Human Rights Chair: “Change Begins and Ends With You”

By Jessica Angelo-Julien

As chair of the Human Rights and Opportunities Commission, I am tasked to remain impartial in the hopes that clearer minds will prevail. The injustices to people of color need to stop, but destroying our communities isn’t the best solution. It didn’t work in the past and it will not work now. More than ever before, we need to come together, so generations after won’t be fighting this same battle again. There is a great focus on the problem, but what is being done to instill continuous change? Change comes from within and is incremental. There are no overnight changes to make all of this go away. You must first change “your” thoughts “your” actions and in doing so, contribute to the changes in the world. Demanding that someone else change, will never work Racism is a learned behavior. It is embedded in the fiber of this nation, that no matter what race, there are micro-aggression comments made when we speak to each other can be hurtful. As much as we won’t admit it publicly, there are those that will remain impartial to their own race or culture. It is human nature, but remaining silent makes you complicit. You need to demand better of yourself and the people around you or else, all of this will be revisited again, sooner or later. I have heard such comments as “all politicians are the same, so I am not voting”. Don’t complain about who is in office do your part, start with you. If those running are not any you would choose, then choose yourself, run for office. Clearly this is repetitive behavior from the police. The murder of George Floyd will mark 7,666 in the United States due to the police according to data compiled by an advocacy group. Lest we forget a hug seen across the world when the brother of Botham Jean hugged the officer that murdered his brother was a gesture of forgiveness. Only some would come to understand that gesture. In the end, the change begins and ends with you.

Jessica Angelo-Julien is Chair of the New Britain Commission of Human Rights and Opportunities