It was heartening to read about the commitment of our own Ledyard High School’s choral director, Melanie Cometa, in her battle to stand behind the 2021 Connecticut All-State Choir Virtual Recording Video project that she created, “Request to censor BLM imagery in high school video sparks nationwide outcry in choral world,” (Nov. 19). She chose to highlight the student voices singing songs from the Justice Choir Songbook with images of people from all backgrounds and cultures, including those exercising their legal right to protest peacefully. The result was an uplifting and inspiring work demonstrating the power of music and art to influence for the better.

How unfortunate that the President of the CMEA felt that the message was inappropriate and chose to withhold it until just recently. The recent resignation of Jason Bouchard and the CMEA’s public admission that they had made a mistake are a start. Let us all take the message of the video to heart and continue to “put one foot in front of the other and lead with love!”

Laurie Gwin

Ledyard