PAGE A13, KEIZERTIMES, DECEMBER 31, 2021
I have been the target of
of hate speech and threats
By ABIGAIL ECKHART
PUBLIC SQUARE welcomes all points of view. Published submissions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Keizertimes
2022: Gloomy to bright?
For many people, this past year has
signficantly outstripped 2020 as annus
horribilis (a year of disaster or misfor-
tune). Everyone will be forgiven for cele-
brating the new year with wild abandon
(but, celebrate responsibly—don't drink
and drive).
Take your pick for what made the
past year practically unbearable for you
(we don't really need to recap the year,
do we?).
The turning of the calendar from one
year to the next always fills one with
hope and excitement. We ask, "What will
the new year bring?" when we should be
asking ourselves, "How will I make the
new year wonderful?" Our world is what
we make it, for ourselves and others. We
should face 2022 with a positive attitude
and the grit to shape daily life for the
best possible outcome.
We all start the new year the same:
we are alive, and that ain't nothing. As
long as we are breathing there is hope
that the new year will shine as bright as
a new copper penny. As we always say,
the future belongs to those who plan for
it.
This is the time of year for resolutions
and predictions. Making predictions for
a new year is a fool's errand—we make
predictions and God laughs.
Keizer is a place that makes sober,
calculated plans for the future. Our
mayor, Cathy Clark, demonstrates this
better than most public officials. As she
leads the city, Clark doesn't set unat-
tainable goals but methodically sets
Editorial
the table for success for the city and its
citizens.
There are others who strive to
achieve the levels of success that eludes
other locales. McNary High School
continues its drive to be a world-class
school under the tutelage of principal
Erik Jespersen.
The new year will be bright for
Keizer because of those who give of
their time, talent and money to make
own little corner of the world a better
place. Keizerites have also been gener-
ous, never more so than when someone
is troubled or in need.
Here, we face the same challenges
faced by people around the nation and
the globe: a pandemic that is not yet
conquered, economic issues such as
inflation (especially at the grocery store)
and supply chain issues and attempts to
curb personal rights. How we face those
challenges will say much about who we
are as Keizerites.
By most measures 2021 was a hor-
rible year, but with fortitude, tolerance
and forebearance, 2022 can shine bright
for us all. Let's turn the page from annus
horribilis to annus mirabilis. It is with-
inxv our power to make it so.
—LAZ
Anna Munson's
column was balanced
and factual
To the Editor:
Thank you, Keizertimes, for pub-
lishing Anna Munson’s well thought-
out, balanced and factual response to
Andrea Smith’s seemingly “knee-jerk”
response to the same meeting (Meeting
about schools misrepresented was an eye-
opener, Dec. 24). I would have responded
to Smith”s slanted worldview on educa-
tion here, but I didn’t attend.
I realize people drag their worldview
with them to public meetings rather than
checking them at the door, and Anna
is likely no different. However, her 40
Letters
years of history in Salem (as opposed to
New Yorker Andrea Smith’s seven years)
speaks credibility to me even without
knowing her healthcare background.
I also trust letter writer Jo Williams
discovered further enlightenment from
Anna Munson’s contribution today. I
think we all did.
Bruce Priem
Salem
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Phone: 503.390.1051 • www.keizertimes.com
The Keizertimes printed a guest column
by Andrea Smith (Meeting about schools
was an eye-opener, Dec. 17) about a local
parent group that has been meeting to
address concerns with the Salem-Keizer
School District. The group SK We Stand,
is one that I helped form, and I am proud
of that. Why are parents gathering to talk
about the school district? Here is my recent
experience:
In July I called my child’s principal
to review curriculum. It took me several
months, several back-and-forth emails and
phone calls. When I was finally allowed
to go to the school in October, even then
the curriculum was not ready for me. I had
to go once again to the district to get the
rest of the curriculum. Why does any par-
ent have to jump through hoops simply to
know what their kids are being taught?
I attended a board meeting on Aug. 10,
and while waiting outside for the doors to
open, I became the recipient of hate speech
and threats by a student advocate group. I
had no idea who this group of students was
prior to this meeting. When I emailed the
board to address my complaint about racial
discrimination, I was met with lame excuses
as to why there was nothing anyone could
do. I emailed Board Chair Osvaldo Avila
and shared with him my background and
how my grandfather attended a segregated
school as a child and why my son’s educa-
tion was important to me. My complaints
went nowhere until I contacted the school
lawyer. Suddenly my complaint was taken
seriously.
This advocacy group was allowed to
racially harass me, scream at me within
inches of my face, videotape me and at a
prior meeting, photograph my 7-year-old
daughter. I have since removed her from
public school for her own safety. My infor-
mal meeting with the school board chair
and superintendent, was frankly an attempt
to pacify an angry parent with empty prom-
ises and meaningless words. I was accused
of being “anti-science," never experiencing
racism, silencing BIPOC youth voices and
having “white privilege.” I have never, nor
will I ever, be “white.” School board chair
Avila, told me and my husband, in front
of our children, that I needed to read the
book White Fragility. He also told me that
he would not meet with a parent from our
group who “negates his experiences” while
he spent the entire two hours negating the
experience that I had at a school board
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COLUMN
meeting. He saw nothing wrong with a
group of students calling another person of
color a “white supremacist.” He allows this
group to dominate meetings, harass and
threaten community members and stand
outside board meetings with a bat. They
have since slandered, and doxed parents
and their families on the internet, harass a
fellow board member and her children, and
simply say his “hands are tied.”
So let's talk about the truth about our
district. When parents come to speak up
and have a say in the education that they
pay for, and they are met with gross arro-
gance and indifference, we should all be
concerned. Our district leadership is weak,
and our kids are paying for it.
In the last several months I have read
multiple times that the board is “too
stressed” or “too busy and overwhelmed”
to give the community data on things like
school violence, etc. Parents and other
board members have repeatedly asked for
help only to be met with “I’m too busy.”
Maybe members of the board should con-
sider the amount of commitment to our
children and evaluate whether they can
do the job they signed up for. Why run for
an office that you don’t have the time for,
when it directly impacts our children and
their future? They have wasted months of
our time discussing racism in our schools
while providing no actual data.
Once again, I call on them to provide
the data to the community so that we can
see where we are lacking and how we can
change without viciously attacking each
other.
The article written by Andrea Smith was
not only inaccurate, but downright igno-
rant. There are massive problems in our dis-
trict leadership, and all parents have every
right to not only meet with school board
members, but to organize with the purpose
of addressing valid concerns. It’s a lot eas-
ier to come up with the typical “you’re a
right wing anti-masker” slur when attack-
ing someone you don’t agree with, than it is
to come up with a factual argument.
(Abigail Eckhart lives in Salem.)
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