When I read Saturday’s (Daily Item, June 13) paper, I was very disappointed to read John Ford’s comments from the Lynn School Committee meeting that passed the Black Lives Matter resolution. I applaud committee members Michael Satterwhite and Jared Nicholson for explaining why it’s important to explicitly profess Black Lives Matter as opposed to “all lives.”
While I can understand Ford’s sentiment that we do have a very diverse school system, I would have hoped that a steward of this school system would be adequately informed about national events to understand that saying Black Lives Matter is an attestation in direct response to violence and racism against black people.
His insinuation that it’s exclusionary and that “all lives matter” is better because it’s “inclusive” shows a grave lack of awareness about current events and the discourse surrounding Black Lives Matter. As his colleagues pointed out, “all lives matter” has become a rebuttal used by those wishing to silence people speaking out against racism against black people; how Ford could not be aware of that, while serving as a decision maker for a school system that is only 14 percent white, according to Department of Education statistics, concerns me.
Making matters worse, Ford’s resulting comment about having a black grandson shows a further lack of awareness. Proximity to a black person who you love is not some sort of totem that wards off any racist thoughts; white people have a duty to acknowledge that all of us have biases and we must educate ourselves in order to work against them.
I would have hoped a steward of our education system would know that.
Marysa Yvonne Angelli
Lynn
