Join us for "Listening to Differing Perspectives- The Power of Symbolism” a Community Conversation that will consist of exploring the mental models of framing, perspectives, the importance of listening and the impact symbols have on people. Jillian Harvey, Arlington’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division Director will be co-facilitating the discussion with Allentza Michel of Powerful Pathways. This conversation is also co-sponsored by the Arlington Human Rights Commission.

If you are interested in sharing your perspective and joining the discussion, please fill out the participation form, which the panelists will use to have attendees participate in the discussion and be called on. If you plan to just tune in and listen, that is welcomed as well. More information on the panelists joining the conversation can be found below and will continue to be updated. Please direct questions to DEI@town.arlington.ma.us

Zane T. Crute is a financial services professional with diversified experiences within the realm. Currently he serves as a financial analyst at JP Morgan Chase within their Corporate & Investment Bank. He is a graduate of Boston College’s Carroll School of Management with a Bachelor of Science in Management with a concentration in Finance and Marketing. Currently, Crute is working towards his MBA at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Crute has served as the President of the Mystic Valley Area Branch of the NAACP since January 2017. The Mystic Valley Area Branch has served northern Boston suburban communities for over forty years in the fight to promote the social, economic, educational, and political equity for all. Additionally, Crute has served as an officer of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP since 2013. The New England Area Conference overseas all High School Chapters, College Chapters, and Adult NAACP Branches in the states of MA, RI, NH, VT, and ME. Crute is also a 2018 graduate of the NAACP NextGen Leadership Training Program.

Cynthia M Deitle, JD, LLM (she/her) joined the Civil Rights Team at Facebook as their Director, Associate General Counsel in March 2021. Deitle focuses on civil rights, specifically the intersection of law enforcement, hate crimes, investigations, and outreach. Prior to joining Facebook, she served as the Director of Civil Rights Reformat the Matthew Shepard Foundation for four years and led their national hate crime enforcement training program for law enforcement officers and prosecutors. In 2017, Deitle retired as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after serving for 22 years specializing in civil rights, particularly in the fields of hate crimes, police abuse and misconduct, community outreach, and victims’ rights. Following the events on September 11, 2001, Deitle volunteered to lead the FBI’s efforts to assist the families who were impacted by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.  In 2007, Deitle was promoted to a Supervisory Special Agent position in the Civil Rights Unit and was promoted again in 2008 to Chief of the Civil Rights Unit in the FBI. In this role, she managed the Hate Crimes, Color of Law, and Human Trafficking programs on a national level. She also devoted considerable time to managing the FBI’s Civil Rights Cold Case Initiative. In 2011, Deitle transferred to the Boston Division to supervise the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Programs in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.  After the 2015 Boston Marathon bombing, she volunteered to assist the families who lost loved ones in the attack.  She finished her career in the Knoxville Division where she spent time strengthening the Human Trafficking program.

Brett A. Parson retired from full-time, paid employment with the Metropolitan Police Department, in Washington, D.C in February 2020. He remains with the agency as a Reserve Police Officer (Part-Time). Brett currently works with agencies and organizations whose missions he believes are essential to improving Policing and society. With more than 25 years’ experience in local, state, and federal law enforcement, Brett Parson is an internationally recognized leader who has championed award-winning innovations in multiple areas, from programs to improve police service to underserved communities and protect victims of domestic violence, to ensuring essential services to the families of officers injured and killed in the line of duty. During his time with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), in Washington DC, Brett helped create groundbreaking programs that are recognized as models for other departments across the country and around the world. Most notably, Brett led the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU), which received the Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Innovations in Government Award, along with a $100,000.00 grant to help replicate the program. He then worked with department leadership to expand that approach to form the Special Liaison Branch (SLB), whose mission is to improve police service to a wide range of underserved communities: African, Asian, deaf and hard of hearing, faith-based, Latino, and LGBTQ+.  Brett also helped develop and supervised a model program for helping the survivors of officers injured or killed in the line of duty that goes above and beyond prior such efforts. MPD’s Family Support Team (FST) responds any time an active-duty or retired sworn or civilian member of the department becomes critically injured or ill, or dies (both line-of-duty and non-duty related). Brett is called upon to teach and consult for police departments, governments and NGOs across the nation and around the globe. Brett provides service to a wide range of other organizations with diverse interests and missions. His clients include the U.S. Holocaust Museum and Memorial, Anti-Defamation League, National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial and Museum, Concerns of Police Survivors, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Anti-Violence Coalition, Human Rights Campaign, Amnesty International and more.