Equality Road may be in the cards
Published on May 23rd, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham resident Bob Sansone is dedicated to bringing his message of diversity, tolerance and equality to the Town of Stoneham, and his enthusiasm and dogged determination is obvious when discussing a project that's already undergone a name and location change.
Originally Sansone wanted to re-designate Main Street/Route 28 in Reading as Tolerance Road, but now the Everett native is pointing his efforts toward getting Main Street in both Reading and Stoneham re-designated as Equality Road .
Sansone has brought Equality Road as a proposal for the Legislature and House Bill #3452 is currently being shepherded by State Rep. Paul Casey (D-Stoneham) through the proper channels, and sits in discussion at the Joint Committee on Transportation.
"Some people actually had come up to me when I was trying to push for Tolerance Road and they had mentioned that maybe Tolerance wasn't the right word because it was so close to tolerate and people would confuse the two...and maybe the right message wouldn't be getting through," said Sansone. "So I instead opted for Equality Road, and there's been some very good feedback for that one.
"One thing I'd like people to understand is that Main Street will still be Main Street in Stoneham, and that is more of a symbolic gesture that Stoneham is about diversity and understanding of all kinds of people," added Sansone. "It's my understanding that Mass Highway would pay for it, and that it would a sign similar to the ones in town that would celebrate a girls' basketball championship."
The Stoneham Board of Selectmen haven't yet given their endorsement of Sansone's plan - something that would make the approval of the Bill something of a lay-up at the State House level, according to the Stoneham resident.
During last week's meeting, Selectman Bob Sweeney moved to continue the discussion until the May 29 Selectmen meeting when Chairman George Seibold would also be in attendance.
Sweeney did have one overriding thought to offer when Sansone mentioned Celtics great Bill Russell who, according to local legend, endured some fairly difficult experiences of racism when he lived in nearby Reading. Russell was part of Sansone's inspiration to moving from the re-designation.
"Bill Russell was a racist himself, you know," said Sweeney to a stunned Sansone, who clearly wasn't expecting that kind of opinion from the Selectman.
"Well I guess that's your opinion," said Sansone. "I will have you know that Russell is involved in a multi-racial marriage."
Sansone originally got the idea for Diversity Road when he took his family on a vacation to Florida, and his then 8-year-old daughter Rachel encountered an African-American family reunion and - as is the case with most young children when they encounter something different from the norm for the first time in their lives - became uncomfortable and wanted to leave the pool area.
Sansone took that instance as an excellent time to teach his daughter, who hadn't met many African-American people in her short lifetime growing up in Stoneham, about diversity and tolerance, and all of the things that went into the re-designation plan for the street.
"I saw an opportunity to change a child's life and the way she views people, and it was a powerful moment for me...I saw a way to turn the unremarkable into the remarkable," said Sansone. "Since then I've wanted to get this re-designation accomplished so people take a few minutes out of their busy days to think about diversity and acceptance of others."
Sansone made the connection between Rachel and Bill Russell, the former Celtics great who lived in Reading during his playing career and had some regrettable first-hand experiences with racism in the area during the 1960's. So, Sansone recently traveled with his daughter to the House of Representatives to make a presentation on their bill, and carried a Bill Russell Wheaties Box in tow while making the presentation.
Sansone came away from the meetings with one general message: get your local Selectmen on board and the bill will likely pass through the Legislature.
So Sansone will again go before the Selectmen this Tuesday night, and asks that any words of support or ideas be sent directly to him via email at to equalityroad@comcast.net.
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