By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“It takes all of us to make a change.”

So declared a student toward the start of the all-school assembly that concluded today’s first-ever Equity Day at West Seattle High School.

The assembly’s guest speaker, Erin Jones – a longtime educator who is running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction – told the tale of her rise from an orphanage to education executive, saying your beginnings don’t have to define your endings.

She spoke of her own beginnings, born to a black man and white woman who she said was told she could not keep her baby. Members of her adoptive family referred to her with the “N” word, she said, speaking of, at age 35, confronting and forgiving her grandmother for using that word instead of Jones’s name. There is a difference between racism and ignorance, Jones said, saying her grandmother was guilty of the latter.

She spoke of growing up in The Netherlands, where her father moved the family when she was 5, and attending a school that was visited by royalty and VIPs, and deciding she wanted to change the world, and started to learn languages to make that happen. “I don’t care where you started, your beginning doesn’t have to define your ending. If you’re a refugee, maybe even homeless, or living with three families in one small apartment … that doesn’t have to define you.” Nor does a disability, she said, talking about her three grown children, one on the autism spectrum, another with dysgraphia, all high achievers.

Life is not easy, Jones said – “it’s not about the barriers, but what you’re going to” do about them. “Make your community the best place it can be – that’s what equity is all about.” And, she exhorted the students to “find something to live for … that you care enough to die for.”

Before her speech, the first part of the assembly, on an abbreviated school day, taught a lesson about diversity and cooperation via a “wheelbarrow” race.

That followed a morning of workshops that replaced regularly scheduled classes. Equity Day was organized by the WSHS Diversity Club and ASB, with the theme “Raising Awareness, Inspiring Action,” and the hashtag #StayWoke. The equity issues raised in the workshops ranged far and wide, including race, gender, sexual identity, income, and more.”

The list of workshops:

Microaggressions: Power, Privilege and Everyday Life
What is equity anyway?
Why Awareness is Important
Understanding LGBTQ Equity
Equity in Government
Racial Equity in Seattle
Income Equity
Criminal Justice Equity
Performing Arts Equity
Religious Equity and Anti-Muslim Stereotypes:
Equity in Sports
Physical Activities and Individuals with Disabilities- Universal Approach for ALL to PLAY:
Equity and Homelessness
Racial Equity
Equity in Education
Environmental Equity
Gender Equity

Workshops had both student leaders and community leaders, including King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, Seattle School Board director Dr. Stephan Blanford, state Corrections Department executive Dr. Donta Harper,

The co-presenting organizations wrote that its goal was to support the school’s mission “Every Student Achieving, Everyone Accountable” by “making everyone accountable for equity at WSHS and to make every student comfortable in order to allow for every student to achieve.”