LYNN — A crowd of nearly 200 turned out at City Hall Wednesday night for Defending Democracy, a public forum on current threats to civil liberties.
Against a historical backdrop — the 160th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address — speakers addressed issues ranging from minority voting rights to book banning.
Massachusetts Secretary of Education Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, the former Lynn Public Schools superintendent, headlined the groundbreaking event.
The evening program began with presentations by Dr. Kabria Baumgartner, associate professor of Africana Studies at Northeastern University, and Billy Keyserling, the former mayor of Beaufort, S.C. and one of the driving forces behind the establishment of that city’s Reconstruction Era National Historical Park.
Actors portraying Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass addressed the audience prior to a panel discussion featuring Tutwiler and local social-justice advocates.
One subject that came up during the discussion was negative experiences panelists or their family members have had with local police. The most controversial comment of the night was made by Rev. Dr. Andre Bennett, president of the Essex County Community Organization, who said he was pulled over in Marblehead for “driving while black.”
City Councilor-at-Large Nicole McClain said the color of police officers isn’t as important as what is in their “hearts and minds.” She called for greater understanding and cooperation.
Defending Democracy grew out of “Finding Mary,” a 10-part series in The Item by Steve Matthews, a 1972 graduate of St. Mary’s High School whose search for his mother’s Southern roots led to the discovery of a family legacy of slaveholding.
Although the forum went on without incident, there was a heavy police and security presence outside and inside City Hall.
