To the Editor:

I eagerly awaited last week’s Interfaith event: “More than a Conversation about Race,” but it turned out to be no such thing. Early on it became clear this was no community “conversation;” it was a pro-DEI “press conference” given by a panel of DEI advocates.

According to the event’s rules, I e-mailed my request to participate. I was hoping to be able to speak to specific panelists but was informed this “conversation” was definitely not a “conversation” but a scripted Q&A. Okay, so I submitted three questions as follows:

The 1st challenged the fundamental assumption upon which DEI is premised … that our community and nation are systemically racist in need of remediation by school appointed intellectuals.

The 2nd requested a zero-tolerance pledge from panelists with respect to the intimidation of DEI opponents at the local and national level. I also called for an acknowledgement that not presenting highly credible oppositional scholarship on DEI to the people of Newtown constitutes de facto censorship.

The 3rd requested their opinion on why 29 states currently have legal and legislative initiatives underway allowing children, parents, teachers, and employees to sue municipalities and employers over DEI initiatives which have harmed them and violated their Constitutional and Civil Rights.

Well, one look at these questions and I was informed they had too many participants and would not be able to entertain them.

The fact that the “moderators” didn’t make room for oppositional questions is unfortunate … because that’s the only time you really learn something. But I’m not even sure the term “moderator” was appropriately used. The definition I’m familiar with is a person who “moderates” between diverse points of view. Mr Coleman was positioned as a “moderator” but, in my estimation, was actually a skilled interrogator whose objective was to elicit ever more conformity to the Woke orthodoxy of DEI.

A community “conversation”? I think not.

A missed opportunity for a community “conversation”? I think so.

Tony Keating

Newtown

Editor’s Note: “Race: More Than A Conversation” — a virtual community webcast, was co-hosted by Newtown Board of Education and C.H. Booth Library February 7, and was promoted as centering on issues and challenges of race in the school setting and community, with local community leaders as panelists. While it included a member of Newtown’s faith community, Newtown Congregational Church Reverend Kristen M.E. Provost Switzer, the virtual forum was not billed as an “Interfaith Conversation.”