By Journal Staff
The Revere Human Rights Commission (HRC) held its regular monthly meeting last Thursday evening (November 7) in the City Council Chamber. On hand for the session were chair Chaimaa (Shay) Hossaini and fellow members Dr. Lourenco Garcia, Kourou Pich, Molly McGee, Herby St. Baptiste, and Somaya Laroussi. Invited guests included Revere High freshman Noor Ashour and long-time Revere resident Ed Terrell.
After Hossaini began the meeting with the usual Land Acknowledgment, in which the Pawtucket tribe was recognized as the original holder of the land in Revere, the members read aloud 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 members then watched a video of the HRC’s recent visit to the Historic Patuxet Homesite in Plymouth (formerly known as Plimouth Plantation) to learn about the Indigenous Wampanoag people who lived there for over 12,000 years, long preceding the arrival of the Pilgrims.
Prior to English contact in the 17th century, the Wampanoag numbered as many as 40,000 people living across 67 villages comprising the Wampanoag Nation. These villages covered the territory along the east coast as far north as Wessagusset (today called Weymouth), all of what is now Cape Cod and the islands of Natocket and Noepe (now called Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard), and southeast as far as Pokanocket (now Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island).
After watching the video, the members gathered in a Circle Group, led by Irene “Strong Oak” Lefebvre, the Executive Director of the Visioning B.E.A.R. Circle Intertribal Coalition, which, according to its website, “provides prevention education, training, and technical assistance to all indigenous and multicultural communities in the Northeast and nationally who wish to eliminate interpersonal violence in their tribal, intertribal, or other types of communities.”
Each of the HRC members and invited guests took turns discussing a variety of topics, ranging from the recent national election to their personal life stories, that touch on the issues of human rights.
After concluding the discussion, which lasted for about 90 minutes, the members adjourned.
