Letter to the Editor

TO THE EDITOR:

Systemic racism is real and it’s not only a national problem, or a state problem. It is a local problem. We must ask ourselves what we as a town will do after this moment of protest passes. One thing the town can do is combat racism in the schools.

It is time for our schools to teach anti-racism and introduce appropriate materials to the K-12 curriculum. Whether it’s including resources from The Conscious Kid, an education, research and policy organization dedicated to reducing bias and promoting positive identity development in youth, or making Ibram X. Kendi’s book “How to Be an Anti-Racist” and Robin DiAngelo’s book “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” required reading.

Additionally, it’s essential our schools actively recruit and hire teachers of color. Teachers of color represent less than 20 percent of the teaching population nationwide and black teachers are only about 7 percent of that. Weston should strive to meet or exceed the national average.

To become a town that is committed to fighting racism means to become a town that not only says we have zero tolerance for racism, but zero tolerance for inaction when racist incidents arise.

— Cathryn Saldinger

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