Ward 2 City Councilor candidate Stephenson Aman.

By Jim Clark

A number of candidates for political office in Somerville have spoken out in solidarity with a group of City Council candidates of color who voiced outrage at the apparently willful exclusion by Our Revolution Somerville (ORS) of Ward 2 City Councilor candidate Stephenson Aman from participating in their candidate forums, which is part of the process by which ORS decides on their endorsements. The group’s statement can be read here.

The exclusion of Aman from the forums took many by surprise, and the resulting sense of outrage quickly elicited responses from most candidates. According to Aman’s supporters, he submitted the required questionnaire in a timely manner, so many questions linger as to why ORS did not include him in the forum process.

The following are some of the public statements issued on the matter by current candidates for office in Somerville:

From Ward 7 Councilor and Mayoral candidate Katjana Ballantyne

Today I write to state that I withdraw my application for the endorsement of Our Revolution Somerville respecting my candidacy for Mayor of Somerville, and to join others in our community in asking ORS to discontinue its political activities for the time required to address and to remedy harm caused by transgressions of ORS, recently brought to light.

l’ve learned that a duly qualified candidate for City Council was barred from participating in an ORS candidates’ forum after having timely submitted the appropriate, completed questionnaire. The candidate, who was denied access to the forum by ORS leadership, is Stephenson Aman. Stephenson is from a family of Haitian immigrants. He is known for overcoming several challenges including disability and he is known for his volunteer work as a youth mentor, coach and as a vocal advocate for his community.

These actions taken by ORS leadership, to silence Stephenson, cannot be reconciled with my own vision of Somerville as an inclusive, equitable city where we can all thrive together, without exception. For nearly three decades in Somerville, I have worked as a volunteer, in business and as a city councilor for this vision of Somerville. These are my values, these are the values of my campaign and I believe that these are our shared values in Somerville, to be inclusive, transparent and to hear and value all of our voices.

In light of the transgressions of ORS, to deny forum participation to a qualified candidate and thereby to silence his voice and to exclude him, I join with other candidates in calling for ORS to suspend their activities immediately, namely, Tracey Leah Pratt, Beatriz Gomez Mouakad and Judy Pineda Neufeld, who have released a joint statement together with Stephenson.

Additionally, I call upon all candidates for office in Somerville to withdraw from all of their own involvement with Our Revolution Somerville. I believe that it is appropriate to request that ORS undertake a transparent process, to review their systems and structures to ensure that they are consistent with the stated mission of ORS and that they are consistent with our shared values. I believe also that it is reasonable to expect ORS to make the changes necessary, to ensure that they will not cause such harm in the future, and to report the findings of the review to all of us in Somerville.

From Councilor At-Large and Mayoral candidate Wilfred N. Mbah

I want to urge Our Revolution Somerville to delay tonight’s mayoral forum and respond to the letter released by four candidates of color regarding Steph Aman’s denial into the endorsement process.

Transparent communication is needed right now and I have always found ORS to be open and transparent in the past. If what is being alleged is true, I would like to see the org admit Steph Aman into the endorsement process with JT Scott for a ward 2 forum to be held this week.

I know what it is like to be a first-time candidate of color running for office and I know what it is like to have people try to talk you out of running (both white and POC community members). I also know the hurdles to navigating the system for a first-time candidate.

I support more open democratic processes – it is awesome to see so many first-time candidates for office – let them debate and be considered and let ORS membership decide.

I look forward to hearing from the organization in a transparent fashion (which I have always found them to be).

From Council President and Ward 1 Councilor Matthew McLaughlin (candidate for reelection)

I am withdrawing my consideration for endorsement from Our Revolution Somerville (ORS). I do this in solidarity with the candidates of color who received unfair treatment and outright exclusion at recent candidates forums. This is not an endorsement or rejection of any candidate, but rather an acknowledgement that all people deserve to be treated fairly and equally.

I helped form Our Revolution in Somerville. I took great pride in encouraging a new generation of Somerville residents to focus locally on economic inequality and social justice. The landslide ORS victory in 2017 was one of the greatest moments in my life. I’m still immensely proud of all we accomplished and still consider many ORS members friends and comrades. However, I find the treatment of first-time candidates of color at the recent forums to be unacceptable.

Four candidates of color signed a letter withdrawing their consideration for endorsement, citing specifically the refusal to let Ward 2 City Council candidate Stephenson Aman, a Haitian American man who lived in the Mystic Housing Development, participate in the forum. ORS issued a statement saying they made attempts to accommodate Stephenson who failed to meet the deadline. This may be true, but at the end of the day Stephenson qualified for the 2021 ballot and should have been given a chance to speak at a forum as a legitimate candidate.

Bernie Sanders, the founder and figurehead of Our Revolution, held a rally in Seattle in 2016 when two black women jumped on stage and grabbed the mic from him. They didn’t follow the rules. What did Bernie do? He listened. If Bernie could do that under far more dramatic circumstances, we can accommodate a black man who certified for the ballot and respectfully asked to attend the forum.

While Stephenson was denied entry outright, the other candidates of color were the victims of blatantly biased questions meant to humiliate them and promote members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Boston chapter, most of whom are white. I encourage everyone to watch the final segment of both the at-large and ward councilor forums where candidates were asked personal questions. You can identify DSA candidates when the moderator used the word “bold” to describe their policies before giving them softball questions, and by the candidates who responded “I love this question!”

Non DSA candidates of color, by contrast, were openly accused of ignorance. Their commitment to the very communities of color that they are a part of were questioned. I don’t believe these biased questions were intentionally racist, but they clearly favored white DSA candidates over their non-white opponents. A system is racist if it favors white members over others.

Unfortunately, what transpired represents a familiar pattern in left-leaning movements. I was a veteran of Occupy Wall Street and watched a movement that was meant for the 99 percent devolve into a movement of 99 issues occupied by an exclusive club of affluent people with enough free time to attend every meeting. They strangled the life out of what should have been a worker-led movement and made people of color and working-class people like me feel unwelcome. I now have that same unwelcome, exclusive feeling with ORS/DSA. What started as a unifying campaign to elect candidates truly committed to affordable housing has become a movement that demands absolute purity on a litany of issues that only a narrow, privileged group of people could possibly uphold or identify with. The movement’s failure to organize low-income neighborhoods after years of activism makes the exclusion of Stephenson, who grew up in affordable housing, all the more problematic.

I’m not out to “cancel” anyone. People make mistakes, people can learn from those mistakes, and people are deserving of forgiveness. I’m speaking out because of the overall direction the movement is heading in, which is exclusionary and divisive and will ultimately lead to our failure to enact true change. ORS and DSA should acknowledge these problems and take action to rectify the harm it has done in recent days. A movement meant to represent the most underrepresented people in the city and in the nation must constantly assess whether they are leaving those very voices out of the conversation. I hope to one day seek the endorsement of Our Revolution again and continue to fight for our shared values together. Until the day comes when all the voices are at the table, however, I must decline the endorsement.

From Councilor At-Large Kristen Strezo (candidate for reelection)

Statement to Our Revolution Somerville: Today, I write to you in response to a statement issued by four candidates of color for Somerville City Council. I encourage you all to read their letter first, which can be found here: https://twitter.com/JudyForWard7/status/1406633861669326848?s=20

I am greatly disappointed and angry with Our Revolution Somerville (ORS) for their recent treatment of candidates during their endorsement process. Denying Stephenson Aman entry to a public forum, allowing microaggressions to occur without acknowledgement or intervention, and engaging in exclusionary politics are unacceptable actions. Clearly; their process is not fair, equitable, or transparent.

I hope that ORS undergoes critical reflection and can grow from this moment. We all must take responsibility and invest the time and effort required to reflect on our role in systemic racism; this is an ongoing process and one that I personally take very seriously.

As we move forward, I will continue to focus on bringing all voices to the table, fighting for equal opportunity in our community; and treating everyone with respect. We are a field of candidates with diverse identities and lived experiences just as we are a diverse and tight knit city – and these values are critical to ensuring that Somerville is an inclusive and safe community for all residents.

I stand in solidarity with the candidates of color running for City Council. I stand for the values of equity, justice, and dignity for everyone in our community, and I cannot align myself with the disrespectful actions of ORS.

I am officially withdrawing from the ORS endorsement process. I am no longer seeking the endorsement of OF I support the demands of Tracey Leah Pratt, Beatriz Gomez Mouakad, Judy Pined a Neufeld, and Stephenson Aman and call on ORS to suspend their endorsement process.

From Mayoral candidate Mary Cassesso

I am grateful to the four city council candidates for raising these serious concerns with Our Revolution Somerville. I reached out to Mr. Aman, who has been wrongfully denied access to the ORS forum and endorsement process, and spoke with my two opponents who were scheduled to appear with me at tonight’s forum. In solidarity with Mr. Aman and his fellow candidates, I will not be participating in the ORS Mayoral Forum tonight and am withdrawing myself from their endorsement process. It is simply unacceptable for candidates of color to be denied access to a forum meant to inform the public and influence an endorsement process. It is my hope that ORS uses this opportunity to reflect on how this happened, and to recommit themselves to the values of transparency, openness, diversity, and inclusion.

Editor’s note: On Monday, June 21, Our Revolution Somerville issued a statement addressing the concerns outlined above. It can be read at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11eBXojLGTOXAZrXMK9Wx6mTCD3Le8NHV/view