Lexington’s elected officials have gone too far on limiting public comment
I am tired of what passes as democracy these days in this town I love. Before COVID-19 forced our local government online, residents could attend planning and zoning meetings, committee meetings, task force meetings, and if we wanted, we could give input, share our concerns, even ask questions. Now we watch meetings online but can’t attend them. We can only speak at a total of four meetings each month (the two council work sessions and two council meetings), and to do so we have to sign up 27 or 30 hours ahead of time, a surprisingly effective barrier to actually giving public comment — at least for me. There is no publicly stated reason why — for over a year now — our elected officials have not made it easier to participate in giving online public comment and routine input. They’ve also now had months to get vaccinated. Continuing to meet online is a solution to a problem that should no longer exist, a solution that has itself become a problem.
Then, this past Tuesday, at the start of a council work session, Mayor Gorton let would-be public commenters know of “decorum” expectations that would result in silencing if not adhered to: “Every speaker shall exercise decorum during debate, conduct himself or herself in a courteous manner, and refrain from using unbecoming, derogatory, or abusive language, and shall also refrain from making personal attacks or accusations.” When April Taylor, a local activist, then spoke about the policing practices of LPD Officer Jesse Mascoe, who — as a matter of public record — has issued 75 percent of his citations to Black Lexingtonians, the mayor interrupted and told Ms. Taylor to “...refrain from anything that even borders on making a personal attack on someone.”
Make no mistake. Everything Ms. Taylor said about Officer Mascoe is a matter of reported fact. Stating those facts is no more a personal attack than saying Linda Gorton is our mayor. It’s true that sometimes facts sound “unbecoming, derogatory, and abusive,” but it’s not because the words or speaker are those things, but because the actions to which they refer — in this case, the documented racist actions of one of our tax-payer-funded police officers — are “unbecoming, derogatory, and abusive.” Silencing those who would state these unpleasant facts doesn’t make them go away, it merely protects the tender ears of those who would rather not have to hear about it.
That our elected officials have allowed it to become so difficult to participate in our own government, and are now making it more so, is unconscionable, especially when our city is considering a much overdue reckoning with racial injustice and police accountability. I know it helps to have rules to ensure a certain level of order at meetings, and I have no doubt that meeting online has protected people, but Lexington officials have gone too far in whittling away our opportunities to participate in the policies that govern our lives. Adding in this latest burden of passing a “decorum” test — a test that has never been consistently applied — in one of the few spaces that remain open to us goes too far. Why? Because those who define “decorum” here — a mostly white, cishet, and well-off governing body with cultural assumptions vastly different from Lexington’s poor, immigrant, Black, and LGBTQ communities — hold the power to silence the rest of us. I assure you, councilmembers and mayor, that what you find unbecoming and abusive is not a universally agreed upon standard.
Our electeds need to: 1) Go back to in-person meetings soon enough for residents to engage in-person about no-knock warrants, the budget, and the CBA. 2) Invite people different from themselves to assist in drafting specific rules for public comment — and pay them for their expertise. These changes won’t fix everything, but they will go a long way toward increasing democratic participation and accessibility — two things we desperately need.
Reva Russell English is an organizer, farmer and artist in Lexington.