Fairfield Discusses Whether It's a 'Tolerant Community'

More than 75 residents were asked Wednesday night if Fairfield was "a tolerant community," and, after meeting in small groups, most seemed to share the same opinion - they didn't like the question.

"We tolerate things that are unpleasant, like a fever or illness, and that's not really what we're striving for," said Sue Brand, a Board of Education member who spoke on behalf of one small group.

Police Lt. James Perez said his group had the same reaction to the question. "We can do better than being tolerant," he said. "We looked at 'tolerant' as kind of being an ugly word, like you're tolerating an annoyance, versus acceptance, which is very, very different."

But it wasn't just the question asked by Trudi Durrell, the lead moderator in Wednesday night's "Community Conversation" on diversity and tolerance, that proved to be a sticking point.

Several attendees also questioned whether diversity should be determined solely by race.

Nearly everyone at the Community Conversation, held in Sacred Heart University's University Commons, was white, but they ranged in age from teenagers to senior citizens and had different genders, religions, beliefs, experiences, backgrounds, income levels and ambitions.

Several people noted that handouts only gave data on race, ethnicity and household income in Fairfield and how those categories had changed over time.

"We were concerned the census data was limiting," said Joyce Flynn, who spoke on behalf of a small group. "How do you define diversity?"

Flynn's small group, identified as the "red group," had a wide-ranging discussion, and one of the participants indicated that bigotry against gays seemed still to be acceptable, based on a loud and derogatory conversation about gays she heard in a business filled with customers. Such a conversation, the participant said, would never have taken place about a race of people.

Others in Flynn's group questioned how acceptance of diversity could be measured and said it was important for Fairfield's public schools to teach acceptance because children's attitudes and beliefs haven't become fixed.

Durrell also asked participants whether tolerance should be taught in the schools, in the broader community, or whether people ought to just ignore the topic because "change is happening, and eventually everyone in Fairfield will be more tolerant living, working and studying with others who are perceived as 'different.' "

Perez said his group thought every school should have a day that celebrated different cultures and brought people of different cultures together, such as the annual World's Fair at McKinley School. "Enough discussions. Let's just plan events," Perez said.

Brand said that was the sentiment of her group. "We need more community opportunities for people to interact...We felt people learn a lot when they are together," she said. "It doesn't always have to be on a grand, orchestrated scale."

"We want to have more conversations and learning opportunities, and the way people learn is when they talk to each other," Brand said.

Durrell said the use of the word "tolerant" was intentional and meant to provoke discussion and that another Community Conversation would be held at 7 p.m. June 21 at McKinley School.

McKinley was the catalyst for Wednesday night's Community Conversation because the state Department of Education determined McKinley was in "racial imbalance" because the percentage of minority students at the Thompson Street elementary school was at least 25 percentage points higher than the district-wide average at the other 10 public elementary schools. The Community Conversation, which was funded by a grant, was one of the ways Fairfield's Board of Education sought to remedy the issue.

The Community Conversation was sponsored by the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, which sponsors such conversations across the state. "These conversations are opportunities to have a wide dialogue about issues affecting a community," Durrell said at the beginning of the event.

Durrell said the forums encourage participation by people who normally don't attend town meetings and promote a "frank, candid discussion, but also one that is thoughtful and respectful."

One of the participants thought if town officials wanted viewpoints from more minority residents in town, they had to accommodate their schedules.