Mary Byrne
Though it largely goes unnoticed, those who do know of Belmont Against Racism know its impact is far-reaching.
“The advocacy we do, you won’t see it on the street because it’s not visible, and that’s by design,” said recently elected President Didier Moise. “We’ve had a lot of successes — yes, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done — but I would say because of BAR’s involvement, we have made some progress.”
With few exceptions, the organization operates largely out of the public eye, he said. It provides grants and resources to students of color and advocates for better representation. Members work with school officials, for example, to advocate for hiring processes that improve the diversity of a particular candidate pool. They also offer grants to support events such as the Latinx and Pan-Asian celebrations.
“I would say it’s a very unique organization in Belmont because a lot of what we do is actually behind the scenes,” said Moise. “It’s work that nobody knows about unless you’re involved deeply in the school system and the community.”
Between 1997 and 2023, Belmont Against Racism, known by its members as BAR, raised nearly half a million dollars in support of activities and programming, a large portion of which benefited the METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) Program.
“All of our donations literally came from local people, people who have been willing to do this since 1992,” he said. “The small impacts, the small little things … have real-life consequences for a whole bunch of people.”
He said that sometimes, it’s as simple as supplying snacks for the METCO students’ bus ride home or books for an after-school program.
“That’s what we’re trying to address — to make these families, these children, feel more welcome, more included, and feel more part of the community,” Moise said. “I think if we do that even for one child, we’ve been successful.”
While there has been progress — namely, in the hiring of a diversity, equity, and inclusion director for the school district, though that person has since stepped down — there is still work to be done, according to Moise. He spoke specifically about the discourse around the Proposition 2 ½ override.
“Everyone seemed to think, ‘Oh, the override passed, everything is fine.’ It’s not,” he said. “I can tell you, speaking with administrators over and over again … what they were basically asking for is level-funding, meaning, trying to keep everything the way they were, but the way things were was not adequate in the first place.”
In particular, he said the school has a lot of problems attracting diverse young talent.
“It’s been tough getting a lot of young talents from more diverse backgrounds to work here because it’s just such an expensive place to live,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do.”
He also noted the lack of diversity at the administrative level.
“While it’s very easy for people to brush that aside — saying that doesn’t mean things aren’t going well — if you’re part of a community that has historically been ignored, it doesn’t bode well for us, as a town in general, not to have this broad perspective,” he said.
Looking forward, Moise also hopes to make more strides in addressing the transportation issues for METCO students.
“I think we are very fortunate in the sense we do have a good number of people who are willing not just to talk about it but to do something about it,” he said. “To me, that’s really important.”
Moise joined BAR two years ago, he said. Having moved to Belmont in 2019, Moise said he started to notice some “fault lines” before he knew anything about the anti-racist group in town.
“After the pandemic, that’s when I realized there is a gap. … Some parents were being sent emails and communication — some of them didn’t speak English,” he recalled. “Some of them weren’t comfortable with technology. So we have a lot of a learning curve.”
Even more recently, anti-semitic graffiti found in a middle school bathroom was cause for concern.
“It’s so interesting to see people want to brush this thing aside, but I just can’t,” he said. “Knowing history and understanding what has happened in the past is informing my current view: Even if it’s a joke …. and I’m being very charitable here, where did we learn that kind of sick joke from?”
Still, he believes Belmont is, on the whole, a “very welcoming place.” And at the end of the day, the work of BAR is to ensure that remains true.
“I can tell you, if you’re a new family who moves to town and you are not used to being in New England, I can almost assure you [that] you will be comfortable if there is an anti-racist group in town,” he said.”I can guarantee you, people who aren’t feeling welcome, when they know there are other people who would support them, who would potentially be around for them, or help … make their voice matter, it’s important.”