Given the highly charged emotions already surrounding the November 2022 midterms, it might be easy to let the local elections, including school board elections, pass us by or seem unimportant.
However, the fact is that important policies and changes do indeed often occur first at the local level, and so we must all be mindful that these local elections, like all elections, are essential opportunities for us to use our voices, to vote.
We are at a dangerous moment in our nation’s history. Our democracy has always been a work in progress, an imperfect idea that we must constantly and consistently commit to making better. There have always been forces working against it, seeking to limit the power of the people to the power of the few. Now, however, the destructive power of these forces is threatening to upend our democracy all together.
Decisions are being made to ban certain books from school libraries, thereby denying the First Amendment right some people defend so loudly but only when it serves their interests to do so. Many want to prevent the teaching of accurate American history, which, to be full and truthful, must include the uglier parts of our history, from our founding until now. Black students are denied the truth of their history — yes, the horror, but also the courage, resilience and incredible accomplishments of Black people; White students are denied the chance to learn of the White heroes and heroines who fought against racism; and both are denied the opportunity to grapple with the complexity of our history.
Others seek to limit conversations about gender and sexuality in school. A child raised by two women or two men can no longer see images of her or his life in books or participate in conversations about family without feeling excluded. Some places are going so far as to criminalize parents who want to give their trans children access to medical support. Parents are forced to make the decision to leave their homes in order to protect themselves and their children from the very people who are supposed to honor and lead from the ideal of “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”
It is at the state and local levels that many of these policies are being made, policies that have a destructive and devastating impact on the day-to-day lives of other fellow human beings. Political groups are pouring money and advertising into the candidacy of those who support these restrictive, biased and oppressive measures. And these efforts are being made behind the scenes so that the agenda of exclusion and elitism can move forward step by step and stay largely unnoticed.
School boards are an obvious target of these efforts because the boards can have an impact on what and how school curriculum is taught and what values are encouraged. School boards can hire and fire leaders who could more likely to stick to a particular agenda, be they leaders who foster inclusion, diversity and equity or those who foster the divisive policies of restricting what is taught, what conversations are permitted and what ideas are allowed. In many places there is concerted effort on the part of extremists to place the latter in control.
May 10, we all have the opportunity to vote for members of certain school boards. Historically, these elections come and go with little voter participation and often without people even realizing they are taking place. Now, however, is not the time for such complacency.
In all districts that are having elections, no matter how obvious a choice might seem, all of us must make the effort to get out and use our voices. The power of the vote became clear in the last Cape Henlopen district special school board election, when many people came out to vote for the candidate who supported inclusion, diversity and equity.
Let these school board elections serve as the beginning of the habit of paying attention to what is happening, both overtly and covertly, putting our democracy in such deep peril. This habit needs to extend from school boards to town councils to county councils to every local area of government that can so powerfully impact our daily lives. And it should start May 10.
Sara Ford
Lewes
Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice
