Dear Jacket family,
On Saturday, I arrived at Unity Park to stand with Starkville for racial justice. As I marched toward the campus of Mississippi State University, I saw the faces of students, families, and teachers of the Starkville Oktibbeha School District. I saw my Jacket family standing and marching with me for our students, families, colleagues, and community.
After the march I reflected on the day’s events, and the powerful words of SHS Valedictorian Kyran Williams-Roberts echoed in my mind.
“If there is not room for you at the table, make your own table,” Kyran said during his speech to the SHS Class of 2020 as he challenged his classmates to give something good to the world.
As our greater Starkville community demonstrated on Saturday, the time for us to make our own table is now. A table that does not tolerate racism. A table that speaks out against it.
Let’s speak up when we hear or see something that we know is not right. Let’s encourage and invite conversations and questions to build a better awareness and understanding about the complexities of race and racism even when we don’t know what to say and we don’t have the answers. Let’s teach our children to use their voice to do the same. They need to know they matter and so do their words and actions.
Our school district believes diversity should be embraced, recognized and celebrated, and we believe our schools must be safe, welcoming and respectful to all.
For me these beliefs mean our schools have an obligation to create safe spaces for our students and families to discuss race, inequity, and recent events, and we should be leaders, listeners and supporters of that conversation.
Our students deserve a better world, and our schools share a tremendous responsibility to provide it.
What greater gift could we give the SHS Class of 2020 and those who follow?
Together, let’s come to the table to end systemic racism.
Sincerely yours,
Eddie Peasant, Ed.D.
Superintendent