Auburn residents were still reeling from news of a racist photograph posted by an Auburn High School student when they met with Mayor Ron Anders and City Councilmembers for the first meeting of the Diversity Task Force on Feb. 7.
This brainstorming meeting was set long before the photo emerged online. In fact, the idea for it began months prior. During the 2018 municipal elections, mayoral candidate Brittany Cannon Dement began floating the idea of a city task force that was focused on diversity and inclusion.
Mayor Ron Anders has worked with Dement to put that idea into action. He appointed Ward 1 Councilmember Connie Fitch-Taylor and Ward 5 Councilmember Steven Dixon to the new task force and asked that each of them select an additional three members from their constituencies.
The photograph, which had surfaced online earlier that day, was a hot topic at the meeting.
“I don’t take it lightly that we’re all here on the same day that something awful has really happened in the city of Auburn,” Anders said. “I believe that the work of this committee could go a long way toward being mindful of those kinds of activities in the future.”
Through tears, Auburn mom of three Mindy Seidman said the school system was broken.
“Today’s incident went viral,” Seidman said. “But there are a lot of incidents that do not go viral.”
This incident and meeting came days before several councilmembers and Anders were to interview candidates for the open Auburn Board of Education position.
Anders said he had yet to think about whether the incident with the photo would impact how he approached the interview process. He said he did not like the idea of the city government working directly to solve problems in the school system.
“Our job is to provide resources to the school system and provide school board members for them,” Anders said. “They are school professionals, and they know how to operate and run their schools and we don’t. Obviously, as human beings, citizens and parents of children that are in the school system, we have all the rights to express ideas, thoughts and concerns. But by no means would I ever think that the city has any place in telling the school system how to run its operations.”
Leading up to the meeting, several city officials gave their thoughts on what they thought the task force should focus on during previous interviews with The Plainsman.
Fitch-Taylor said she would like the city government to become more diverse. While City Manager Jim Buston said he though the task force should look into discrimination of minority groups in housing. Many Councilmembers have expressed interest in establishing the task force as a permanent committee.
While the task force did include representatives from Auburn’s African-American, Jewish, LGBT, Muslim and special-needs communities, task force members noted there are still groups lacking representation on the task force, such as the Hispanic and Korean communities.
Though not a member of the task force, Ward 6 Councilmember Bob Parsons was present and live streamed the meeting to his Facebook page.
“I guess I’m a representative of another part of this town, as I’m an immigrant,” Parsons said. “And may I just say how proud I am of all of you. It’s very moving, and it’s a valuable and necessary conversation that we’re all having.”
Task force members mentioned hosting community workshops, potlucks and service projects, though none of the ideas were finalized.
“I don’t know what will end up coming from this, but I do know that we’ve got the right people involved,” Anders said.
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