The Mystic Valley Are Branch of the NAACP fully supports Councilor Adrien in remaining on the city council, as well as attending meetings remotely to protect her family during the pandemic.
The Mystic Valley Area Branch of the NAACP fully stands behind councilor Adrien in remaining on the Everett City Council. Furthermore, with COVID-19 infection rates rising nationwide, as well as Everett being a hot spot in Massachusetts, we understand and appreciate her concerns for wanting to attend meetings remotely at this present time.
Counselor Adrien is following her doctor’s recommendation, trying to take proper precautions to protect the health of her father, who is at heightened risk because of his underlying health issue of diabetes and because of his age. All of us would be in a much better situation in terms of COVID-19 if every politician listened to experts’ medical advice. City Council President, Rosa DiFlorio’s comment that “She’s been disrespectful to me since Day One. She has no respect for seniors and white people,” indicates that there is a racial component to the hostility she and other Council members have shown toward Counselor Adrien, and that appears to underlie the Council’s resistance to allowing her to participate in meetings using Zoom. Every organization has had to adapt to supporting meetings online.
The NAACP as a national organization has highly discouraged in-person meetings across all two thousand branches. Furthermore, given the current rise in COVID cases in Massachusetts and medical experts’ forecast for a dramatic increase in cases this winter, the Council should take this opportunity to resolve any of their technical issues they are having that interfere with accessing meetings using Zoom.
Additionally, we encourage people to show up for:
The NAACP is strongly opposed to the City of Everett and the other council members utilizing the pandemic as an excuse to undermine the historic placement of Councilor Adrien as the first Black Woman on the Everett City Council.