Newtown Allies for Change (NAFC) is delighted to acknowledge Lisa Peterson for Allyship in Action.

NAFC recognizes community members each month whose actions embody what it means to be an ally. Last November, Lisa Peterson delivered a presentation on her work researching the Regina Brown missing person case. She shed light on how sometimes racial bias undercuts the progress in missing persons cases when the victim is Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC).

Lisa is a model for Allyship in Action as her unwillingness to give up on the case and her persistence in uncovering evidence and working with investigators to re-open the case prevented Regina Brown’s story from slipping into obscurity.

Lisa Peterson was a Newtown Bee cub reporter in 1987 when she became aware of Regina Brown’s story. Brown had disappeared four months after the “Woodchipper murder case” in Newtown.

“The similarities between the two missing women — both flight attendants, married to pilots, and mothers of three young children amidst a divorce — were striking. The only difference I could see between them, besides there were no dead bodies, was that Helle Crafts was white, and Regina Brown was Black,” she said. “During the Woodchipper murder case, I barely covered Regina’s case, falling victim myself to pack journalism and the missing white woman syndrome focusing on Helle Crafts and not Regina Brown. Decades later, after a chance meeting with a Newtown detective, I began to investigate Regina Brown’s case so she would not be forgotten.

“During my work, I learned that my suspicion was valid, that racism played a part in her case of not getting the resources it deserved. During the past 20 years, I got her cold case re-opened to right this wrong and pushed police and prosecutors toward an arrest. Her story is a cautionary tale that something like race shouldn’t be a factor in media coverage or police investigations and that sometimes racial profiling happens not only to suspects but also to victims.”

Lisa said anti-racism work became important to her.

“In 2005, when I started to investigate the Regina Brown case, I suspected that her case didn’t get the attention or law enforcement resources it deserved in 1987 because of the ‘missing white woman syndrome,’ where the media focuses on missing white women who disappear or are murdered versus BIPOC women. Once I started talking to sources, I found out there was more racism in the 1980s than I realized as a young reporter,” she said.

Emphasizing why the work is personally important to her, she said, “My involvement in exposing racism has been laser-focused on Regina’s case. It’s essential to speak up when you see it, prevent it from hampering progress, and reduce its effects in the future. If my work on one cold case can be a model for others across a broader spectrum of issues or problems, then the effort is worth it.”

There have been many sensational stories that brought attention to racism nationally, as well as an opportunity to bring awareness and change in Newtown. Lisa shared how she began to recognize how that affects our local community.

“I wasn’t aware of racism in Newtown in the 1980s when I was a reporter. Still, once I started investigating the Regina Brown case decades later, I found it and realized it may have been a factor in the resources given to her missing person case. Since then, others have approached me about the racism they have experienced in town. So it feels like it never left Newtown.”

Speaking on what can be done to make Newtown a more welcoming place for the BIPOC community, Lisa said, “Open communication within the community. The more we can identify [racism], bring it out into the open, and talk about it, the more we can understand why it persists and what we can do to educate others to diminish it.”

One of the characteristics of allyship is a willingness to learn and speak up for others. Lisa spoke of her inspiration.

“As a journalist, one of my heroes is Ida B. Wells. She was born into slavery and became an investigative journalist, anti-lynching activist, women’s suffragette, and early civil rights leader. Her great-granddaughter, Michelle Duster, wrote Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells.”

Lisa continued: “The book’s dedication has become my mantra: To all who refuse to be silent in the face of injustice. Stay Strong.”

Newtown Allies For Change is a grassroots organization that centers BIPOC in Newtown. Each month it hopes to honor individuals or businesses that have demonstrated selfless, authentic allyship. Readers who have suggestions for an individual or business that should be nominated for Allyship In Action, nominations — including the name and why they are deserving of a shoutout — should be sent to newtownallies@gmail.com, with Allyship In Action as the subject.