On Thursday night, the DubHub hosted a conversation about race and policing, with Cheshire County Sheriff Eli Rivera and at Franklin Pierce Chief Diversity Officer Pierre Morton speaking to a group of about 40 sitting in a circle around the room before small groups broke off to talk about the experiences that had led them to this conversation. 

When he got a job at the Keene Police Department, Rivera said he was the first person of color to be hired there. He spoke about police using excessive force, and questioned where it came from when the person dealing with police is not armed and not resisting. 

“How do we get people to understand that yes, there is systemic racism in New Hampshire?” Rivera asked.

Rivera said shortly after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis, the City of Keene started a task force, Monadnock Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Coalition (MDEIB), that meets once a month to have conversations about diversity and partners with businesses and institutions to build a more inclusive, educated and engaged community. 

Morton invited a group of students of color from Franklin Pierce to the conversation and said he wanted them to come to the event because for most of them, living in the Monadnock region is their first time in a predominantly white community, and “so you all can look at Breonna Taylor in the face, George Floyd, Emmett Till. This is the age group that is impacted by police violence. And I wanted them all to meet you all – the majority in the community.”

Morton said he wants the group to “know each other, see each other. I’m saying this and doing this out of an abundance of love for the community.”

People hung up sticky notes with things they noticed, acknowledged, appreciated and wondered after the group conversations. 

Going around the room one final time, attendees emphasized that these conversations need to happen more often and they need to lead to more action.

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