Editor,
In my short time living here in Warwick, I’ve realized that although community pride and spirit are abundant, a few individuals have taken great license to espouse a doctrine of ignorance about BIPOC and the LGBTQIA+ community. These messages are amplified over Warwick’s social media group pages, in our newspapers and over the airwaves of our local radio station. Let’s not pretend the paid advertisement in the Warwick Advertiser by Warwick Parents for Common Sense presents an isolated issue; I’m afraid their viewpoint is misguided and does not reflect the changing world we live in.
Why shouldn’t students be educated about the world around them? It is after all that real world and all of its real problems that they’ll eventually face. We should want to provide students with the knowledge and information to confront injustice and hope that disgraceful incidents of the past won’t be repeated.
I’ve seen how education and dialogue can make a big difference in interactions among neighbors and friends. We all share the responsibility to speak out about racism and inequality in hopes that it will move us toward more inclusive curricula, classrooms and communities. And it’s on every single one of us to do the work to get us to that place.
As long as we divide ourselves over lines, signs and flags, we’ll never come together and continue to lose sight of the very thing that makes Warwick special in the first place: our community.
COREY BACHMAN
