Combatting Discrimination in Utah’s Schools

D.I.V.A.’s Statement on Combatting Discrimination in Utah’s K-12 Schools

D.I.V.A. believes in ending and combatting racism and discrimination in Utah’s K-12 schools. We  believe this should be a top priority for Utah’s legislators, Utah’s Board of Education, and the faculty, staff, and administration in Utah’s schools. A school’s environment should be and must always be safe, welcoming and empowering all students regardless of their race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, intersectionality, etc. No child should attend school worrying if their classmates, teachers, staff, faculty, administration, parents and community are going to racially profile, discriminate, and/or stereotype them because of their race AND intersectionality. No child should have a school community with members that do not prioritize a safe environment for them as children. Children should not have to change themselves, their body, their language, their hair, or expression of themselves to make their white schools and their white peers comfortable. We need to stop assimilation, and child criminalization now! Students should be able to be their authentic selves without penalization. Parents should not have their child’s feelings and experiences of racism and discrimination be invalidated. Parents should feel appreciated, respected, and heard! Izzy Tichenor’s life and legacy and the continued reported racial and discriminatory acts and trauma Utah residents have witnessed and experienced in K-12 schools is nothing new and D.I.V.A. has a plan to dismantle it. This upcoming year and the years to follow, D.I.V.A. will focus its action on ending and combatting racism and discrimination in Utah’s K-12 schools. This is a call to action for Utah’s Board of Education, Utah’s legislators, Utah’s news channels, and all faculty and staff working at an academic institution and all fellow Utahns. With everyone’s support, and through collected student and parent/guardian testimony, we will create real change in Utah’s schools. We hope everyone can come together through this project to help build and create communities for all of us to live happily, fully, and unapologetically ourselves. It is time for BIPOC and marginalized children, teens, young adults, and people to feel heard, comfortable, safe, and secure in Utah spaces. All children deserve to be respected for who they are! It is everyone’s job to make this happen. Act with us now!

-Miyalla Tarver, D.I.V.A.’s Director of Inclusivity & Equity