Durham Racial Equity Task Force Response To Sen. Berger’s Efforts To Incite A Moral Panic
City of Durham Racial Equity Task Force stands strong in its commitment to create an anti-racist society and condemns those who would thwart anti-racism efforts.
DURHAM, NC – A year and a half of a global pandemic has continued to bring immense suffering, and it has further exposed the deep racial inequities in our society. We are now confronted with a national moral panic over whether white people are being discriminated against or indoctrinated by anti-racist efforts. The Durham Racial Equity Taskforce (RETF) spent nearly two years researching and speaking with community members to gain a deeper understanding of the profound, long-lasting problems facing them. Subsequently, RETF suggested programs and policies to address these problems. We strongly rebuke the reaction to this work from some of the people who are supposed to be representing us in our democracy but instead choose to use their power to condemn anti-racism during a pandemic where there is so much work to be done.
This year did have the advantage of reopening a needed discussion about race and racism in the US. Rather than contributing to this important discussion, select individuals in and outside of the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) have worked to incite a moral panic. The chaos that has ensued was supposedly in the name of opposing indoctrination in the public schools, yet those same individuals are unable to cite any substantial examples, putting aside Senator Berger’s complaints that Mecklenberg County urges its students to be “actively anti-racist.”
We can easily see there is no substance to their dogma, but we can’t ignore the danger of their inflammatory political maneuvers. In fact, the efforts to dismantle equity in the classroom go against the very principles of democratic schooling they purport to represent.
What is wrong with working toward an antiracist society where everyone thrives? As we endeavor to set the record straight, the point of the RETF report is to confront the problems people are facing and to change them for the better. Working to create better outcomes for our neighbors means dismantling dehumanizing systems. We will continue to be an advocate on behalf of many who are suffering and we are clear that all of us need to stand up for our communities, especially when they are under attack.
The point of the Durham City RETF was not to berate or indoctrinate, but to demonstrate that neither the legal victories of the civil rights movement nor the election of a Black President ended racism; instead, racism continues to be steeped in our institutions. The actions of some of our leaders only prove our point. Our task force report offered multiple policy and programmatic ideas that we hope can be a guide to cities and counties all over our state. We wrote it as a love letter, and– even as hate and violence masquerading as press conferences and house bills– we believe this is the way forward. We see their zeal to ban thought they disapprove of in the name of protecting their power, but we are neither deterred nor distracted, and we stand strong in our community and its needs. We believe in a future where racial disparities are not inevitable, but we are not there yet – and we must listen to our community to get there.
Statement was co-authored by Durham Racial Equity Task Force members:
Elaine O’Neal, Chair
Kaaren Haldeman, Vice Chair
Members are Vanessa J. Hines, Daniel R. McKinney, James Tabron, Jessica C. Luginbuhl, David H. Dixon, Katie J. Mgongolwa, Tia M. Hall, Cecilia S. Polanco, Cory H. Hogans, Emily S. Coward, Jovonia Lewis, Jamal E.Moss, Howard N. Machtinger, Ana S. Nunez, and Cameron L. Smith.
Feature photo image: courtesy of ABC11