PAYING ATTENTION!
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A Rumbo Exclusive
Interview With
Nancy Kennedy
Estevez says
“This is Not Racism”
SLE School
principal Mary Toomey was suspended for ten days without
pay for
sending out an email message to her employees containing
a school events calendar.
Superintendent of Schools Mae Gaskins began an
investigation after it was learned that the
school events calendar included a passage in which Ms.
Toomey encouraged her employees
to support a candidate who was running a sticker campaign
for school committee. Toomey
stated in her email that she would hand out nomination
stickers to anyone interested who
came to the principals office.
School Committee man, Attorney Michael Sweeney, of
Foreman and Sweeney in
Lawrence, told RUMBO that he was not satisfied with just
a ten day suspension of Mary
Toomey. “Ten days doesn’t satisfy me.” He
said. “Because of the effect it has on the
public confidence in our schools, the penalty should be
as serious as the violation. One
thing we are not sure of is how many people were
effected. It certainly hurt the public’s
confidence in the school system, the school committee and
our ability to educate.” When
asked if he thought Toomey should be fired for breaking
the law Sweeney said termination
seemed excessive, but ten days was not enough. “What
concerns me is when an 8th grade
kid does something wrong everyone is out to hang him,
suspend him for a year, or
exclude him. But when an educated adult who knows better,
does something wrong
people think it is no big deal and the punishment is a
slap on the wrist. It’s called a
‘mistake’. We need to be consistent with the
messages we are sending children”
School Committee woman (elect) Nancy Kennedy, in her
first run for office has been
targeted by members of the Latino Agenda because she
happens to be the candidate Ms.
Toomey was boasting about in her email and because
Kennedy is white. Kennedy admits
that she dropped off stickers at the school but had no
idea that she was breaking any rules. In
an exclusive interview with RUMBO, Kennedy finally broke
her silence on the issue saying
“I’ve never run for anything before. I’m
not a politician. I’m a parent. I just wanted to so
something for my kids and the kids in Lawrence. I want my
kids and grandkids to go to an
accredited high school. I got involved because I have a
child with disabilities and I know
the problems that are not being addressed.”
Members of the Latino Agenda are calling Toomey’s
actions and the candidacy of
Nancy Kennedy a racist act against the Latino community.
Personal attacks and allegations
of racism were made on the Methuen radio station
WHAV/WNNW (A Pat Costa, EAGLE
TRIBUNE enterprise) Modesto Maldonado, head of the Latino
Agenda spoke before the
school committee saying he blamed the loss of Edwin
Estevez and Jose Balbuena (both
endorsed by the Latino Agenda) on Mary Toomey. Some
members of the Latino Agenda
have been advocating that the election of Nancy Kennedy
be overturned. According to state
and federal election officials that prospect is
“highly unlikely.” Just last week the federal
government agreed to pull out of Lawrence and let local
officials control the election
process.
Nancy Kennedy, who’s son-in-law and grandchildren
are Hispanic, said that charges
of racism and prejudice were “very hurtful” and
“damaging to my family.” Kennedy was
shaken by the accusation. “It weighs very heavy on
you when people say things that are
not true. They have no idea how serious accusations like
this effect people. I’ve lost a lot
of sleep over this. My grandchildren are Latino and this
hurts because they are saying I
would turn my back on my grandchildren” Kennedy said
the attacks on her were unfair.
“Nobody bothered to call me and talk to me about
this. People call me prejudice but they
don’t even know me. I wasn’t raised that
way” Kennedy said she does not always agree
with the politics of the Latino Agenda but differences of
opinion are “what make the
world go around.”
Former School Committee Candidate Edwin Estevez, who lost
the election when
Kennedy entered the race, placed fourth to Martha Previtt
in the final election. Estevez is a
member of the Latino Agenda, however, he readily came to
the defense of Nancy Kennedy
against charges of racism saying “I don’t
believe it was racist on behalf of Nancy Kennedy
in any way. Mary Toomey made a huge mistake and any time
a mistake is made
appropriate consequences should follow. But this is no
reflection on Nancy Kennedy at
all. This has nothing to do with racism.”
Estevez said that no matter who was hurt by Toomey’s
illegal campaigning it should
be no reflection on Nancy Kennedy. “There was
intention to do harm by Mary Toomey in
terms of making sure her candidate won. It had nothing to
do with racism it was just
wrong and it was illegal. That’s what needs to be
judged. This was not just damage to me
as a candidate but it is damage on the city. Steps need
to be taken because this really
made the city look bad.”
Accusations of racism are part of the regular order of
business for the Latino agenda
and it’s leader Modesto Maldonado. When this issue
is finally over and Lawrence has moved
on to the next false accusation or media created scandal,
the damage to Nancy Kennedy and
her family will not soon be healed. Nancy Kennedy’s
third grade son is the only white child
in a class of thirty-two children. Any racist would have
taken their child out of that class
long ago. But good, decent people like Nancy Kennedy are
severely effected by false charges
of racism and bogus claims of prejudice. It effects their
lives in a way that cannot be
measured or described.
That’s why it is so important to stand up against
politically motivated race baiters
who think nothing of making a reckless accusation to
serve their own personal agenda. Just
imagine the Latino grandchildren of Nancy Kennedy hearing
someone call their
grandmother a racist and saying she hates Latinos. Just
imagine what her third grade son is
dealing with as the only white kid in a class of
thirty-two. What does Modesto Maldonado
think he has done to their lives? These are the
casualties of destructive racial politics and
irresponsible people who fight for power at any cost.
These are the victims of the Latino
Agenda who make accusations and try to destroy
people’s lives for political gain. These are
the victims of WHAV who allow personal attacks and
misinformation to spew over the
airwaves no matter who is being slandered. As long as
they are white. These are the victims
of the daily paper (which owns the radio station) and
gives legitimacy to the Latino agenda
any time they play the race card to seize power in the
community.