The candidates were emailed the questions a week in advance. A second email was sent to provide more context for the question. The context is available at the bottom of this page. 

 2.      CONDUCTING AN ONGOING CITYWIDE ASSESSMENT OF RACIAL INEQUITY

In July 2020, in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and others, Melrose conducted a self-assessment of city procedures and practices, to meet “the urgent call for equity and justice.”

Called “Two Weeks Toward Change,” the study concluded that “The City has not substantively or consistently invested in racial equity work,” and that we lack and require “measurable ways to track our progress.”

In 2022, Melrose sought to change this by conducting a survey “to collect information about the racial climate in Melrose,” but no further assessments have been conducted.

• Do you support a regular assessment to measure racial inequities in Melrose and track progress toward eliminating them?

• Would you commit to conducting a pre- and post-assessment of racial inequity and releasing the data within 60 days of collection?

CONTEXT

• The data referenced in the context for Question 1 was collected from publicly available data from the state and federal government that advocates and lawmakers undoubtedly worked to make available for analysis. In 2022, the city conducted a racial climate survey. For us, this provided extremely valuable data measuring attitudes by race. Black respondents reported significantly higher discomfort interacting with many city agencies, including City Hall. schools and even the library. As I commented before the school committee, the survey revealed troubling differences in how Black and white respondents experienced the city’s attention to issues related to race.

• Much could be built from this work, such as a better understanding of why there were these significant differences in attitudes or if any have improved.