Letter to the Editor: Resident Calls for Accountability in Old Lyme After Black & Brown Experience Gathering Moves to New London

Note from the Editor: This letter is a response to the town’s discussion of new requirements for large gatherings at Sound View Beach following plans for a Black & Brown Experience gathering, which organizers relocated to New London. LymeLine is independently reporting on the issue and plans to publish its own coverage early next week.

To the Editor:

I write this with tears in my eyes.

I knew that raising two children of color in Old Lyme might not always be easy. I knew there could come a day when my sons would experience ignorance or prejudice and I would have to explain to them why someone treated them – or someone who looks like them – differently.

Sadly, those moments have already happened, both in elementary school and middle school. In each instance, however, the Region 18 staff handled the situation exceptionally well – with professionalism, compassion, and a clear message that prejudice and discrimination have no place in our schools. As a parent, I have been incredibly grateful for the way our educators responded and for the lessons their actions taught my sons.

What I never imagined was having to explain actions that I believe reflect racism coming from the leadership of the town they call home.

What happened this week involving Ms. Brown and a gathering of people of color at one of our town’s public beaches has deeply saddened me. Whatever explanations or justifications are offered, the message these actions sent to my family and many others in our community is painful: a gathering involving people of color was treated as something to fear, stop or make unwelcome.

Try explaining that to children …

Try looking your sons in the eyes in 2026 and explaining why the actions of the first selectwoman of his own town could leave him with the impression that people who look like him aren’t wanted at the beach.

How do you explain that to a child after spending his entire life telling him that this is his community too? That he belongs here. That the beaches, schools, parks and public spaces of Old Lyme belong to him just as much as they belong to anyone else.

I shouldn’t have to explain that to my son. No parent should.

That is not the Old Lyme I want my sons growing up in.

We teach our children that everyone deserves dignity and respect. We tell them that the color of someone’s skin should never determine how they are treated, whether they belong or whether they are welcome in their own community.

Sadly, my sons will learn a hard lesson this week: actions speak louder than words.

This isn’t a history lesson about racism in some other place or another time. This is happening in their community. And it involves people entrusted with leading that community.

Ms. Brown is not a political talking point. She is a person who deserved to be treated with dignity and respect. She deserves a sincere and public apology from Martha Shoemaker. Our community deserves one as well.

I am asking Martha to publicly apologize to Ms. Brown and to the people of Old Lyme and to resign from office.

I do not make that request lightly. I make it as a father who has to look his sons in the eyes and explain what happened in their town this week.

I cannot teach my sons to stand up when they see something they believe is wrong and then remain silent when it happens in our own community.

Our children are watching us.

Our actions will teach them far more than our words ever will.

Sincerely,
Chris Staab
Old Lyme