Thank you to everyone who has signed on and shared this petition. In only three days we've reached almost 200 people! Please keep sharing and notifying your communities. This is an urgent issue and we've been called upon to stand up for what's right, to be loud, and to do everything we can to support and amplify these voices. 

We are extremely grateful to the Peace and Justice Center for signing on as a sponsor of this petition. Here is their statement:

"The Peace & Justice Center stands in solidarity with Black N Brown at Democracy Prep​. As an organization that is committed to anti-racism in all of our work, we are deeply concerned with the sale of Marlboro College to Democracy Builders. The behavior of Seth Andrew, and the legacy of trauma he has left, is not something we need in Vermont. It is not something that should be anywhere. If he is to be here, we demand an earnest and meaningful reckoning with and reparations for his actions. If he is unable to take full accountability for the harms he has caused, we do not want him here. White Vermonters have long posited that they are more liberal and less racist than the rest of the country. We find this notion anathema to the blatant, measurable, systemic racism we see (eg, incarceration rates and traffic stop data by race are worse than national numbers, COVID cases by race are disproportionate, etc) and more subtle interpersonal racism (People of Color in Vermont regularly leave Vermont and express that racism here scares them more than in other parts of the country because of how it's couched in "liberalism"). That said, being "less racist" is a wonderful goal to strive for but we would go further and insist that we must become anti-racist. Asking Mr. Andrew to answer the questions posed by Black n Brown at DP is a small, tangible step in that direction."—Rachel Siegel, Executive Director, Peace & Justice Center

Yesterday (July 9), at the town of Marlboro Select Board meeting three people from the Black N Brown at DP collective took time out of their lives to speak to the community. Please listen to the public comments section of the meeting HERE. 

Here is some of what was said:

Staff member of Democracy Prep (2012-14):
"The collective was founded to bring voice to the absolute atrocity that occurred at Democracy Prep charter school, that left hundreds of Black and Brown staff, families, kids traumatized and abused in its wake. We thought it particularly important to be present today to bring voice to the voiceless and to dispel any rumors, or Seth’s specific charge, that there were just a few stories. Or that there were exaggerations. To date the collective has received over 350 stories that span both Seth’s time at Democracy Prep and beyond because of the catastrophic legacy that he left... He’s just not prepared to run such a college. He has no experience in running a hire education institution. And the experience that he does have, founding a charter network, as mentioned earlier, has left tons of bodies in their wake... There definitely needs to be some excavating in what he’s going to do to both atone and how he’s going to change these processes and his practices and quite frankly his heart. Because the way that he spoke to people, adults, children—the way that he ran his organization is not something that you should have in your community. "
(This testimony starts at 21:24)

Zenzile Keith, former superintendent at Democracy Prep:
"I’m a former staff member at Democracy Prep and I witnessed a number of racist and white supremacist acts. Not only committed against students but against myself as an African American woman who worked on the Superintendent level... I find it very disheartening that a person, like Seth, can purchase a university that is supposed to train people to work with other students, or to train students period. To work anywhere, in any field, to educate them, when he has absolute disrespect for Black and Brown people. These are things that I actually witnessed. That I actually witnessed myself...The age that we’re in, the way that you show that Black Lives Matter, the way that you show that Brown Lives Matter, right, is that you don’t allow somebody like this to come into your community and to spread the type of hate and disdain for Black and Brown bodies like he’s done in Harlem. An area that I grew up in."
(This testimony starts at 34:55)

An alum from the founding class:
"I was aware that the school was troublesome when I was in it, even when I was in 6th grade and was one of Seth’s trophy children, I said that the school wasn’t brining up students, that it was brining up robots. But I think once I left I realized the full extent of what a white savior actually is. And what systematic racism is truly within education. And I hope that Seth is never around an environment where he is leading Black and Brown bodies ever again. If anything, if we’re going to have a program that’s meant for Black and Brown students, it needs to either be run by Black and Brown leadership or by people who are well intentioned and have experience in doing the job. And Seth unfortunately has neither."
(This testimony starts at 40:23)

And please see the attached article from the VT Digger.