Letter: Saturday Rally: Diversity Makes Us Great

To the Editor:

Several months ago, I was a North Adams teacher and a member of a school DEIJ committee. (Working for Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Justice.) I did not think this was radical work.

Yet here I am today, asking friends and neighbors to join us on Saturday, May 10, at the North Adams City Hall from 1:15-2:15 p.m. at a "Diversity MAKES America Great Rally." Because apparently, the idea that people of all races, abilities, orientation, gender identity — the idea that all people are endowed "with certain unalienable rights" is now up for debate.

Please stand with me to show that Berkshire County believes diversity really is what makes this nation great.

We need to say it is not OK for this administration to grab (apparently, only brown) people and fly them to, and abandon them in, foreign prisons. Without due process. Tell me my fears about what could happen to the people just grabbed in Great Barrington are not justified.

Words can be manipulated. But how this administration is twisting the word diversity defies belief. They started by erasing web pages that discussed veterans, anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, Head Start programs, women, people of color, and more. Then they began disappearing people. And now they are trying to erase ideas.

Mass MoCA was just notified that it has lost a grant to support Jeffrey Gibson's commission "Power Full Because We're Different." With a title like that, could their reason for objecting be any clearer?

Eileen Gloster
North Adams, Mass. 

Barrett Holds off Fitch in State House Race

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
11:20PM / Tuesday, September 01, 2026

Candidate Andrew Fitch thanks his supporters for their work on the campaign and promised 'we're going to get him next time.'

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — State Rep. John Barrett III showed Tuesday that it is still his time to serve.

 

In an election night cliffhanger that had supporters of each candidate anxiously checking their cell phone screens two hours after the polls closed, Barrett defeated challenger Andrew Fitch in the First Berkshire Democratic primary for the State House of Representatives.

 

With one town, Peru, missing from the vote total, Fitch called Barrett to concede the race at about 10 p.m. with Barrett holding a 3,597-3,476 lead, a margin of 121 votes.

 

With no Republican on the ballot, Tuesday's winner will be unopposed in the November general election.

 

After receiving well wishes from his supporters at the GOAT Sports Bar and Grill, Barrett talked about his win and shared part of his motivation for seeking another two years in the post he has held since 2017.

 

"When [Fitch] called me up and said that he was going to be running against me and said, 'I want to announce I'm going to run in two weeks,' and then he says, 'This is my time and your time to retire,'" Barrett said. "Well, that's when I decided I was going to run."

 

On Tuesday, Barrett congratulated Fitch, a North Adams city councilor, on a well-run campaign after accepting his concession.