Facebook Post Raises Concerns: Comment Referred To Immigrant Deportation

HARWICH – A comment on a recent Facebook post is causing some to wonder what’s simmering just under the surface of the community.

 A post on the Harwich Cape Cod Facebook page reportedly included a doorbell camera video of a Monomoy Regional High School ninth grader coming to the door of a Harwich home. A comment under the post read, “another illegal for trump (sic) to send back come January.” 

 The 14-year-old student is Black and was selling holiday wreaths to raise money for the school’s robotics team.

The boy was born in the United States and is a citizen, his mother said.

Patricia Irving said her family members are long-time residents of Harwich and own businesses in town. She said she was waiting in the car along the road when her son went up to the house, which is just a short distance from her own home. She said she thought nothing of it when no one came to the door. Later she learned of the Facebook post.

“You don’t do that to a 14-year-old,” she said. Her son did not see the problematic comment but was aware of it and was upset, she said.

The post and comments were quickly removed; the group rules for the page explicitly prohibit politics, hate speech and bullying. The Chronicle did not see the original post or the video.

 The post came to the attention of Monomoy Superintendent of Schools Scott Carpenter, who noted in an op-ed in last week’s Chronicle that while posting video of a child without permission “seems like a breach of community norms,” this particular post “opened that boy up to comments that were a significant transgression of our community values.” 

 Some Monomoy staff members reacted to the comment by calling out its prejudice and hate, Carpenter wrote. Although the post and comment apparently did not break any laws, it raised concern in the community about the treatment of people of color, given its reference to president-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport illegal immigrants on a mass scale. 

 “All it took was one child knocking on a door, trying to support his robotics team, to have implicit and explicit biases lying beneath the surface of our community bubble up,” Carpenter wrote. “There is no place for prejudice and hate in our schools or our towns, and clearly there is work to be done so that all feel valued, are welcomed and are treated with dignity.”

 Although the incident did not result in a police report, Chief Kevin Considine said he was aware of the situation and had spoken with Carpenter. Should a resident be uncomfortable when someone knocks on their door, they should call the police, he said.

 “It’s as simple as that. Don’t put it on social media,” he said.

 Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert J. Galibois commended Carpenter for calling attention to the situation and said the superintendent was “uniquely positioned to examine and address instances involving speech and conduct that can have a detrimental impact on the student population, whether the speech or conduct occurred on a school campus or elsewhere in the community.”

Galibois added, “We are committed to work collaboratively with all of our school districts to promote a healthy and safe learning environment for everyone.”

 Karen Boujoukos, chair of the Nauset Interfaith Association’s MLK Action Team, said the incident came as no surprise; it isn’t the first of its kind in the past several years reported in the media or to the Barnstable Human Rights Advisory Commission, she wrote in an email.

“As members of MLK Action Team and Nauset Interfaith Association, we condemn hateful speech and behaviors targeting community members because of their perceived differences,” she wrote. “Let’s move beyond stereotypes and insults and find ways to live in peace with our neighbors.”

 Patricia Irving said she met with the school’s principal and vice principal about the incident. Originally from Jamaica, she said the incident should remind people that “no man is an island…we need each other.”

 “People just need to be educated,” she said. “Just because you’re Black doesn’t mean you’re illegal. It doesn’t mean you don’t belong here.”