This commentary is by Susan McCormack, a longtime Essex resident and co-founder of the Creative Discourse Group. She consults with municipalities, school districts and organizations around the state, including the Essex Westford School District, to support their equity efforts.
Our local Essex Westford School District is working to become an equitable, anti-racist organization. It has been a long, bumpy road that includes the kind of packed, high-emotion school board meetings that are happening all across the country right now, even in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Sept. 22, our school board held a meeting where it voted 6-3 to keep the Black Lives Matter flag flying, as requested by the district’s students.
I tuned into the live meeting from home and saw a room packed full of people, including students, educators and community members. There was a loud and angry feeling coming from parts of the crowd. School board members struggled to keep control of the meeting.
It was hard to listen to some of the people who got up to speak against the district’s work to support our Black and brown students. And then there was the moment that got me off the couch and on my way to the meeting.
A student — a young woman with glasses, brown skin and a scarf covering her hair — got up to speak. When she stood to approach the microphone during public comment, and before she had a chance to say a single word, the crowd began making loud, disapproving noises.
This is what racism looks and feels like. It shows up as a terrible, illogical combination of fear and anger towards the “other.” In my town, it landed on an innocent student who was about to exercise her right to speak.
So, how do we right this harm? I made my small effort by leaving my house, going to the meeting, and finding the young woman who somehow found the composure and courage to speak, even after the terrible behavior of the crowd. I sat next to her to be a physical presence, part of her community of support.
But this isn’t nearly enough. I should have spoken up to stand between her and that violence. White people need to actively oppose racism and hate.
The school board needs to do its part, too. It can be hard to stand up to the presence of that kind of hate in the moment. The school board needs to explicitly name the violent way racism showed up in our community.
Action could begin with a public acknowledgement of the harm that was caused. Not just to one student, but to the whole community of BIPOC students, educators and families.
And the harm doesn’t stop there. The same fear and ignorance that fuels racism leads to a mindset predisposed to bias against people with disabilities, low incomes, a range of sexual orientations and gender identities. The harm spreads further to students, educators and families who have loved ones who are impacted by racism and bias. And it spreads further still to erode the moral fiber of our community.
We cannot sweep this moment of hate under the rug. We need to boldly shine a light on what happened, so the people of our community, our region and our state have yet another opportunity to face the truth about ourselves. Hate and racism live here, too.
I would rather have stayed on the couch, safe at home, than put on a mask and go to the meeting that night. I am sure the school board members would rather put the meeting behind them. But now is the time to take a deep look at our reality and to act.
