like them.
Common to all of the arguments was an angry, reactionary “Not-in-My-Backyard”-style meme that descended quickly into racist, hate speech. I was appalled and embarrassed that ignorant prejudice of this sort exists in what is otherwise represented as a proudly affluent, congenial and well-educated community.
I left the meeting early, as I have neither the time nor the inclination to spend socializing with bigots. As I left the program room, a woman accosted me with a trifold flier about the “dangers of Islam.” I dropped it back in her lap and said it was “racist garbage,” and she replied that she “felt sorry for me” and that I should “educate myself.” Again, I am dismayed to report that this encounter occurred in present-day Ridgefield.
If these comments had been directed at members of the African-American, Asian, Hispanic or Jewish communities, they would be roundly regarded as racist and inflammatory in the extreme.
Most of the time, I feel privileged to live in Fairfield County. But I am reminded that well within the 50-75 years, a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” regime pervaded real estate, educational, and community cultural practices within our own and neighboring towns as a means of bullying unwanted ethnic groups out of moving into the area by making their exclusion an institutionalized feature of life. I thought this kind of reactionary prejudice was a cringe-worthy relic of the past, and certainly a blight on our history, but apparently it is still alive and breathing. These attitudes are a shameful embarrassment to Fairfield County.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Engmann Darst
Sorry that you had that experience and thank you for calling it out. We owe it to all peoples to lend a helping hand. I beleive the process has to be thorough and fair to integrate those who need our help; while denying those whose motives are hateful and violent. Labeling any group “hateful and violent ” simply because of their circumstances or the country of their origin is ignorance speaking.
Thank you for writing this excellent letter. The only way to change is to put the spotlight on this type of thinking and behavior. There are no sidelines. You either think this way or you don’t and your voice needs to be heard. Hopefully this is actually a tiny minority of hateful ignorance in our community.
It is sad that some people still think it is okay to think this way, much less express it so openly! Especially anyone that calls themselves a ‘religious leader’. Everyone better get used to a new world. We will all be better for it eventually.