To the editor:

There are many things to oversee when managing a town and its budget. Giving residents the services that they need as well as being fiscally responsible is a constant balancing act. Are roads in good condition? Does traffic flow freely and safely? Are trash and recycling services running smoothly? Are fields and parks being scheduled fairly and maintained well? Are municipal buildings in good condition and do they need to be expanded or replaced? There are many serious concerns and monitoring them is a great responsibility.

Changing the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day falls far down that list of responsibilities. Yet for some reason, this Town Council frequently feels the need to focus on social justice concerns rather than how the town can best serve its residents on kitchen table issues that affect all of us. 

This Town Council has also felt compelled to speak for all of the town on these social issues. Was there a great upswell of discontent from residents that necessitated concern about the naming of a holiday? Or was it the pressure felt from a DEI committee, which seems to drive most of the divisive issues in town? Diversity, equity and inclusion has in reality become division, exclusion and intolerance of those who think differently from you.

I appreciate that at least 2 of the council members were sensitive to the fact that a great part of the population that established this town were of Italian American origin. What Columbus did or did not do can not be looked at through the prism of our present lens. None of history can. That would be like condemning yourself to a life of disdain and scorn because of poor choices you made at a younger age. 

If the good things that we did in our lives were forever overshadowed by the mistakes we made in our past, we could never redeem ourselves. History is much the same. It is a timeline of humanity, riddled with many poor choices yet always seeking and yes, finding something better.

Discriminating against others and treating them poorly as Columbus might have done, are grounds to be erased from history, our Town Council voted. Unfortunately, those who push the platform of diversity, equity and inclusion have a lack of knowledge of the history of the Town of Barrington. Following their line of thinking, along with Columbus, they should have canceled the town as well. 

As far back as the mid 1800’s, when the Nayatt Brickyard was founded, Italian Americans settled in Barrington and became an integral part of the community. Yet Italians in Barrington were unable to achieve equity for decades and decades and decades. They were systematically discriminated against and while their skin color may not have distinguished them from others, their last names and the section of town that they lived in clearly pointed out that they were Italian. They could not hide from their ethnicity if they wanted to. They were looked down upon for being blue collar workers. They were in general disrespected. They were not allotted the same opportunities as non Italians in the town. Even those who gained wealth through hard work were banned from being members of the Rhode Island Country Club. Italians need not apply was the rule for many, many years.  It wasn’t that long ago either. Mr. Nicholas Gizzarelli, a long time resident of Barrington, kept an extensive history of the Italian community in Barrington and donated all his materials to the Barrington Preservation Society before he passed away. Go read it some day.

So the next time the Town Council decides to judge others, maybe they should take a look in the mirror first. Barrington has a long history of discrimination. We don’t talk about it because Italian Americans worked hard to achieve their goals and broke through the barriers put in their way. That is the real way to cancel a wrong. Learn from it, be motivated by it, and overcome it. Erasing it accomplishes nothing.

Mary Teixeira

Barrington