On Tuesday, JCPS Chief Equity Officer Dr. John Marshall made a post from his personal X account.
It reads, "A few young(er) Black professionals & students called me this morning & asked, "What's a strategy moving forward?" My response, "REGARDLESS of the rooms, meetings, classes, etc., you're in, know THE MAJORITY of whites could care less about you & have no issues harming you or yours."
A few young(er) Black professionals & students called me this morning & asked,"What's a strategy moving forward?"My response, "REGARDLESS of the rooms,meetings, classes,etc., you're in, know THE MAJORITY of whites could care less about you & have no issues harming you or yours."
— John Marshall D. Ed. (@jdm1906) November 11, 2024
A chief equity officer published a racist and inflammatory statement that had nothing to do with equity and everything to do dividing us further. It's not just horrible judgement. He is just plain wrong. The majority of whites DO have an issue with harming another human being.
This will probably cost him his job, and that is likely the proper outcome. That's for others to decide.
But what can we learn from this? We have all likely made a big mistake, but, because of timing or the forum or forgiveness, it didn't cost us our jobs. Marshall's statement was clearly biased and racist, but can any of us can say that we don't sometimes harbor private thoughts we aren't proud of?
Perhaps this is too shockingly bad for him to come back from, but we should be slow to rejoice in the downfall of someone who made a mistake, even one as egregious and divisive as this one.
I'm Bill Lamb, and that's my Point of View.
