Colonial Day has been a tradition at the Mill Pond School for many years. Fifth grade students take this day to dress in White colonial or Native American garb, and engage in many colonial activities, such as feather-pen making and playing games that White colonial children played. This event, though harmless on the surface, engages students with the all-too-common practice of whitewashing history and cultural appropriation. 

As a majority White town with ample funding for schools, many of the students of Westborough Massachusetts do not experience first-hand the racial disparities, inequity, and oppression faced by people of color every day. Colonial Day, to me and many others, teaches the students of Westborough that the experience of White colonials is the most important experience for students to learn about, and negates the detrimental and oppressive experiences of Native Americans and enslaved Africans. These oppressions were the direct result of the actions of White colonials, and these actions have led to injustices that continue to plague our society today.

This petition calls for the abolishment of Colonial Day from the 5th grade curriculum at the Mill Pond School in Westborough, Massachusetts. 

This petition is inspired by the article published on the platform LEVEL, written by sisters Emily and Caroline Joyner, who are from the neighboring community of Southborough, MA. Read their article here. https://level.medium.com/we-grew-up-with-one-of-the-officers-involved-in-rayshard-brooks-killing-this-didn-t-surprise-us-75963ccd9bd . It will tell you more about the inequitable environment fostered by White suburban communities such as Southborough and Westborough than I can - I am White, so I have grown up with a considerable amount of privilege and ignorance to the racial issues that systematically affect our society to this day.

For a deeper understanding of the oppressions that Native Americans and enslaved Africans faced during the colonial era: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/colonial-america-depended-enslavement-indigenous-people-180957900/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html