Two events this week have exposed a painful truth about Vermont. Chief Pierre Gomez, one of the state’s few police chiefs of color, resigned after months of racial hostility, disrespect, and undermining from within the system he served. Now State Senator Samuel Douglass has been named in a leaked private chat filled with racist and antisemitic comments that target the very communities he was elected to serve.
These are not separate incidents. They are connected. What Chief Gomez endured in public, Senator Douglass revealed in private. Both point to a deeper problem that many Vermonters know all too well. Racism in Vermont is not always loud or visible. It often hides in everyday conversations, private messages, and quiet decisions made behind closed doors. Those who experience it feel it in the tone of a meeting, in the silence after speaking up, or in the small acts of dismissal that add up to something heavy and lasting.
Senator Douglass is not merely a public official. He works as a mental health crisis interventionist and serves as Clerk of the Senate Committees on Health and Welfare and on Institutions. These roles give him direct influence over issues that affect people who are already vulnerable, including those struggling with mental health, incarceration, and poverty. When someone in this position engages in racist or antisemitic behavior, it breaks public trust and threatens the safety of the people his committees are meant to protect.
The Rutland Area and Windham County branches of the NAACP call for Senator Douglass to resign. His words and conduct are incompatible with public service. Vermont cannot claim to be a welcoming state that is moving toward equity while allowing those who demean others to remain in power.
This moment is not just about one man or one incident. It is about a statewide culture that excuses harm until it is made public. It is about the gap between Vermont’s image of progress and the daily reality for those who live with discrimination. We urge Vermonters to face this truth and hold their leaders accountable. Silence is complicity, and now is the time to choose courage.
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