Michelle -
Since
learning a few days ago of your intention to vote for Bill Linehan for
City Council President I have struggled to identify just why I am so
utterly and deeply disappointed in you and your decision.
Part
of my disappointment is that your support of Bill gives him a key,
deciding vote. This means that no matter how much you try to distance
yourself from Bill's policy positions, you will provide him with a position
of power and reward him for his hurtful, racist, and anti-inclusive
record over the course of his career.
Part of my disappointment
is that when I backed you for the city council, invited you into my
home, supported your Ward 3 endorsement, and donated money to your
campaign, I did so - and actively encouraged my friends to do so -
because I believed that you would be a voice of inclusion and new ideas
for the Council. I relate enormously to your personal story and to the
vision you outlined for what you could bring to city hall. I believe the
Council needs more people like yourself with diverse backgrounds that
can influence the old ways of doing things and bring in fresh,
invigorating ideas and make our government work better for the entire
city of Boston.
Part of my disappointment is that your vote for Bill Linehan as
Council President is a clear vote against my family. To call this
simply a "procedural" vote is completely disrespectful and is a
troubling indication that you do not fully appreciate the hurt and harm
this Councilor has caused to countless Bostonians.
But perhaps
the biggest part of my disappointment is that before you have even been
sworn in you are choosing to vote against the values that I voted for
you to represent at City Hall. I moved to Boston from a part of the
country where I knew that the vast majority of my elected officials did
not share my values. It was a terrible, infuriating, vulnerable feeling.
One of the reasons I have chosen to make my home in Boston is because
of the values this city has grown to embrace, and the progress we
continue to make in becoming an increasingly diverse and welcoming
community. Your vote represents the values I came to Boston to escape,
and has brought back those terrible, infuriating, and vulnerable
feelings.
You have disappointed me in a very personal way, and I
urge you to reconsider before you take office and cast this vote in
January.
Thank you,
Rebecca
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