Human Rights Commission Models Circle Process in Latest Meeting

The Revere Human Rights Commission (HRC) held its regular monthly meeting last Thursday evening in the City Council Chamber.

Chairperson Janine Grillo Marra and fellow commissioners Kourou Pich, vice-chair Chai Hossaini, Rev. Timothy Bogertmen, Fire Chief Chris Bright, Molly McGee, Rachid Moukhabir, and Dr. Lourenco Garcia were in attendance.

After starting with the usual Land Acknowledgment (in which the commission acknowledged the Pawtucket Tribe as “the original overseers of this land”), Marra read a poem, Respecting Differences, and led her fellow commissioners in a meditative exercise.

The commissioners then recited the HRC’s Mission Statement:

“The Mission of the Revere Human Rights Commission is to promote human and civil rights and empower all people of Revere by ensuring that everyone, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized, have equitable opportunities, equal access, and are treated with dignity, respect, fairness, and justice.”

The commission then proceeded to its principal business of the evening in which the commissioners modeled a Circle Process. The commissioners were informed about what a Circle Process entails at their November meeting by Irene “Strong Oak” Lefebvre, the executive director and founder of the Visioning B.E.A.R. Circle Intertribal Coalition Inc., who was the HRC’s guest speaker last month.

Marra noted that the commission is endeavoring to establish a Circle Process in the city. She then urged her colleagues to leave their usual seats in the council chamber and to take chairs that had been arranged in a circle closer to the public gallery.

Pich, who is familiar with the Circle Process, led the group in the exercise. A Circle Process essentially is a practice designed to bring people together, often in the context of conflict resolution. The HRC is seeking to engage members of the Revere community in the Circle Process in the hope of bringing about a greater understanding among the diverse groups and interests in the city.

The commissioners shared personal stories and discussed their reasons for becoming members of the HRC during the Circle Process, which consumed almost all of the 90-minute meeting.

The commission then adjourned until its next meeting in January.

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