From: Adam Reuter, Ann Herron, Chris Kevitt, Cindy Allen Stuckey, Jennifer Schall, Kathleen Leason, Lesley Reuter, Linda Iwamuro, Liz Nolan Greven, Melissa Rittenhouse
Columbus
We, the Racial Justice Team of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus, Indiana (UUCCI), are writing in response to a recent letter opposing a new mentoring program developed through collaboration between the local NAACP and the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC).
The writer characterizes the creation of this new program as racial discrimination against white students, saying that “racial discrimination swings both ways."
He fails to realize that treating two groups of people differently does not automatically create discrimination.
BCSC’s main goal should not be EQUALITY for every student; it should be EQUITY for every student.
The concept of equity understands that people have different circumstances and customizes the allocation of resources according to those circumstances, as opposed to equality which just gives everyone the same resources.
If there were no individual differences in students or groups of students, school corporations could offer the same programming to all students. That would mean that many school groups would no longer exist. For example, there would be no advanced placement programs or special education programs.
Suppose all your beautiful flowers were in the same garden spot, getting the same amount of sunshine and water. Many of them would die. Instead, you treat them differently, planting some in sun, and others in shade, doing what is appropriate for each. Yet, in the end, they may very well all end up in the same vase, their diversity only adding to the beauty of the bouquet.
Not all students are the same or come from the same circumstances. We are each a complex combination of our abilities and experiences, and that includes our heritage and our culture.
We should not expect BCSC to treat each child equally, but to turn each child into a productive member of society, which is good for the child and for the community.
While there are mountains of data which disprove the letter writer’s egregiously false claim that “the USA is no longer a racist country and Columbus is no longer a racist community,” that claim is also immaterial to the main thrust of his argument.
The question is not whether racism exists here, what matters is that BCSC has identified a population of students that will benefit from particular resources, so it has partnered with an organization offering to provide them.
As residents of this community, we know that it is in our best interest for every student to be given the tools they need to succeed.
Investing in our youth is the best way to ensure that our community will be prosperous, innovative, and safe well into the future.
We applaud BCSC’s ongoing efforts to that end.
