Franklin Freedom Team message: "In acknowledgment of the pain in the world"

"In acknowledgment of the pain in the world, the Franklin Freedom Team offers this statement and energy.

Please reach out for more resources or to report an instance of hate or bias."

Franklin Freedom Team message: "In acknowledgment of the pain in the world"

Shared from -> https://www.instagram.com/p/CzohPFEOHV9/

For more information on the Freedom Team -> https://www.franklinfreedomteam.org/

Franklin Freedom Team statement 05/12/22

Via Cobi Frongillo: 

"A joint statement from the Franklin Freedom Team on alleged fan behavior at a recent FHS baseball game. I am confident that such language is not reflective of the Town's values and look forward continuing to ensure Franklin remains a welcoming community.

For more information on the Franklin Freedom Team, visit franklinfreedomteam.org."

Franklin Freedom Team statement part 1

Franklin Freedom Team statement part 2

Introduction to the Franklin Freedom Team - 01/20/22 (audio)

FM #708 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 708 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares the introduction of the Franklin Freedom Team. We recorded this via the Zoom conference bridge Jan 20, 2022. 

You’ll hear this subset of the full Freedom Team as we talk about what the Freedom Team is and what it is meant to do here in Franklin.

The recording runs about 22 minutes, so let’s listen to this introduction of the Franklin Freedom Team. Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-708-franklin-freedom-team-01-20-22

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The Franklin Freedom Team web page can be found -> https://www.franklinfreedomteam.org/ 

The “About” page lists the membership and the growing network of other communities with Freedom Teams -> https://www.franklinfreedomteam.org/about/

The #LoveFranklin Open Mic event mentioned during the recording can be found here -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/01/lovefranklin-open-mic-night-at-black.html 

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

 

Introduction to the Franklin Freedom Team - 01/20/22 (audio)

#LoveFranklin - Open Mic Night at THE BLACK BOX - 12/08/21 (audio)

FM #689 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 689 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares the audio recording of the #LoveFranklin Open Mic Night held on Wednesday, Dec 8, 2021 at THE BLACK BOX.  

The evening master of ceremony duties were shared by MacKenzie Atwood and jamele adams.

The original raw recording runs an hour and 36 minutes. You’ll be listening to the edited version which is shortened by about 12 minutes. 

Key reasons for shortening the recording (1) to spare your ears the jarring sound of cleaning the microphone between performers. (2) A couple of the audience participation exercises were shortened. (How much indistinct audience/crowd noise can you listen to?). 

One percussion performance added at the last minute during the evening was also shortened. The percussion exercise was good to be in while it happened but would have been headache inducing to listen to. So we spared you that. No other performance was shortened or edited in any way.

Let’s listen to the Love Franklin Open Mic Night of Dec 8, 2021.

https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-689-lovefranklin-open-mic-night-12-08-21

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The lineup for the "Love Franklin" Open Mic Night at THE BLACK BOX

1. jamele adams - poem

2. Mia Magliari - All I Ask by Adele

3. Audrey Olmstead - She by Dodie

4. Hope Guanga - If I knew by Bruno Mars

5. Mackenzie Atwood - Back In (self written poem)

6. Joe Maple and Audrey Olmstead - Can't Help Falling in Love with you

7. Meghan Whitmore - Her Personal Story

8. Andrew Mitchell - Crisis by Joshua Bassett

9. Maria Zaki - Complainers by Rudy Francisco

10. Steve Sherlock - Poem: Variations on the theme of "A dark and stormy night"

11. Hope Guanga - Crocodile Rock by Elton John

12. Judi Perez - percussion exercise

jamele closes with a recap of some of the audience inspirations

More information about the Freedom Team can be found online -> https://www.franklinfreedomteam.org/

More of my poetry can be found at quietpoet.com/ 

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

 

for the 'selfie exercise' with Meghan Whitmore

Pantherbook article on this event -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/12/pantherbook-lovefranklin-open-mic-night.html

Pantherbook: LoveFranklin Open Mic Night - Dec 8, 2021

Franklin Freedom Team announces events Dec 2 and Dec 8

• Dec 2 - Thursday, 7:15 to 8:30 PM

at St John's Episcopal Church

A Space to Talk - Dec 2

• Dec 8 - Wednesday, 6 - 7:30 PM

at THE BLACK BOX

The Franklin Freedom Team is hosting a "Love Franklin" Open Mic Night on December 8th at 6-7:30 PM  at THE BLACK BOX in Downtown Franklin. Scan the QR code on the screen to sign up! @FHSpantherbook https://t.co/1ESelWVCmn

"The Franklin Freedom Team, in collaboration with high school student groups, will be hosting this event (with MCs Mackenzie Atwood and jamele adams) which will be a 'celebration of self' - featuring visual, musical, poetic, and speaking pieces that highlight identity and self-expression. It will be offered free of charge for the community; all are welcome to watch or perform."

To sign up (with other than a QR reader) use this link ->   https://docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/1OJqZjZw0P8dmP46qrzBUdtiTxs3qcA_-2oEwloW5EkE/viewform?edit_requested=true 

"Love Franklin" open mic night - Dec 8

For more about the Freedom Team visit their page on the internet at https://www.franklinfreedomteam.org/

"it is best to approach conflicts over speech as teachable moments"

"IN JANUARY, a few Northampton middle school students, perhaps emboldened, maybe bored, after nearly a year of remote learning, projected images of the Confederate flag as their computer screen backdrop during virtual classes. Perhaps it was a political statement, or maybe a poorly considered joke. Whatever the intent, it did not go unnoticed. The school’s principal, Desmond Caldwell, asked the John F. Kennedy Middle School community to not display or wear the Confederate flag in school, saying it disrupted learning and made some students and staff feel attacked and unsafe. 

Caldwell’s plea did not end the issue. The issue exploded with an anonymous social media post attacking the principal. Middle and high school students in the Western Massachusetts city then led a demonstration in front of the JFK School, supporting Caldwell and calling for the school district to take action. The Northampton School Committee obliged in March, banning the display of the Confederate flag in all schools, joining its neighbor Easthampton and a few other school districts across the country that have deemed the symbol an impediment to learning and banned its display outside of classroom instruction. 

If the move put Northampton ahead of the pack in clamping down on hate symbols, the left-leaning college town of 28,000 is now poised to go several steps beyond that. In September, the School Committee will take up a proposal to ban two other symbols of hate — swastikas and nooses — while also establishing a wide-ranging system in which various types of bias can be reported and investigated. It would make Northampton the only community in the state, and possibly the only one outside of Oregon, to enact such a far-reaching, anti-bias policy. "

Continue reading the article online 

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/no-place-for-hate/ 

Franklin has a Freedom Team to promote "Unity in the Community"

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/07/franklin-launches-freedom-team-to.html

https://www.franklinfreedomteam.org/

Franklin Launches Freedom Team To Promote “Unity In The Community”

Franklin Becomes The Fifth Massachusetts Community To Form A Local Freedom Team

In the wake of 2020’s racial unrest, a broad coalition of Franklin community leaders came together to form a Freedom Team with the mission of ‘preserving freedom through unity in the community.’ The team’s members meet monthly to explore ways of offering dialogue and support to individuals and the entire community with a goal of promoting love, inclusion, and trust (“LIT”).

“We, as a Town, are a community through unity,” explains jamele adams, Franklin resident and founder of the Freedom Team network. “And if anything happens in the community that is rooted in bias, instead of trying to figure out who to call and how to respond, we want a team to already be in place. We want a team that is proactive, reactive, and retroactive.”

Franklin Freedom Team membership follows the network’s Community 10-Point Connection Model which includes diverse community representatives, including parents, students, educators, town and school local officials, clergy, a lawyer, a trauma-informed clinician, a transformative justice facilitator, and a social media expert. In addition to their regular meetings, the Team hosts a hotline and email for residents to contact if they have experienced or witnessed bias-motivated threats, harassment, or violence. The Team promises to “offer a private and respectful space to discuss the incident using a transformative justice model not only to try to repair the harm through inclusion, trust, and equity, but also to educate and strengthen the community.”

To date, the group has met virtually every month throughout 2021 and their members have helped organize community conversations on police reform, inclusion in early education, and youth AAPI experiences. The group was in immediate dialogue following last month’s news of a swastika found in Franklin High School.

Mr. adams, the group’s founder, is no stranger to promoting ‘LIT-ness’ in majority-White communities. Longtime Dean of Students at Brandeis University and current Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Scituate Public Schools, adams first helped found a Freedom Team while living in Natick back in 2016. The success of the initial team – captured in a 2017
 
TEDx talk by adams (https://youtu.be/pCkyrxruNaQ) – has since inspired Hopkinton, Waltham, Wellesley, and now Franklin to form similar coalitions in their communities. (More teams are in development.)

The current membership of Franklin’s Freedom Team includes:
● jamele adams, founder and transformative justice facilitator
● Sara Ahern, Superintendent of Franklin Public Schools
● Rabbi Tom Alpert, Temple Etz Chaim
● Camille Napier Bernstein, community advocate
● Justin Bates, co-founder of Franklin Area Against Racism
● Cobi Frongillo, Town Councilor
● Jamie Hellen, Franklin Town Administrator
● Elise Howell, clinician
● Chief TJ Lynch, Franklin Police Department
● Rev. Kathy McAdams, Rector of St John's Episcopal Church and President of the Franklin Interfaith Council
● Angelina Perez, student
● Judith Perez, parent
● Angela Snyder, lawyer
● Meghan Whitmore, community advocate

You can learn more about the Franklin Freedom Team at franklinfreedomteam.org.

To report hate, bias-motivated threats, harassment, and violence, residents of Franklin are urged to call the hotline (508-507-9693) or email franklinfreedomteam@gmail.com.

Residents who fear for their immediate safety or have an emergency should call 911 immediately.