Recently I walked into the Guilford Town Hall and was stunned to see a 4’x12’ banner in the first-floor main corridor entitled “Witness to History: Slavery in Guilford.” This banner documents the history of slavery in Guilford and was produced by the group www.slaveryinguilford.org. It features a quote by William Faulkner which says “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In other words, racism is alive and well in Guilford.

My question is, why is Guilford so obsessed with race? Why is our Guilford town government, our Guilford Library, and our Guilford school district constantly in our face reminding us of how systemically racist we are, how racist our institutions are, and how evil the United States is?

Sadly, this banner is only the most recent manifestation of this obsession. At the Board of Finance meeting on 4/21/25, chairman Michael Ayles acknowledged how necessary the practice of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is in our Guilford community when he said, “there is no way you can isolate DEI … it is embedded in everything we do.”

Superintendent Freeman prioritized race in Guilford Public Schools when he implemented his Equity and Social Justice Initiative, saying, “we have foregrounded race … being colorblind won’t solve the problems that are inherent in structures or societies or communities or schools or personal relationships if you are concerned about systemic racism.”

In its “Statement on Addressing Equity and Social Justice in Guilford Public Schools,” the Guilford Board of Education proclaimed, “Institutional racism is a part of American History and educators must explicitly address this reality and create a culture that helps eradicate it moving forward.”

This obsession with race in Guilford is madness. It only serves to foment hate and encourages, rather than discourage, racism. It must end.

Dave Holman is a resident of Guilford, Connecticut