Graduation Day Turns Into Time To Push For Change In Easton

EASTON, MA — It was supposed to be a day when Ava Lerman and her Oliver Ames High School graduating classmates made memories to last a lifetime celebrating all they had achieved.

It turned out to be a day when many of them came together to push for awareness and reforms that will hopefully make a change for the better for many OA classes to come as they marched in a Black Lives Matter protest in Easton on Sunday.

Like high school seniors across the country, Lerman's senior year was thrown into chaos when the first week of outdoor track and field workouts turned into the first week of a coronavirus health emergency shutdown that lasted the rest of the school year.

"It was an adjustment at first because you were looking at everything you can't have," she told Patch. "There was coronavirus, the killer (hornets) and then everything that happened with the Black Lives Matter movement. But I think this is actually a very good time in history. The Black Lives Matter movement is making the change that needs to happen.

"It's sad that senior year is not how we planned it. But I can't think of anything I would rather want to do with my time."

On what would have been graduation day, Lerman was the organizer of Sunday's march and rally that she estimates drew about 700 people — mostly OA students, alumni and those from area high schools — to listen to speakers tell personal stories that might not be typical of many who grew up in the cozy suburban town.

"I had a vision for it, but the way it turned out I wouldn't change a thing," said Lerman, who stressed the day was much more about the speakers and the bigger Black Lives Matter movement than her senior class. "It was such a good experience. Easton, as a town, is mostly white, so this was something that we needed to hear."

Lerman, whose graduation ceremony has been postponed to Aug. 1 in hopes of eased social gathering rules, said she tried to make it as diverse as possible. She asked for advice from those in nearby towns who had organized similar marches, walked into the Easton police station and notified law enforcement of her plans, contacted school officials, sought black voices as speakers to share their perspectives and posted the event on social media.

"I just turned 18 so I didn't really know what to expect out of all of it," she said. "When I posted it to social media, it took off. There was some backlash online from some older people that was something that I've never had to deal with before."

But Lerman was determined that, while the protest might stir emotions from both proponents of the cause and those concerned about protests in Boston, Providence and neighboring Brockton that turned confrontational and destructive, that the most piercing statements were ones that needed to be voiced most.

"We had a few people in the community speak about their experiences that a lot of people had no clue about," she said. "Those were the most impactful speeches. Some of the students and parents reached out to me after it was over and said they were left with tears in their eyes. I was too.

"But while hearing about those experiences was extremely heartbreaking, it's hard to say that you could be overall surprised. We do live in such a racist world. If you are surprised, you are not educated on the topic."

She said she some of the necessary changes within Oliver Ames can begin with greater education on the issues.

"We don't hear enough about black history in school," she said. "During this, I heard of different events that I didn't know what they were. I had to go and educate myself on what happened. Then, I think, we can utilize our community speakers better. When all the students come together for a speaker, it's usually about 'Don't do drugs,' but I think we can do better."

Lerman said it was important to her to contact the residents on the protest route to inform them of what to expect, and hopefully gain their support. She said it was also critical to the mission that the event remain as peaceful as it was.

"We do have an older, white population so anything less than peaceful and we were going to lose their attention," she said. "Then they are not going to hear what we're trying to say."

She said the majority of those at the protest were younger.

"It would have been nice to see more parents there as well," she said. "Hopefully, those who went brought the messages home because they need to hear it too."

On a day we all could’ve spent moping around, grieving what today could have been, our grade devoted itself to progress ... and there is nothing that says more about the class of 2020 than just that. pic.twitter.com/873gvOBuc1
— OA class of 2020 (@oliverames2020) June 8, 2020

The goal of the protests being that through hearing uncomfortable words and experiences shared this spring and summer, the resulting change will make it so those divisions and disparities are not repeated for endless springs and summers to come.

"We need to grow this so future generations aren't dealing with it," concluded Lerman, who plans to attend the University of Rhode Island this fall. "We need to be the difference now.

"I don't see how not being racist could be controversial."

Scott Souza can be reached at [email protected].