In normal times, June would herald the beginning of our summer class schedule at Southwestern College while we reveled in the memory of our latest commencement ceremony.
As we all know, these are not normal times.
In addition to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional and financial well-being of our community, we are seeing the painful impact of institutional racism, injustice and inequality.
While heartened that our young adults are taking a lead in trying to create awareness and change through peaceful protests in cities across our county, criminal elements steal the message of dehumanization through their acts of senseless violence and opportunism.
We grieve for the frustration our African American/Black brothers and sisters have felt and continue to feel. In small or large ways we each need to embrace the passion of an equitable society that values and celebrates our differences.
As members of this community’s institution of higher learning, we cannot stand by idly. Attending college allows students to explore ideas and opinions that are different than their own. That can be very uncomfortable. At Southwestern, we are working to model the behavior and change we want to see in the world. Over the last five years, our Governing Board, faculty, staff and administrators have worked intentionally to address the hidden bias each of us has. As the regional trainer for many of our community’s first responders–including a police academy–we know the critical role we play in ensuring our curriculum and practicum embraces de-escalation tactics, compassion and understanding. Those classes are just a small percentage of those that we offer, however. We must continue focusing on our diverse student population and ensuring all feel included at Southwestern.
As a society, we have seen attacks on Muslims, Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian, LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized populations. If we are ever going to build a more civil and understanding society, we must recognize that each of us has a role in lending our voices and actions to confront systems and processes that have been constructed to hold certain people down. We must use any privileges we possess to protect one another and stand in support of our vulnerable community members.
We know these are uncomfortable conversations. We recognize not everybody understands the civil unrest currently erupting across the nation… and close to home. Yet, all of us can remember elementary school American History and the words of our founding fathers as they wrote the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Our Founding Fathers were not perfect, nor is the government they established perfect. Their intent for our country, however, was to be the beacon of freedom and democracy. Until we stand together to call out injustice, inequality and racism and to actively work to end it, we fail our fellow human beings.
Kindred Murillo is Superintendent/President Southwestern College.
