By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A flood of criticism over public reaction to the Westport Library’s decision not to re-install the “River of Names” mosaic mural — loosely depicting scenes from Westport’s history — surfaced Thursday as TEAM Westport learned about a new initiative designed to promote civil discourse.

The criticism, somewhat ironically, was triggered as the town’s multicultural committee was informed about the library’s plan to launch the “Common Ground Initiative,” which aims to focus on “civil discourse around topical issues that we may not agree on.”

The discussion turned harshly critical of social media commenters spewing “vitriol and hatred” about the River of Names decision, according to several speakers at the meeting. Also faulted were organizations and officials who did not publicly support the groups “scapegoated” for the decision.

In December, the library’s board of trustees voted unanimously not to re-install the 26-foot-long, 6-foot-tall River of Names wall, created in 1997 and financed by donors. It was removed during the library’s transformation project in 2017-19, with the promise that it would be put back in place after the project was done.

However, library officials ultimately decided not to re-install the mural after consulting with several groups, including the Westport Museum for History and Culture, the town’s Arts Advisory Committee and TEAM Westport’s leader.

A primary reason cited for that decision was the wall’s “historical inaccuracies and the lack of representation,” according to the library trustees.

The trustees also said because of the wall’s weight and fragility, it cannot be rehung either inside or outside the remodeled library, and no other space in town has been found to install it.

The future of the mosaic wall, which has been in storage since its removal, remains in limbo.

“What I want to focus on is the incredible velocity of vitriol” on social media where organizations questioning the River of Names’ historical accuracy and value were characterized as conspiring “to destroy the mural,” Harold Bailey Jr., the TEAM Westport chairman, said at Thursday’s meeting.

“It becomes dangerous once it’s in the blogosphere … and completely unacceptable,” he said.

Bailey was praised by several speakers at Thursday’s meeting for expressing concerns about the mural’s historical information.

William Harmer, executive director of the Westport Library, and Ramin Ganeshram, executive director of the Westport Museum of History and Culture, also criticized the reaction to the River of Names decision.

“We now understand that factual historical events [depicted on the wall] were omitted and some are not a correct,” Harmer said. “It’s not appropriate to be displayed in a public library. Some scenes do not represent the Westport that we celebrate today.”

He, like Bailey, said that vicious comments posted on social media about the issue and “the polarization that exists in this culture,” prompted the library to sponsor the Common Ground Initiative in an effort to promote civil discussion of public issues, particularly those that provoke sharp differences of opinion. The initiative would include broad representation across the community, Harmer said.

Ganeshram said there were “two scapegoats” in the mural controversy — TEAM Westport and the history museum. “Other institutions in this town observed the vitriol [being posted online], but nothing was said.”

Andy Frankel, a relatively new member of TEAM Westport, disagreed about comments posted on social media. There was bipartisan opposition to some of the more critical comments, he said, “and there were a number of people who felt they didn’t really have a voice.”

First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said she supports plans for the Common Ground Initiative, and thanked town leaders working to improve communication between those with clashing opinions on the River of Names controversy and other issues.

“Thank you to the brave, courageous leaders in this room today and those who aren’t here,” she said. “It’s not easy being a leader today, to make decisions and taking risks on behalf of the organizations you lead.” 

In her position as first selectwoman, Tooker said she gets “vitriol” thrown at her “every day, and sometimes more than once a day.”

The initiative is “exactly what we need as a community — a community-wide step to address these issues … to interact with each other in a more respectful way.”

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and currently teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.