Anti-racism coalition calls on school district to do more than tweak its policies

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    BURLINGTON, Wis. (The Journal Times) — “We will be heard,” Darnisha Garbade, president of the Burlington Coalition for Dismantling Racism, said before leading a car caravan through Burlington on Monday afternoon.

Hours later, the Burlington Area School District Board of Education was scheduled to vote on adding eight sentences regarding anti-racism to its existing anti-harassment policy, a step that anti-racism advocates say does not go far enough. That School Board vote was scheduled to be held, after The Journal Times went to press, in a virtual meeting without public comment.

In April, the BCDR compiled an eight-page anti-racism policy it wanted the school district to adopt. The eight sentences to be voted on Monday and added to the school district’s already existing 10-page anti-harassment policy were picked out of BCDR’s proposal.

The policy, as it appears in the school district’s code, would also be renamed to reflect both anti-harassment and anti-racism.

“That is not an anti-racism policy,” said Garbade, who is African American. “We need to see the district adopt an actual anti-racism policy.”

Garbade, along with her supporters and other members of BCDR, were upset that BASD did not meet with advocates in drafting the proposed changes to school district policies.

“We represent the voice of students of color in the Burlington community. We are the only racial justice organization here … we need to be included,” Garbade said.

“They (the school district) said they wanted to partner with the coalition and basically completely not follow through,” added BCDR member Erin Ramczyk.

Ramczyk, who is white, attended Monday’s demonstration carrying a sign that said “Less equity websites and more equity,” calling into question the lengths the school district has gone to address racism in its schools.

“It’s been more for show than the real deal,” Ramczyk said of BASD’s efforts. She pointed out that the proposed policy addition “doesn’t cover any training for staff, for example, or detailed repercussions for racist acts.”

According to public data, 81% of students in BASD are white, 14% are Hispanic, 3% are of mixed backgrounds, 1% are Black and 1% are Asian.

Caravan
The reason the caravan went past the homes of School Board members, with horns honking and voices raised, was an attempt to make sure their voices aren’t ignored, Garbade said.

“We have a right to be heard. Our children need us not to remain silent or to be silenced by anyone. And the fact that the school district would do such a thing (referring to not including the public in its virtual meeting) just shows the complacency that’s happening,” Garbade said.

The last time the School Board met in person, an hour of public comment was held before the meeting was shut down by anti-racism demonstrators, upset that the board didn’t take up their demands immediately.

Another view
Robert Jensen, a Burlington resident who has expressed opposition to the Burlington Coalition to Dismantle Racism, said he and others in the community do not object to seeing more taught in the schools about the history of racism. Jensen, however, said he objects to seeing rules or curriculum dictated by demonstrators who show support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which he regards as a political movement with a biased agenda.

Jensen said the current local coalition seems to be depicting Burlington as a community where everyone is racist, rather than just a few bad apples.

“I know my neighbors. I know my community,” he said. “We are not a racist community.”

To claims like that, Preston Allred, a Burlington High School graduate and member of BCDR, said that he was often held to a higher standard than his white classmates. On Monday, Allred talked about how on several occasions teachers within BASD held him to “a higher standard” and called on him to “be a better person” after white students directed racist remarks and slurs at Allred, who is Hispanic.

Jensen said he doubted that there would be an organized counter-protest against Burlington’s anti-racism coalition because those on the other side of the issue, he claimed, are not organized like the Black Lives Matter movement seems to be.

Jensen recalled growing up in the area in the 1970s and once being disciplined at school for using the N-word toward another student. He said he was unaware of the word’s true meaning at the time.

“It was a teachable moment,” he said. “And that’s what these things should be.”

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