We applaud the Waterville City Council passing Councilor Lauren Lessing’s resolution approving a statement of community values. We share her vision of Waterville as “forward-thinking, innovative, and inclusive,” and, with her, “we believe and affirm that diversity is a strength, not a weakness.”

The world is changing. Those who have been historically last are claiming their power, raising their voices, and seeking justice. People of color, women, queer and transgender communities, victims of gun violence, people living in poverty, school teachers, and many others are being heard in new ways. This shift is causing a lot of fear and anger amongst those who are used to being first, and who are having to yield their power, or at least having to adjust to sharing it.

We do not seek to become those who act in ways we might condemn. We will not exclude those who might themselves exclude. We ourselves sit at or near the top of the privilege ladder due to our gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, education, and so on. There are logs of racism in our eyes that we are working on removing, too.

Along the way, we stand with the marginalized, the oppressed, and the dispossessed in our community as they seek the justice that is so often denied them. We join our voices with theirs. The world is changing, and our community is being rebuilt, making this time a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to build a community that loves its neighbor as itself, welcomes the stranger, and protects the most vulnerable among us. With the City Council, we seek the just, tolerant, kind, civil, caring Waterville we know it can be.

The Rev. Mark D. Wilson

The Rev. Lauren Seganos Cohen

The Rev. Thomas L. Blackstone

The Rev. Maureen Ausbrook

Peter Harris

The Rev. John Balicki

The Rev. Sharon Sagat-Stover

The Rev. Kurt D. Nelson

Waterville-area clergy

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