Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Says Racism Must Be Addressed Head On: It's Time For All Leaders To Speak Up'
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner is calling on leaders everywhere to denounce racism now.
Scribner wrote a letter to the community in the wake of last Monday's death of George Floyd in Minneapolis when an officer had his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd was suspected of trying to use counterfeit money.
Scribner called on all leaders, including school district leaders, to make personal commitments to call out racism and said "to be silent is to be complicit.
Both Fort Worth and Dallas have instituted curfews due to protests devolving into vandalism and violence in recent days.
READ SCRIBNER'S FULL LETTER HERE
There are moments in history that demand change – in who we are and what we do.
This is one of those moments.
For the past week we have seen national outrage in our cities –including Fort Worth—as a very real response to the killing of George Floyd. But this moment didn't begin with what happened in Minneapolis. The anger, the raw emotions, and the great pain, are all the culmination of many, many events in our history in which we have seen African-American men and women repeatedly victimized. The protests of the past seven days are the result of centuries of marginalization of people of color and the fear with which they have lived all of their lives.
It is time for all leaders – and that includes school district leaders – to speak up.
Our responsibility is to children—all children – and to guarantee them the personal empowerment of education and to fight on their behalf for the respect and just treatment that they deserve.
That cannot happen without a shift in our priorities.
We must immediately resolve to denounce any form of racism and make a personal commitment to anti-racism.
To be silent is to be complicit.
When we see racism, we must address it head on.
When we hear words of prejudice, we must speak up against them.
When we learn of an act of intolerance, especially if it occurs on one of our campuses or in one of our classrooms, we must confront the situation and take action with urgency and unity.
Fort Worth ISD, with over 83,000 students and more than 11,000 employees, has the power and the duty to be part of the solution to dismantle institutional racism on behalf of the children we serve and the community in which we all live.
Despite our District's racial equity work –through policy and training and crucial conversations – it is time for us to admit that we must do more.
We all must do more.
It is time.