BELCHERTOWN — Two weeks since a Puerto Rican-owned business in Belchertown received a racist letter, government leaders and community members have flooded the business with messages of solidarity.
“Customers are coming and supporting the business, supporting my family and the guys. The whole town has been very supportive,” Gil’s Auto Repair & Performance Inc. co-owner Gilberto Rivas said on Tuesday. “It’s overwhelming.”
Rivas relocated his business from Amherst to 1317 Federal St. in late January. During the first week in the new location, staff members found a one-page note full of bigoted language toward the auto garage and its owners, Rivas and his wife Zulimar Despiau. The letter ends with a threat to leave town or face a potential visit from the authors.
Since then, the Belchertown Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force and Amherst’s Community Safety and Social Justice Committee have issued separate statements denouncing racial discrimination in town. Residents also have made similar affirmations, as well as sent goods and scheduled appointments to have their vehicles serviced at the auto shop.
Rivas said he has received calls from New York, Connecticut and Boston checking on him and his family.
But while the outpouring of support has been great, Despiau said, she cannot forget there are people in town who do not want her family’s business.
“It feels great having all this support, but it’s still a broken system. There’s still some people that don’t feel comfortable with us being there, and that’s something that we cannot ignore,” she said. “We just have to fight and stand firm and let them see the services we will provide.”
As of Friday, Feb. 13, the hate crime against Gil’s Auto remains under investigation by the Belchertown Police Department. Despiau told the Gazette that neighboring businesses have offered their security footage for police to analyze.
Police Chief Kevin Pacunas said incidents such as these are uncommon in Belchertown.
“I’m just hoping they catch him,” Rivas said.
Declarations against discrimination
Not long after the incident, Belchertown’s leaders asked members of the town’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force to issue a statement after the hateful act and the “fraught” reactions to the closure of Masa Mexicano, DEI Task Force Chair Justine Dymond said. The Mexican restaurant closed its Belchertown location at 5 N. Main St. on Jan. 26, some 10 months after opening, reportedly due to a neighbor’s alleged behavior and a lawsuit over noise and light issues.
The three-paragraph message from Belchertown’s task force declares the group’s mission to create mutual respect and fairness in town through advocacy, education and collective action.
“Discrimination undermines the dignity of individuals, harms families and businesses, and weakens the fabric of our community,” the statement reads. “We believe that all residents and business owners deserve to operate and participate in our community free from harassment, bias, and hate.”
In addition to addressing the unease, Dymond said the statement asserts the DEI Task Force as a resource for residents and businesses to report concerns of inequity and discrimination.
“Part of its mission is to cultivate a welcoming and inclusive community,” Dymond said. “It seems appropriate for the Task Force to make a public statement about something that’s causing a lot of angst at home. I think it’s important no matter who we are, to speak up when we experience or observe discrimination and hate.”
The Amherst’s Community Safety and Social Justice Committee adopted a similar statement during its Feb. 11 meeting. The statement is also expected to be approved by the Amherst Human Rights Commission on Feb. 18. Prior to moving to Belchertown, Gil’s Auto Repair was located in Amherst for 20 years.
“We acknowledge this is a hate crime and a violation of the human rights of the owners and staff members at Gil’s,” a statement adopted by the committee on Feb. 11 reads. “To the owners and their staff, we extend our support as neighbors, customers and friends.”
In the community
When word about the hate letter at Gil’s spread, a group of Pelham neighbors and friends felt both citizens and public officials should decry the hateful act. In a letter to the Gazette, Ralph Faulkingham, Gayle Barton, Judy Eiseman, Abbie Jenks, Bruce Laurie, Anne Nugent, and Richard Seelig expressed the importance of denouncing racist acts “to create and nurture a climate where anyone, no matter their identity, can live and operate a business without fear and in peace.”
Faulkingham said the group met with Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown, during his office hours prior to writing the letter and learned he had already reached out to Rivas and the Belchertown Police. However, the Pelham group opted to take a more public route because “racism survives when it’s not confronted.”
“Our concern was more that we need to be clear that this racism is not welcome,” he said.
Saunders and Sen. Jake Oliveira, D-Ludlow, confirmed they visited Despiau and Rivas after the racist threat. After reaching out to Pacunas, Saunders said in a statement he feels confident that law enforcement will decipher the facts and bring justice. In a statement, Oliveira said he stands with the owners and employees of Gil’s Auto Repair, as well as “every resident and every neighbor who has ever been told they do not belong.”
“I am particularly proud to see so many of our community members stand up to denounce hate and make their voices heard,” Saunders said in the statement.
Pat Ononibaku, president of the Black Business Association of the Amherst Area, said this is not the first time an act of racial intimidation has occurred in the area. As a family friend and frequent customer of Gil’s Auto for her transportation business BakuCare Transport, Ononibaku immediately called Rivas once she heard the news. She called the racist act “unfortunate,” but added that the staff is “strong” and will remain.
Racism in the Pioneer Valley is not limited to individuals, but rather is systemic throughout the nation, Ononibaku said. For instance, BBAA has existed for nearly a decade, but Amherst has only recently added the BBAA to the town website. If Belchertown aims to make the town more welcoming for businesses owned by Black people, Indigenous people and people of color, Ononibaku encourages the town to invite the BBAA to the table as officials did with the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce.
“BBAA cannot be an afterthought,” Ononibaku said. “The BBAA members contribute to the economic vitality of the town, and we should be treated equally with other business organizations.”
Despite the threat included in the letter, Despiau told the Gazette last week the business would remain in Belchertown. She echoed Ononibaku’s concern about systemic racism in the area.
“I’m not saying that they’re OK with the letter, but there are still people that don’t want us there,” she said. “We didn’t know that it was going to be like this.”
