Emotions Ran High at Spokane NAACP Town Hall Addressing Racism in Public Schools

Emotions Ran High at Spokane NAACP Town Hall Addressing Racism in Public Schools

News Story by Cassy Benefield | FāVS News

On Wednesday evening the Spokane NAACP put on a Town Hall meeting in lieu of their monthly general meeting to discuss “Addressing Racial Incidents in Our Schools.”

The meeting came in response to what the NAACP called a recent “Racially Insensitive Program” in a March 4 statement.

The program they were addressing was Wilson Elementary School’s “We Haz Jazz!” The flier for this fourth and fifth grade upcoming music event came out on March 1 in Wilson’s weekly newsletter.

It began with text inviting families of students to “Take a trip from today, way back to the times of slavery in America. We will discover how America’s own music, Jazz grew in our country.”

As part of the program students were invited to dress “as slaves [or] hobos.” The NAACP compared this language to minstrel acts where white actors with blackened faces provided comic routines based on stereotyped depictions of African Americans.

“This type of entertainment is deplorable, unacceptable, and demeaning to African Americans, but especially to our youth,” the statement read.

Wednesday’s Town Hall included more dialogue on the issues and addressed what students and teachers of color go through in Spokane’s public school system when incidents like this happen.

April Eberhardt, NAACP’s education and committee chair, introduced five BIPOC panelists. They represented educators from District 81 and Eastern Washington University to a high school student and staff from Washington Education Association.

She also shared the purpose of the evening.

“We want to create this space tonight because we’re tired of looking at headlines in the news that alarm us. We want to hear from those of us who are in the building,” Eberhardt said.

The Panel Discussion

The first hour of the discussion consisted of questions asked of the panelists with NAACP President Lisa Gardner moderating.

The panelists were asked questions that did not address the Wilson Elementary School incident. Instead, they explored themes of empowering students and their parents to call out the racism they experience in schools among other topics.

For example, one question asked if diversity training was working.

“Seemingly, each year, we have some form of racial incident: micro aggression, insensitivity, or purely racism, and each time we hear that, there will be training. Is training enough anymore?”

Scott Finnie, senior professor in EWU Africana Studies, said that what’s needed is not more training.

“I think the first thing is to admit something’s really wrong. And to have that voice, to have that put out in a public statement. And I think that is the beginning of it,” Finnie said. “After that, I think we have to look at what is systemically broken … and no more talking about training. But first, let’s all admit, especially from the top down, that there is something seriously broken.”

Public Comment and Q&A

Then the meeting opened up to public comment and Q&A, and that’s when Wilson’s music program and its racially insensitive language took center stage for the next hour.

It became intense after Wilson school parent Mike Dix stood up and read a written statement he prepared for the Town Hall. He started by saying as a representative of the community, “We are sorry for the issue. It was a mistake. Using inappropriate words in a music flyer and Wilson weekly newsletter.”

“I know the Wilson community is compassionate, open and never intended to cause anyone harm,” Dix said. “I feel this issue was blown out of proportion.”

He then corrected that comment, saying maybe the issue wasn’t blown out of proportion, at least the results were. He referred to the removal of Wilson music teacher Tamera Knapp.

“In no way should music teacher Miss Knapp be punished so harshly and removed from her position as music teacher at Wilson, where she has taught for 20 plus years,” he said, arguing that she should be given her position back.

The reaction to his comment that she should be given her job back came swiftly and passionately. Several in the audience who disagreed responded with “Absolutely not” and “No.”

A High School Student’s Perspective

Alicia Jenkins, a senior at Mead High School, addressed Dix and members in the audience who responded to him next.

“I do believe that the position your school district took in removing that teacher was correct. I do believe that I do not believe that she should be allowed back into that position. And I understand why you don’t have that position,” Jenkins said. “But I feel like there should be a space in where we are looking to educate and not belittle people for having those things because like realistically you do not have education.”

She added that she understood Dix’s point that people make mistakes. However, she said when those mistakes hurt people action needs to be taken.

“I get it’s hard for some people, they respect the work they’ve done over the last 20 years. They respect them as a person, but you have to be willing if you love and care about that person to let them know when they’re wrong,” Jenkins said.

Others also weighed in on Dix’s comments. Finnie from the panel told Dix that what the NAACP and many in the audience were trying to get across was that what the Wilson program’s text was by itself was an “episodic tragedy. But underlying it was a systemic cancer.”

He explained to Dix that the differences between how he, Finnie, saw it as a Black man, and how Dix saw it as a white man could also be explained by understanding the difference between a tree and a forest.

“What we’re saying is there’s a forest, not just this one tree. We need to see the forest and it’s systemic, and it’s cancers,” Finnie said. “The forest has a problem, not just that one tree.”

The Next Conversation

Gardner announced the NAACP plans to continue this conversation with Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Adam Swinyard when they restart their video series “Challenging the Narrative” at a still-to-be-determined date. Follow their Facebook page for that announcement.