The roots of racial tensions like the ones that surfaced after the March 6 incident at Everett High School are often deep and always complex. One common thread in such cases is a lack of trust. Without trust, acceptance and understanding fall victim to suspicion and isolation.
In our increasingly diverse community, the latter must be rejected.
So if there is one goal that school officials, elected and community leaders, parents and students should have in common, it is to build trust in each other. And the place to start is with each individual beginning to build trustworthiness.
That’s much easier said than done, to be sure. But it’s hardly an unreachable goal, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. This is, after all, about the success of our community’s children, of our community’s future.
Happily, there is momentum to build on. Just last year, two separate efforts to identify challenges in race relations and propose solutions – one by the grassroots Communities of Color Coalition, the other by the Everett Mayor’s Advisory Council on Diversity – issued strikingly similar recommendations. Wednesday’s successful Diversity Business Expo was an early result of those endeavors.
An investigation of the climate at Everett High School was conducted last year by Marilyn Walton, assistant to the superintendent for equity and diversity programs in the Tacoma School District. In her report, Walton said she found no discrimination but said school leaders should do more to address cultural differences. The school has followed up on many of Walton’s specific recommendations.
Some minority parents and leaders, however, don’t think school officials have done enough. And some school officials are understandably frustrated that some of their efforts have been rebuffed or ignored. Trust is clearly not in abundance.
Leadership is needed to begin turning that around. Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, whose has earned credibility and trust through his earnest work to improve race relations, is willing to work with school district officials and minority leaders and parents to find solutions. They should take him up on it.
Parents need to get involved in their children’s education. Carlos Veliz, a mentor to several Hispanic students at Everett High School, noted on this page Friday that when parents volunteer their time on campus, they become better teachers to their own children. The district has tried to improve communication with parents who don’t speak English, but it may need to take more extraordinary steps to reach out. When they do, parents need to respond positively, setting an appropriate example for their kids.
The challenges presented by increasing diversity can be turned into strengths, but only if all involved take a share of the responsibility. Resolve to build trust by being trustworthy. Listen to each other. Avoid pointing fingers. If something doesn’t work, figure out why, adjust and try again.
If school officials, parents, students and community leaders will take individual responsibility for doing their part to make things better, the results might amaze us.
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