RED Gets Down To Business At First Meeting

Somewhere between the welcome by Pastor Jamie Michaels and the discussion of all the new programs in place at Reading schools came an idea.

Great events, important discussions, and significant changes are happening in Reading in response to the series of swastikas and other hate graffiti - all because someone thinks it's ok to draw swastikas on town property. No one would be crazy enough to thank that person(s) for all the good that's come from the incidents. But leave it to Michaels, the pastor at the Old South United Methodist Church, to give a crazy idea the proper spin.

"God brings good out of evil," said Michaels, the leader and host of Thursday's first official meeting of Reading Embraces Diversity (RED).

Close to 30 residents turned out to join with Michaels and other town leaders to plot the future course for RED. The leadership group discussed the three events already on the calendar including the creation of the Kindness Rock Garden at the library, site of the latest swastika incident, an appearance by Dr. Anna Ornstein on Nov. 29, and Martin Luther King Day.

The Kindness Rock Garden event will take place Wed., Nov. 15 from noon to 8 p.m. at the library. Residents are invited to attend and paint a rock that will be placed outside the library. The group then discussed other ideas such as a multi-cultural fair, a world café, the use of social media, a way to help parents talk to their kids about swastikas and hate symbols, and even a social justice book club.

Much of the discussion centered on the many positive changes already in place in the Reading school system. From home room to after-school activities, Reading schools have reacted to being the site of all but one graffiti incident. Swastikas have been found at the high school, Coolidge and Parker. And the latest incident at the library occurred in the teen room. It would be easy to blame the graffiti on an attention-seeking teen with a sharpie. If that's true, then he/she has inadvertently created a wave of positive changes in Reading that no elected official or town bureaucracy could ever have achieved.

But Thursday night wasn't about catching the bad guy. It was about continuing to discuss a culture change in Reading, something Michaels has repeatedly pointed out won't happen overnight. Feel free to join the discussion. The group meets again Dec. 6 and you're invited.