Vermont

“The thing that I hear from my friends of color is that it is so painful that this language has been there,” said Sasha Thayer, a resident of Plainfield. “My concern is that especially with what happened to Kiah Morris last year, not getting this done — and done right — is just so painful.”

Sally May, a pastor in Colchester, said her passion on the issue stemmed from listening to her black husband and black children speak about their experience of being people of color in Vermont and the racism they’ve been confronted with.