We are writing to make known our support for the Bristol Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It is of the utmost importance that we come together as a community to, as the Committee intent states, “promote, foster, and celebrate Bristol as a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive community.”

We represent the East Bay BIPOC Research Project, a small group of East Bay residents committed to assisting in broadening our understanding of local history as it relates to people of color. Currently, group members are completing research in the available primary sources on individuals of Indigenous and African descent who lived in Bristol in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Given recent national events, it is now clear that working towards social and racial justice is urgent and increasingly complex. In order to bring insight and action to this work locally, it is essential to convene a group of committed and knowledgeable residents.

They will assist the Bristol Town Council by advising on necessary policies and initiatives, forming collaborations with public and private organizations, assisting community members with the difficult conversations necessary to move forward, providing opportunities for underrepresented voices and perspectives to be heard, and more.

Forming this committee and giving it the voice it deserves is the right thing to do, not only to create a thriving and joyful Bristol, but also to create a vibrant, beloved community with an array of people, groups, and voices that lift each other up.

Kendall Reiss
Bristol

Submitted on behalf of the members of the East Bay BIPOC Research Project: Heidi Benedict, Teresa DeFlitch, Nancy Kellner, Kendall Reiss, Lynn Smith and Catherine Zipf.