Voter Services chair affirms diversity and equity in message to Springfield Public Schools’ Board of Education
June 22, 2021
To: Members of the Board of Education of the Springfield (Mo.) Public School District
I am here to speak in support of our school district’s focus area on equity and diversity.
I am a retired middle school teacher, having taught 7th grade science for 22 years at Study … our son graduated from Parkview. We have a granddaughter who finished her 8th grade year at Pipkin and a grandson who just graduated from Central.
However, I am not here as a former teacher, parent, or grandparent but rather as a member of the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri.
The year 2020 was not just the year of the Pandemic. It was significant for another reason … a 100-year national celebration of voting rights for women. In February 1920, the National League of Women Voters was formed and in August 1920, Amendment 19, which gave women the right to vote, was ratified.
So, what does this have to do with diversity and equity in Springfield? First, let me point out that I am proud of the role the League of Women Voters played in guaranteeing the right of women to vote. But I have to acknowledge that in 1920, the guarantee of the right to vote was not equitable. Nor was the voting population diverse. White women gained the right to vote, but barriers were already in place or put in place to prevent women and men of color from voting. The voting population was not diverse nor was the ability to cast a ballot equitable.
And I have to acknowledge that the white suffrage leaders worked in segregated suffragists organizations and ignored the efforts of black suffragists. The founding of the LWVUS and the ratification of the 19th Amendment provided a big step toward a more inclusive democracy but neither addressed the multiple issues of equity.
It’s important to acknowledge our history as a League so that we can evaluate where we are now and move forward to where we want to be as the premier voting rights organization in America.
In 2020, the League of Women Voters added a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy statement to its bylaws. The rationale is as follows:
“The LWV is an organization fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in principle and in practice. Diversity, equity and inclusion are central to the organization’s current and future success in engaging all individuals, households, communities and policy makers in creating a more perfect democracy. It is a fundamental value of the organization and belongs alongside our hallmark of nonpartisanship.”
The League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri supports the focus that Springfield Public Schools has placed on Diversity and Equity.
Sincerely,
Joan Gentry, Chair, Voter Services
League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri