Some Thoughts on Current Events

Dear Wines Families,

After the events over the past number of days, I felt it necessary to quickly reach out to our community rather than wait until my weekly Wednesday message. Like many of you, I was struck by the horrific video of George Floyd’s murder and the subsequent protests and violence around our country. I have much in my mind and heart, but I’m struggling to put my thoughts and feelings into words today.

What I can do at this moment is to speak my truth. My truth is that I am a person who can only be described as having White Privilege. I was born into a white, middle/upper class, suburban, highly educated family and I have been able to enjoy the multitude of opportunities that are seemingly bestowed upon people like me. I’ve never been without, never been racially profiled, and never been scared to simply exist. Exist is an important word here. I spoke just today with an African American colleague who shared his experiences of “DWB” (driving while black) and SWB (shopping while black). Today he spoke much more broadly of EWB—Existing While Black. White privilege means I never need to worry about it being dangerous to simply exist.

Like you, I am a parent and I want to share what I have done with my two sons this week as they have had questions about what is happening. I have been explicit with them about their own white privilege. I’ve explained to the best of my ability what that means in a way a 12-year-old can understand. I am using this moment in history to teach my children about their privilege. Not so they can somehow wipe it away—they can’t. Instead, I want them to understand their privilege deeply in order to open their eyes, identify their biases, and become active ant-racists in their lives.

What does that mean for Wines? The pandemic makes this challenging in the short term. Usually during uncertain times at school, we are able to be around the kids, listen to their social conversations, get a sense of their questions/concerns/ideas, and allow for natural discussion to take shape in our classrooms. Our teachers are masterful at managing these class conversations. Not having the opportunity to simply be with students makes supporting them very difficult. I will say that I promise not to let this moment be just another moment that comes and goes. I will be working with staff to ensure that our community of learners are actively engaged in discussions of race and that our community goes beyond our yearly focus on being “kind” and begin helping our students to directly confront practices and actions that at best, marginalize, and at worst, contribute to the harm and destruction of minority populations. And we will confront those practices at a staff level as well.

Thank you.

David