Mayor Katjana Ballantyne stands in opposition to all forms of hate
Mayor Katjana Ballantyne stands in opposition to all forms of hate, including xenophobia, antisemitism, and Islamophobia, as she always has done. She has always been against all war. As the child of parents who struggled to survive World War Two, she was raised with the awareness of their loss of family and friends, their forced displacement, their starvation, and their lost homes. She understands. She has believed that when anyone is abused for their religion, race, or ethnicity, then we all suffer.
Further, she has acknowledged the deep feelings of anger and sorrow concerning the devastating and senseless loss of innocent men, women, and children in conflicts worldwide, particularly in places like Gaza.
She has also made her belief known that neither America nor Somerville should have Thought Police who grab students – citizens or not – off the streets for daring to share an opinion. That is why she has stood for freedom of speech and has sued the Trump administration, and that’s why she joined our state delegation in calling for Rumeysa Ozturk’s release, while she organized local officials to join us in that demand for justice and the rule of law.
Click this link to read her statement: https://www.somervillema.gov/news/statement-2024-presidential-election-…
Her administration has offered clear-eyed support for immigrants, like legal referrals and help filling out guardianship papers. Those papers are needed in case parents are taken. That’s heart-wrenching work. She did not wait until Trump’s inauguration to start this work. Her administration has provided Know-Your-Rights training that began within a few weeks after the 2024 election. Since December, they have delivered over 130 training sessions and also trained other communities to deliver KYR training. She has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging the executive orders which illegally violate the Constitution to claw back resources granted to Somerville and require our Police to be immigration enforcers, and more. She has worked to uphold the rule of law because law separates a free society from tyranny. She will not fold, and she will not allow unconstitutional actions to go unchallenged.
Please click to read details: https://www.somervillema.gov/news/massachusetts-sanctuary-cities-sue-st…
She will continue to do everything that we can to protect the rights of all of us, including all immigrants being threatened, detained, or wrongfully labeled as criminals. She will never forget that the loss of rights for some is what paves the way for the trampling of rights of everyone.
Mayor Katjana Ballantyne is focused on making Somerville a city where we can all thrive together.
