he new Monticello bicentennial journal -- now available in stores -- is technically well produced and written, but disappointing. While historian John Conway deserves credit for his original narratives, village officials with final say over the book's overall content seem to have reduced it to a promotional for local good ol' boys.

We would have liked to have seen more on the role people of color have played in building Monticello. The only black faces we see in all 112-pages are those of Chubby Checkers who once visited, and an anonymous father and son in a Hudson Health Plan ad. One bank ad features the face of an unnamed Asian woman. That's it. Where are the Blacks, both slaves and free, and the Latinos, Asians, and others who forged Monticello? Our current village officials have rendered them invisible.

The 1810 federal census of the Town of Thompson (schedules of which are available at ancestry.com) counted 701 "free white males", 589 "free white females", three people listed as "all other persons", and seven more categorized as slaves. Slaves were unnamed since the government at that time viewed them as sub-human. They were owned by men named Terwilliger, Goodrich, Baronton, Schoonmaker, and Foot. It seems safe to believe the slaves and other Blacks who helped pioneer Monticello did as much or more of the actual labor involved in creating the infrastructure than most of those who are featured prominently. Why are the stories of these early hardy souls not told? Even the fact that the first and only and African-American judge in the history of Sullivan County, the Hon. Josephine V. Finn, presently sits in Monticello justice court could have been noted, but wasn't.

Monticello's diversity is a fact to be celebrated, not hidden or ignored. Latino activities - dances, parades, etc. - are left out. Even the so-called “team photo” of the organizing committee fails to include any Black or Latino faces whose names are appear on the title page as members. Why weren’t they invited to the picture? (The undersigned Carmen Rue knows this as she serves on the Bicentennial Committee and was not informed a group photo was being taken. Who else was not notified?)

Besides marginalizing ethnic minorities, Republican office-holders are minimized while Democrats of lesser rank and accomplishment are given prominence. Are we to believe that Gov. Pataki refused to write a congratulatory note to the village while such were evidently sought out from politicians of the opposing party?

The Village Manager, Mayor and the Democrat-controlled Village Board missed an opportunity to honor the rainbow that is Monticello, both past and present. Overall, we find the journal a worth-while purchase for anyone interested in local history, but sadly incomplete. The history of our community belongs to all of its residents, not just the elite.

Village residents willing to “speak truth to power” should join in urging less exclusivity in this fall’s bicentennial activities than this booklet would appear to forebode.

The above was published during September 2004 in The Sullivan County Democrat,
The River Reporter, The Towne Crier, and The Times Herald-Record,
signed by Tom Rue and Carmen Hernandez Rue of Monticello.