As a Ward 4 resident, I hope that my fellow ward members have taken note of the fact that one of our candidates for City Council, Jesse Hassinger, was instrumental in the decision to cancel the free Biennial art show at Forbes Library.

A vote for Jesse is a vote for censorship of the arts. Two women of color were accused of racism while volunteering their time to the city, and an “old white woman” artist was disregarded. Arts Council member Hassinger was a key player in these moves.

We have a better choice: Garrick Perry, our neighbor and the other candidate for Ward 4 City Council. Garrick is an artist himself, a member of the arts and business community for decades, and an intelligent and balanced thinker about this and other issues. I have known, admired, and respected Garrick for years, so I wasn’t surprised when he told me that he definitely wouldn’t have cancelled this art show.

We discussed how the cancellation seemed reactionary and shortsighted, and how detrimental it was to the artistic community. I believe that this bit of “woke” political theater underscores the need for more people of color in leadership positions. It’s ironic that Jesse and company characterized Doris Madsen’s art as “harmful,” since the purpose of her piece was to portray the pain and sadness surrounding our treatment of Indigenous Americans.

As an “old white woman” myself, I can assure Jesse and the others who participated in canceling her that activists from my generation didn’t just recently learn about the slaughter of our native people and suddenly become upset. I imagine that she, like me, had felt the pain and guilt of that slaughter for decades; she was probably moved to create that poignant monoprint in order to convey that pain to others who hadn’t yet had their consciousness raised.

That would have been a good thing. I agree with Stephen Petegorsky that this censorship decision “represents a lack of judgment and a failure of leadership.” I wouldn’t want that kind of decision representing me, or my ward, on City Council.

Sue Stubbs

Northampton