Last year, Xusana Davis was appointed by Vermont governor Phil Scott as the state's "first Racial Equity Executive Director."  Davis, formerly of New York City's Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, applied for the job "on a whim" and was installed to "identify and address systemic racism in Vermont." The law labeling Vermont as systemically racist was also a whim, backed by no evidence aside from bald assertions that racial disparities in prison, land ownership, or school disciplinary actions reflect a disparity in treatment of people of color.  The dangers of this false assumption are demonstrated in Xusana's latest gambit: to "codify community engagement" by "considering racial and environmental justice in land use." Davis has been commissioned by recent Vermont law to "develop a strategy to address racial disparities within the State...(Read Full Post)