To the editor: As a Black Vermonter, I find this story very disturbing, but not for the reason some may think. After 45 years of living in various parts of our state, my experience has been just the opposite. Vermonter’s, especially rural Vermonters have been friendly, helpful, and very neighborly.

I’m deeply offended by the assertion that my neighbors are racist. This law firm should be ashamed of themselves for this outright lie. I would caution Vermonters to consider what they are actually saying.

The article states that 17 Blacks actually experience ‘race hate’ annually. Consider the number: 17. 17? Are you kidding me? It’s almost statistically irrelevant, and here’s why: The article claims that of the 7,000 plus Blacks living in this state, 17 have experienced racism. Annually. 17!

Statistics can be manipulated. Statistics can lie. Statistics can be twisted. Statistics can be used to pursue an agenda as is so painfully obvious here.

Vermont is low lying fruit for race-baiting. The small Black population has been twisted, convoluted, and used as a backdrop for claims of racial hostility and I’m sick of it. Living in Vermont is a lifestyle decision. It’s not for everyone. Want proof? We’re one of 5 states with population under one million.
The five states are:
Wyoming — ~589,000
Vermont — ~645,000
Alaska — ~737,000
North Dakota — ~799,000
South Dakota — ~935,000

If only 17 Blacks experienced racism in the state, we should be proud of that statistical insignificance. But, do you know what is significant? Blacks make up 10% of the state’s incarcerated population, despite being only about 1–1.2% of Vermont’s overall population.

And why is that? Could it be that black criminals from Connecticut, NY State, and Mass never received the memo that Vermont has the highest rate of anti-Black hate crimes in the nation?

We’ve all turned on WCAX and witnessed with horror the decline of our only real city, Burlington and its frightening descent into violence, drug crimes, shootings, gang activity. Law abiding Black Vermonters watch with amazement the amount of out-of-state Blacks being arrested for guns and drug crimes, often shaking our heads in horror.

In raw numbers, we’re talking about roughly 140 Black inmates out of about 1,300–1,500 incarcerated people statewide, not thousands.

I wonder how this law firm would twist these numbers if they had a different agenda? Which reminds me of the old adage. There are three kinds of lies: there are lies, damn lies and statistics. God Bless Vermont.

– Keith Longmore. The author is a Franklin County resident who is known to VDC readers as the black member of the St. Albans diversity and equity committee who, two years ago, was forced off the committee by its other mostly white members for his divergent views on diversity.

An Open Letter to the Cabot School Board, June 8th, 2026 – Dear Ellen Cairns: Thank you for engaging in conversations regarding the impact of Covid policies on our students. I’ve been waiting six years for these conversations to begin. By addressing the unprecedented acts committed during Covid, we can now begin the healing process.

I was particularly impressed with your comment about the impact of Covid on learning, which was quoted in the Cabot Chronicle‘s May issue. You are correct, the “pandemic” had a negative impact on student learning in many places, not just Vermont.

To be clear, though, it was not the virus that has had a long-term impact on student learning- it was the response measures imposed by the school districts. The forced isolation, testing and quarantining of healthy people, the physical and emotional impacts of face masks and the inhumane imposition of social-distancing and remote learning.

These practices went on for two years- that is an incredibly long time in a child’s development, impacting numerous milestones along the way.

Please remember, all of these measures were optional. Many schools around the country and around the world did not impose these practices, and their students fared much better in the short and long-term.

Another comment you made was also very important. While considering Policy F-27, which would allow the district to impose all of these same experimental and damaging measures again in the future, you remarked on the health department’s ability to revoke recommendations if they find evidence of harm. (May School Board Meeting, end of recording)

Last spring I submitted an information request to the Vermont Department of Health in order to learn what evidence they have that face masks are safe and whether they received any complaints of harm.

They have no scientific evidence that masks are safe for school-age children. Neither does the Agency of Education, the CDC or the WHO. That is because conducting such a study would be unethical. For the same reason, you will also never find a study which demonstrates that a 30′ slide in the playground is safe. Nobody would allow you to conduct such a study because, based upon everything we already know, it would be too dangerous to even try it.

As for evidence of harm, the department of health received plenty. Letters poured in from parents, teachers and community members citing the known and experienced harms.

For example, here is a letter from a parent:

“I urged my 15 year old son to write this email but he insisted that ‘no-one cares what kids think’ about the pandemic. I disagree but understand his

sentiment – they have had no say or control over their circumstances at school…

“…masking is not harmless for kids. My son is a high school sophomore and has never been to his school without a mask. It has been harder to make friends and he sees no point in participating in class in a mask. He struggles to understand his teachers and constantly thinks they are angry just because he can’t read their expressions. Teachers have done a heroic job but the kids are constantly scolded for chewing food with their mask down or letting it slip beneath their noses. 

“Exhaustion, anger and sadness have set in for many kids around masking –

and we are the families who have supported the idea from the start.”

The Department of Health received a pile of similar emails, including references to credible research on the subject:

“Critically for children, the WHO Advice on Masks also describes in detail the many potential harms of mask wearing, including: ‘[I]increased risk of self-contamination due to the manipulation of a face mask and subsequently touching eyes with contaminated hands; potential self-contamination that can occur if nonmedical masks are not changed when wet or soiled. This can create favourable conditions for microorganism to amplify; potential headache and/or breathing difficulties, depending on type of mask used’, ‘development of facial skin lesions, irritant dermatitis or worsening acne, when used frequently for long hours’; ‘difficulty with communicating clearly’; and general ‘discomfort,’ among others.

“How will our children learn and thrive when their

communication is hampered, their heads ache, and they are generally uncomfortable?”

None of these emails received a response which addressed their concerns or provided evidence to support the department’s recommendations.

My request to you and the other members of the Cabot School board is to honor your responsibility, as elected officials, under the Constitution, to provide a check-and-balance for our school community.

As you stated at your last meeting, none of you are community health experts. Putting the decision of whether to require and enforce “recommendations” on to school boards is unfair. Recommendations and requirements are two very different legal distinctions with very different resulting culpability and responsibility.

If the Health Department feels they have enough evidence to determine that there is a need to impose such health measures in the future, then they should make that decision themselves. They already do so with school vaccination requirements and other health measures which they enforce in community settings across the state.

The CCSU school board has received ample evidence that the “health measures” you chose to impose on students and staff during Covid were harmful. I have sent you videos of two parents who spoke at a school board meeting in 2021 (#1 & #2) and shared examples of the emails the CCSU received demonstrating harms from masking and the lack of appropriate response to such complaints.

There is much more evidence to consider, and I would welcome a complete review of the district’s implementation and enforcement of health department recommendations during Covid. 

Superintendents, school nurses and not even the health commissioner himself, as an MD, are not trained in how to devise and implement environmental mitigation measures. 

I can arrange a consultation with an expert who is trained in school mitigation measures to protect medically vulnerable students. She is eager to speak with you and answer your questions: Masks in Schools: Appropriate Special Education Accommodations with Megan Mansell

In light of your acknowledgment of the continuing damage that students are experiencing as a result of the school’s previous implementation of these measures, I feel it is entirely inappropriate for the school board to decide they are competent and willing to impose such recommendations again in the future.

Please decline to adopt any policy that permits the school district to become enforcers of public health “recommendations.”

I welcome the opportunity to bring light and healing to this subject. Thank you for your honest engagement in these conversations.