Statement from the Randolph Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee

Posted: January 20, 2021

The Randolph Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) would like to issue a statement denouncing the attack on the capitol building and update the community regarding the length of time necessary to issue a final report.

The Randolph DISC’s mission is “to work toward the goal of eliminating acts of bias based on race, color, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity in Randolph by understanding the causes and identifying solutions…” The expressions of hate during the attack on the capitol by individuals and groups carrying confederate flags and wearing offensive, antisemitic clothing highlights one of the reasons our mission is so important.

We condemn the individuals and groups who hold or stand behind the confederate flag. Our reason is this flag was never the official flag of the Confederate States of America—it was only used as a battle flag during the Civil War. The contemporary usage of this flag is connected with racism, slavery, white supremacy, and the terrorization of African Americans and people of color.

We also forcefully reject the individuals and groups attacking the capitol who used antisemitic symbols and language such as “6MNE” (acronym for six million Jews is not enough) and “Camp Auschwitz” extolled on clothing (reference to Nazi concentrations camps). We know that these messages can trickle down into our community, our schools and into our homes. We denounce these symbols and language as to not allow the normalization of this hate speech here in Randolph and our country.

The following is a status update:

• We are currently reviewing recommendations from our townhalls that were held during the last 6 months. We are thoughtfully and meticulously reviewing each individual recommendation. We are carefully vetting the suggestions among all 11 of our committee members. Our committee consists of 7 Randolph Township elected officials and 4 Morris County Human Relations Commission members.
• We are fortunate to have access to Hanover Research without costing the taxpayer additional dollars. Hanover is working in parallel to our work and we are hopeful that their survey and subsequent results will both enrich our findings as well as provide other recommendations that we can put forth to the Randolph community.
• Our committee continues to meet a minimum of once a week to continue our important work.
• Additionally, we would like to point our community to the state report issued in October of 2020 “An Anti-Bias Vision for the Next Generation” by the New Jersey Interagency Task Force to Combat Youth Bias to the Governor and Attorney General. This New Jersey interagency task force was established in August of 2019 by Executive Order No. 78. In November of 2019, the task force announced a series of listening sessions. From these listening sessions, and 14 months after their initial organization, the task force issued their October 2020 report with recommendations. We find this state issued report and recommendations optimistic in our local effort. Without state support, Randolph would have difficulty in implementing recommended modifications.

Our committee is working diligently and is excited about creating Randolph’s future roadmap to lead us to a community where all are accepted, supported, and treated fairly and where we continue to educate and promote inclusion for all residents of Randolph Township.