David Ryder Weber Obituary

We are sad to announce that on April 21, 2023, at the age of 79, David Ryder Weber (Exeter, New Hampshire), born in Greenwich Village, New York passed away. 

David Weber was a founding member of the Racial Unity Team. He will be dearly missed by many for his contribution to the work of racial diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging while active on the board of directors and on various committees within the organization. The Racial Unity Team joins together to extend our deepest sympathies to the Weber Family at this time.

David Ryder Weber, scholar and retiree from a long career teaching English at Phillips Exeter Academy in NH, died at home Friday evening, April 21st, from an apparent heart attack. He had spent the day pleasantly, having a leisurely brunch with a long-time friend, chatting with his wife of 58 years, Ilona, about it afterwards, then going out for his afternoon walk.

He was born in Greenwich Village, New York City, June 25, 1943, to Dorothy Davenport Ryder (Weber) Towey and Louis A. Weber. When he was 6, his stepfather became ill and the family returned to Connecticut, where he grew up in his grandfather’s large Victorian home in Danbury.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, class of 1965, he earned a master’s degree in English at Columbia, then transferred to Cornell to be out of the city and pursue doctoral studies. Deep immersion in anti-Vietnam War activities brought him to end his studies with another master’s degree, and take a position at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he taught for 47 years.

From his research at Cornell he compiled an anthology of American writings, titled Civil Disobedience in America, published in 1978. For a year prior to his death he had been researching the life and legacy of Thomas Paul, an African American minister who was born near Exeter in 1773. Paul became the first minister to lead the First African Baptist Church in America, now known as the African Meeting House and a National Historic Site. Weber hoped to increase understanding of African American culture in New England during the 1700s and 1800s through this research.

At Exeter, he and a colleague began a weekly Meditation series, and a writing program for students to learn the art of writing in a way that expressed and examined their own personal spiritual roots.

A man of expansive heart and deep dedication to social change, Weber spent years working with Marriage Equality in New Hampshire, which culminated in a legislative victory for same sex marriage in 2010.

He was deeply involved with Ryder Farm, one of the oldest organic family farms on the East Coast. The farm is located on the Ryder family homestead in Brewster, NY, with the original farm house from 1795 still maintained and used by family. Since 2011 the farm has housed an arts non-profit, SPACE, which offers residencies to playwrights, visual artists, and other innovators and activists.

He was also a two-term Trustee of Dartmouth College, a member for several years of the Exeter Police Community Advisory Committee, the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter, the Racial Unity Team of Exeter, the board of Exeter LitFest, the local Southeast Land Trust (SELT) Advisory Committee and he served many Phillips Exeter graduates as a primary reader and editor of their books, some of them well-known authors, some scholars in areas of social justice to which Weber was committed, and some writers of op-eds for leading papers.

A dedicated birder, Weber led bird walks for faculty and students each spring. He loved people deeply and lunched with a myriad of friends on a regular basis, to stay in touch with their pursuits in writing and climate justice, gender justice, and racial justice, and to share work of his own.

He leaves his wife of 58 years, Ilona (Wagner) Weber, a daughter Anya and her husband George Stericker, a half-brother and half-sister, Daniel and Rachel, innumerable cousins, dear friends from childhood, and a community of cherished colleagues and former students.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 2:00 PM at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter, 12 Elm St., Exeter, NH.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Southeast Land Trust (SELT) New Hampshire.  For more information visit https://www.echovita.com/us/obituaries/nh/exeter/david-ryder-weber-16309352 

EDUCATION MATTERS

The mission of the Racial Unity Team is “to advance relationships among people of different racial identities, increase understanding, and reduce racial bias in our communities.” Fostering a peaceful, loving, humanitarian view of the world is at the heart of our mission. Inherent in this is our focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) work within the public schools. 

What does that mean in the classroom? We live in a diverse, complex, and often inequitable world. In order to help students effectively understand that world, educators must be free and encouraged to guide them in a critical and comprehensive examination of our history. Our schools must not only allow, but also, inspire a careful, honest study of history and culture. 

The United States as a whole has much to be proud of, but where we find ourselves today makes it clear that the U.S. has never squarely faced the entirety of this history. While we have collectively and consistently highlighted remarkable achievements, such as developing the Bill of Rights and defeating the Axis powers during WWII, our society and its institutions have often chosen to value denial over historical accuracy, despite available evidence of historical facts. It has made that choice with respect to the causes of the Civil War, with the ways in which we frame the “discovery” and colonization of land, with how we choose to remember our Founding Fathers.

But who has traditionally had the power to decide what is included in our history and what is excluded? Our schools need a curriculum that ensures an inclusive and accurate history that is consistent with actual historical experience. Discomfort, guilt, even shame, may be a learner’s response to these historical facts, just as celebration and admiration may be responses to positive historical achievements. Both responses are legitimate in the process of becoming educated. And whatever their curricular choices, schools need to embrace and defend both intellectual honesty and respect for all available evidence. 

The Racial Unity Team supports educators in their efforts to address issues around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the classroom. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, teaching about our complex history. While sections of the “Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Workplaces and Education” (297-298, NH House Bill 2) do not prohibit this work, the narrative among conservative groups and in some of the mainstream media is that they do. Despite what is actually written in the law, the reality is that these provisions discourage the careful examination of historical and current discriminatory practices within our schools and society. 

What HB2 does prohibit is the teaching that any individual or group of individuals are inherently superior or inferior to people of another group. While this is not taught in our public schools, the prohibitions in HB2, alongside the inaccurate narrative perpetuated by those who wish to delegitimize public schools, have led to fear and confusion among educators about how and what they may teach, while encouraging complaints against them that jeopardize their licenses and careers. 

The Racial Unity Team expressly denounces the actions of those, including those at the State level, which have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among educators. In turn, teachers are responding by removing from their classrooms concepts and conversations that shed light on harmful historical policies and practices. This atmosphere creates a barrier to providing students with a school experience that reflects DEIJ principles as well as a full education for protected classes of people. 

We support efforts to reverse these legislative actions.

Ken Mendis, President, Racial Unity Team

The mission of the Racial Unity Team is “to advance relationships among people of different racial identities, increase understanding, and reduce racial bias in our communities.” Fostering a peaceful, loving, humanitarian view of the world is at the heart of our mission. Inherent in this is our focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) work within the public schools. 

What does that mean in the classroom? We live in a diverse, complex, and often inequitable world. In order to help students effectively understand that world, educators must be free and encouraged to guide them in a critical and comprehensive examination of our history. Our schools must not only allow, but also inspire a careful, honest study of history and culture. 

The United States as a whole has much to be proud of, but where we find ourselves today makes it clear that the U.S. has never squarely faced the entirety of its history. While we have collectively and consistently highlighted remarkable achievements, like developing the Bill of Rights and defeating the Axis powers during WWII, our society and its institutions have generally chosen to value denial over historical accuracy, despite available evidence. It has made that choice with respect to the causes of the Civil War, with the ways in which we frame the “discovery” and colonization of land, with how we choose to remember our Founding Fathers.

But who has traditionally had the power to decide what is included in our history vs what’s excluded? Our schools need a curriculum that ensures an inclusive, and accurate, history that is consistent with actual historical experience. Discomfort, guilt, even shame, may be a learner’s response to these historical facts, just as celebration and admiration may be responses to positive historical achievements. Both responses are legitimate in the process of becoming educated. And whatever their curricular choices, schools need to embrace and defend both intellectual honesty and respect for all available evidence. 

The Racial Unity Team supports educators in their efforts to address issues around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in their classrooms. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, teaching about our complex history. While Sections of the “Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Workplaces and Education” (297 – 298, NH House Bill 2)  do not prohibit this work, the narrative among conservative groups and in the mainstream media is that they do. Despite what is actually written in the law, however, the reality is that these provisions discourage the careful examination of historical and current discriminatory practices within our schools and society. 

What HB2 does prohibit is the teaching that any individual or group of individuals are inherently superior or inferior to people of another group. While this is not taught in our public schools, the prohibitions in HB2, alongside the inaccurate narrative perpetuated by those who wish to delegitimize public schools, have led to fear and confusion among educators about how and what they may teach, while encouraging complaints against them that jeopardize their licenses and careers. 

The Racial Unity Team expressly denounces the actions of those--including those working at the State level—who have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among teachers, who respond by removing concepts and conversations that may shed light on harmful historical policies and practices. This atmosphere creates a barrier to providing students with a school experience that reflects DEIJ principles as well as a full education for protected classes of people. We support efforts to reverse  these legislative actions.

Respectfully,

Ken Mendis

Chair, Board of Directors 

Racial Unity Team

George Floyd

 June 3, 2020

The horror of watching one black man’s life being choked off requires outrage. The violence and inhumanity that killed George Floyd, minute after minute, is the lens through which we see the terrible force of structural racism in our communities, our institutions and our nation.  Every screen shot is witness to its brutality in what appears to have become common occurrence today - contempt for the life of a person of color. 

The resulting fury — first locally, now nationally and internationally — expresses our collective grief in a moment of solidarity, but it also captures the essence of my anger and frustration and makes me ask what more can I do?

People of color, immigrants, Native Americans, people in prisons, the poor — the ones suffering and dying in greater numbers because of COVID-19 — bear the brunt of racial  inequity in this country. That is why I will get up tomorrow and for as long as I can to continue the work we began as part of the Racial Unity Team in New Hampshire. And we need your help more than ever.

It is past time for much larger numbers of white citizens to stand up for the multi-racial, equitable society the United States has claimed to be. More people need to understand the country's actual history, including its complexities and its terrible burdens of racist violence and exclusion. It is those blind to racial inequity who worry us the most and to whom we also need to reach out. The Racial Unity Team needs your support and involvement in this work.  Exeter needs your help, our teachers in our schools need your help, and more importantly our nation needs your help to raise up a generation of young people who are not only not racist but who are actively anti-racist.

For those of you with children and grandchildren,  I call on you to start that conversation about race with your young children so we have hope for the future of this country that we all love so much. 

Respectfully,

Ken Mendis

Chair, Board of Directors 

Racial Unity Team