At the Feb. 7, 2022, the following statement from the Jamesville-DeWitt District Equity Council was read at the J-D Board of Education meeting:
We are a diverse group of stakeholders with a demonstrated commitment to, and record of work in, equity. We have been convened as part of the Jamesville-Dewitt School District’s Strategic Plan. Two purposes of this council are:
- To serve as advisors, providing input as the district makes key decisions around the tasks outlined in its strategic plan.
- To bring forth concerns so that the district can work with the larger J-D community to seek solutions.
It is in line with these two goals that we met last week for a robust conversation about the racist zoom attack on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. The council overwhelmingly supports making the following public statement:
Assistant Principal Candace Johnson has our full support. Ms. Johnson, along with the children and families who were impacted by this hateful act, require culturally competent support aimed at repairing the harm and restoring safety.
This is not the first or the only racist incident in Jamesville-Dewitt.
This is not the first or the only racist incident to be met with silence.
This is not the first or the only time families and students have asked for harm to be repaired.
The racist attack during the Zoom is not shocking to many of us. It is an obvious and very public example of the dehumanizing microaggressions and blatant racism that our students, staff and families of color experience—in school buildings and at school functions—every day. The silence in response to such attacks needs to be addressed. We stand united in support of Ms. Johnson and every student, caregiver and staff who have been impacted by racist attacks and the silence they have been met with.
There is a long history of racism here in Jamesville-Dewitt. We need to acknowledge our history, to talk about it, to teach it to our students and work to change our culture. We no longer want to be a community that accepts or remains silent when the n-word and other derogatory language is aimed at historically marginalized groups or anyone.
As advisors, we are telling you that we need culturally competent support for students and staff, and we need it available now. We ask the district to immediately hire a team of counselors who look like our Black and brown students. We need a visible presence of professionals in our schools who are racially literate and equipped to deal with racial trauma. We also ask for more diverse hiring and intensive efforts to retain staff of color.
We ask the administration and the board to acknowledge our past, acknowledge our current climate and to reflect on whether you only profess a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion or whether your actions match your words. Occasionally, our children are given a lesson about being an upstander instead of a bystander. We need to be ready when an opportunity comes along for us to model this behavior for our children. All of us need to be prepared at any time to do the uncomfortable thing, do the brave thing, to stand up and to speak out. Ms. Johnson should never have been left standing alone or in silence.
In our schools, in our houses, in our district: We must disrupt it if we witness cruel or dehumanizing language or behavior, we must speak out against an injustice, especially injustice against someone from any historically marginalized group. When we see bullying, we must name it, calling it what it is; we condemn it, and in the same moment we turn to the person who was attacked and we embrace them, defend them and stand alongside them.
Naming the harm and recognizing the complicity of silence matters, and it has to matter in every instance. Every time the n-word is hurled in the halls of the high school or the middle school, there is a person—a child—who is harmed. Every time an elementary student notices that they are disciplined more than their white peers, a child is harmed. Every time a family leaves the district because their request for help addressing these incidents is met with silence, we all lose. This is J-D. And it doesn’t have to be. We as a community can work to heal division and repair harm with honest and brave efforts—actions that match our words in a lived commitment to equity.
As advisors we ask the board to take the following five actions:
- Recognize that the attack on Candace Johnson on Jan. 31 was not a unique or isolated event, the racist undercurrents of our society are present today and have a long history in the J-D community.
- Encourage a culture that teaches the past, recognizes bias, learns from mistakes and prioritizes a safe community for ALL.
- Take immediate action towards putting supports into place for vulnerable groups, both students and staff, such as support groups and counselors whose demographics and lived experience match those of the population they serve.
- Evaluate current hiring practices and prioritize the hiring and retention of diverse staff, especially staff of color. Make cultural competency a requirement for employment.
- Evaluate our Five-Year Strategic Plan’s equity goals and ensure that they are properly prioritized and fully resourced.