Tumwater student calls out district over ‘political’ policy on race

The Tumwater School District is considering a policy update to ensure racial equality on campuses, but some students are voicing their concerns.

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“I looked at the district website and I saw this race and equity act was going to come through and I said ‘oh, I’ve got to read this!'” Black Hills High senior Chad Turner told KTTH’s Jason Rantz. “I went and I read it and I was pretty surprised at the schools’ lack of knowledge on the terms and definitions.”

The stated goal of proposed Policy 3131 is to “overcome this inequity and institutional racism” by “providing all students with the support and opportunity to succeed.” The six-page proposal includes a glossary of terms, and Turner takes issue with several of the definitions.

“Race they define as a political construct made up by white people,” Turner said. “It didn’t really specify what the policy did or where they plan on going with it.”

The verbatim definition for “race” in the policy proposal: “a political construction created to concentrate power with white people and legitimize dominance over non-white people.” They also define racism as “a complex system of beliefs and behaviors, grounded in the presumption of the superiority of the white race.”

Turner’s definition of the words race and racism differ from that of the district.

“The actual definition of racism is discrimination against any race no matter who it is,” Turner said. “Black people can discriminate against white people, and white people can discriminate against black people. It doesn’t matter.”

Turner believes it’s inappropriate for the school district to be getting involved in an issue like this.

“Schools are not supposed to take political stances on things,” Turner said. “It’s unconstitutional. If they do say race is a political thing, why are they taking a stance on it?”

The Tumwater School District superintendent and the Tumwater School Board president have yet to respond to requests for comment.

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