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Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Organizer Mandy Taft-Pearman (second from left) joins friends at Inclusive Westwood's standout last Sunday.
Late on Sunday afternoon, October 24, 2021, a small group of Inclusive Westwood members and friends have occupied each corner of intersection of Washington and East streets in Westwood. They hold signs promoting inclusivity, advocating for “Love Not Hate,” “Black Lives Matter,” “#Stop Asian Hate,” and related sentiments.
For about the last eighteen months, ever since the nation erupted in protests over the murder of Mr. George Floyd, Inclusive Westwood has been holding standouts monthly.
Inclusive Westwood stands up for marginalized populations where there is discrimination and hate, says group organizer Ms. Mandy Taft-Pearman. The monthly standouts are an attempt to nudge Westwood to shift towards being more inclusive and welcoming, she says.
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A few paces away from Ms. Taft-Pearman’s group stands another small group of demonstrators. They are all members of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Westwood. They note that reactions from the public have largely been positive. There have been waves and cheers from passersby of all ages.
Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Members of St. John's Episcopal Church note that public reaction to standout has been positive overall. Opposite of Ms. Taft-Pearson’s corner and outside the CVS store, Westwood School Committee member Amanda Phillips is participating in the standout. “I’m here to support the marginalized in the community,” she says.
The small group on Ms. Phillips’s corner includes a few children and adults. Vessna Scheff, a Providence resident, has accompanied her sister-in-law and niece who are Westwood residents. Ms. Scheff says she generally looks for opportunities to advocate for inclusiveness. On this particular day, she holds a sign that read, “Black Trans Lives Matter.”
Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Pictured from right to left: School Committee member Amanda Phillips, Trevor Phillips, Maggie Lutze, Meg Lutze and Vessna Scheff.A group of teenagers occupy the intersection’s northeast corner. The parents of two of them stand at the intersection’s southeast corner outside the Fire Department, at the edge of the wide driveway used by the department’s engines.
Dr. Marjorie Feld, mother to two of the teenagers, is employed as a professor of history at Babson. She describes herself and her husband, Michael Fein, as activists. By coming here and also going to downtown protests as a family, they have tried to raise their two boys in an activist tradition, she says.
Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Westwood youth participate in advocacy for greater inclusiveness. Pictured from left: Claire, Jack, Izzy and Nathan. (Last names are being withheld per parents' request).Ms. Taft-Pearman notes that in the year and a half of holding these standouts, the public's feedback has been mostly positive with about ten percent being negative. Sometimes a person with a different opinion will show a finger. They might yell from a passing car, “All lives matter!” reacting to the standout’s “Black lives matter” message.
Ms. Taft-Pearman notes that there is no response to someone who is yelling out of a passing car. But she does have a comment on the “Black lives matter” versus “All lives matter” debate.
“We’re not saying they [all lives] don’t matter, but society has traditionally valued some lives more than others,” she observes.
Thanks to the participants of Inclusive Westwood's standout for being interviewed for this article.
