ENFIELD, Conn. — A tough but necessary conversation at Enfield High School Tuesday night, forcing people to ask themselves important questions.
"What is our responsibility? What is all of our responsibility when something like this happens?" said Kamora Herrington, facilitator of a community conversation and founder of Kamora's Cultural Corner.
The community came together to talk about race, diversity, equity, and inclusion after a high school football player was called a racial slur while out in the neighborhood, fundraising for his team.
"He's a 14-year-old kid. For him, it's kind of like, why are people like this? This is so stupid, it doesn't need to be this way. So, I'm just trying to make a difference for him," said Kelly Jackson, the student's mother.
She was among those taking part in the conversation aimed at working towards a more inclusive community. One in which her children wouldn't have to face racism.
"I want change made. I want people to be more respectful and understand that we are all different people and just be a better town," Jackson said.
Officials said this incident is not reflective of the town as a whole but that action needs to be taken in order to see progress.
"We have 23% of the Enfield population are people of color as of the last census. We have to make sure that as the complexion of a community changes so do the attitudes and the mores of what that means in order to have a very functioning supportive community," said Ellen Zoppo-Sassu, town manager of Enfield.
The police department was also part of the conversation, explaining that while an investigation did confirm a racial slur was used, no criminal charges could be filed.
"The racial slur as offensive, as troubling, as abhorrent as that behavior is, unto itself does not violate the criminal law," said Chief Alaric Fox.
However, this is not the end of the discussion.
"The work is going to be the folks in Enfield figuring out how not to say 'you're wrong, you're right.' No, it's wrong. What happened can't happen but now how do we as a community move forward," Herrington said.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at gmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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