We, the Marlboro, Windham County, and greater Vermont community stand in solidarity with the Black N Brown at DP collective, calling on the Marlboro College Board of Trustees to rescind their contract with Democracy Builders to purchase the land and building that comprise the campus of Marlboro College. 

Black N Brown at DP represents the voices of over 200 (and growing) African American, Afro-Latinx, and Latinx alumni, parents, and faculty who were at Democracy Prep during the time that Seth Andrew was in charge there and are now speaking out against the racism they experienced under his leadership. In their article, A Hurt Dog Gon’ Holla, they call upon the current leadership of Democracy Prep to completely disavow any continued relationship with Seth Andrew. And in a letter they wrote to the Marlboro community titled, Seth Andrew’s Legacy and its Impact on Marlboro College, they call upon the Marlboro College Board of Trustees to end all engagement with Seth Andrew in the sale of the campus to his current business, Democracy Builders and the Degrees of Freedom program: 

As survivors of the harm Seth caused, we are incredibly concerned about your decision to allow him to open a college program on the Marlboro grounds. We hope that you read the stories on our page as well as our essays on Medium with an open mind and an open heart. The Seth Andrew that founded Democracy Prep in 2006 is not far from the Seth Andrew of today. While Degrees of Freedom would certainly breathe new life into the campus, create jobs, and help support the local economy; all of these things would happen at the cost of residents’ dignity, and humanity. And you would soon feel like many people in Harlem, wishing he would leave.

We want to amplify the voices of this collective because Black and Brown voices have been marginalized for far too long. The allegations of abuse inflicted on these students are serious and cannot be ignored. Black Lives Matter and we need to do the work to end white supremacy and dismantle systemic racism wherever we see it. We should have been speaking out in defense of these voices when they were kids and the harm was happening. We can’t make excuses or go back but now we have an opportunity to stand with them as adults and help insure that this kind of abuse is not perpetuated. Not in Marlboro, Vermont or anywhere else. If we are silent we too are complicit in perpetuating systemic racism and abuse. 

Seth Andrew wrote, Reflections on Race & Democracy Prep, which he has since removed from the internet but can be read here. In response the Black N Brown at DP collective wrote, We Ain’t Buying It, in which they question the sincerity of his words:

The beginning of Seth’s piece offers, what seems to be, true and genuine self reflection and critique, but he later slips back into a white savior narrative, doubling down on his belief that he “did a great thing for Black and Brown people in Harlem...He fails to recognize that these voices have flourished IN SPITE of Democracy Prep, not because of it. And his willingness to take credit for Black expression further illustrates how deeply racist this man truly is.

We urge you to read the powerful and heart breaking testimonies on Black N Brown at DP’s twitter, instagram, and facebook accounts.

From Black N Brown at DP:

Seth Andrew has inflicted pain upon hundreds of young people, directly; and upon thousands of young people and their families indirectly through the proliferation of his school model. He has a record of ostracizing and firing faculty and staff of color who spoke out against the injustices that they witnessed and endured while employed at Democracy Prep.

Racism is traumatic for EVERYONE. It is most traumatic; however, for its victims. It has required great emotional strength for the former students, and former and current staff members involved with this effort to continue this fight each day. We have cried at some of the stories we have received, been enraged at some of the emails we have been sent, and been broken by accounts of how DP’s problematic decision making has shifted people’s entire futures.

WE URGE YOU TO DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO STOP THE SALE OF THE MARLBORO COLLEGE CAMPUS TO SETH ANDREW.