2022-05-16 - MPS Board Meeting Renita (Board View)

Good evening. This is my 8th consecutive month to speak and 11th month of attending meetings. There are very few in this room, on this Board or in the Administration that know anything about me. I want to share a little bit about my background.

I grew up in Grand Blanc MI. It was basically an all white district until I got to the 7th grade in 1973. That was when Bill became the first black student in the district. He was in my math class and the two of us worked together, as we were in a more advance section. He was a person, someone I viewed as an equal, not as a color. I treated him like any other student around me in school. By the time I graduated, there were many more blacks in the district, but still a small percentage.

I moved on after graduation to IN, OH and Nashville, TN, before moving back to the Grand Blanc/Flint area. In 2005 my family and high school children attended an all black church in downtown Flint. We were the only white family in the church for nine months. During that time I made friends with many wonderful women and men. I would meet with them and we learned about each other. I heard many stories of their past in the deep south in Mississippi. There was no attempt to blame the other because of our histories, rather we developed a deep compassion and love for one another. This church then merged with a predominately white church. Without those walls being broken down and a time of learning about each other, that would likely not have happened so smoothly. I also worked at the Flint Farmer’s Market for six years with a very diverse cultural setting and interacting with thousands of people a year.

When I moved to Midland 10 years ago, I found this to be a very homogenous community. It felt so strange to not see the diversity I had always had around me. There has been some change in the past 10 years, but not very diverse from my perspective. I say all this to let you know that many advances can be made in helping the children learn and grow, without these forced programs and agendas.

Why is it really necessary for a student to have a teacher of their color to know they can succeed? Is it not possible to have speakers of their color from the community come in to speak to the ability to be successful in a wide variety of careers? Can they not learn through books, movies, field trips and other activities? There is obviously a shortage of qualified teachers in all ethnicities, but especially minorities. As was mentioned last month, are we forced to take someone solely on the color of their skin and not their qualifications?

I hope this helps you understand why I do not like the agendas to divide the parents, teachers and community, while the children are the ones paying the price along the way. We want to help children learn to become achievers, not victims of society or their past. Let’s do our part in the schools to help them succeed. We can do much better and should. Thank you.