Protestors lined about a half-mile on both sides of Concord Street in Peterborough Saturday afternoon as part of the fourth straight week of protests against racism and police brutality.
The hour-long vigil, during which attendees stood holding signs with statements like “Black Lives Matter,” “A Badge Is Not A License 2 Kill,” and “Racism Is a Pandemic,” concluded with local churches ringing their bells for eight minutes, 46 seconds.
Following the vigil, a group made up of recent ConVal High School graduates and current students spoke in front of the Peterborough Town House
Organizer Anna McGuiness said she’s heard a lot of townspeople say that police reform isn’t a pressing issue in Peterborough like it is in other major cities.
“This exceptionalism is built on two assumptions: the assumption that policing itself is not inherently racist and violent. And that Peterborough is not still a very racist town.”
McGuiness, a 2019 ConVal graduate, called out what she saw as hypocrisy in the Peterborough community, where ‘Hate Has No Home Here” signs and rainbow flags adorn windows.
“Black, brown, queer, LGBT+ kids are terrorized every day at ConVal High School,” McGuiness said. “It’s a cruel existence to be a minority at ConVal.”
Jonah Wheeler, a 17-year-old Black rising senior at ConVal, spoke at the rally; he’d given an address at Keene’s Juneteenth march the day before. Wheeler continued the nationwide conversation about reducing the funding of police departments and putting those resources into social services, which has already begun taking hold in cities like Camden, New Jersey, Portland, Oregon and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“Anyone that is against this reallocation of funds,” Wheeler said, “has to ask himself – why does the Peterborough Police Department have riot gear and a whole host of other militarized equipment in a town that has very little violent crime. We live in a town run by and for affluent people. And if the elected officials put in those roles to maintain it won’t do what we demand, we will run for office and change it ourselves.”
The Town of Peterborough plans to hold a listening session Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. after the Select Board meeting, accessible by Zoom or telephone.
“The session will be live streamed on Facebook and on Channel 22,” the town wrote in a press release. “Facilitators Karen Hatcher and Nicole MacStay will be joined by Chief Scott Guinard of the Peterborough Police Department and Chief Ed Walker of Peterborough Fire and Rescue.”
The meeting will be available at www.zoom.us or by dialing 929-205-6099 and using webinar ID: 811 4214 6933. Once the forum is open, press *9 or use Zoom’s “raise your hand” feature to comment or ask questions. Send advance questions or comments to community@peterboroughnh.gov.
“The information gathered during this session will be used to help prioritize a coordinated effort to address concerns,” the release reads.