OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The community conversation about race continues in Ottawa County.
The Anti-Racism Task Force’s town hall meeting was held Monday night in a virtual setting.
The meeting featured panelists Rebecca Bush, a curriculum consultant for the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, and Calvin Terrell, founder and director of the Social Centric Institute.
"As we work to address racism, we find that so much of our work revolves around educating ourselves and being a source of education for others," said Barbara Lee VanHorssen, experi-mentor at The Momentum Center for Social Engagement. "This town hall gives us the opportunity to step back and reflect on our earlier education. What have we been taught in our school systems and what are we teaching now? What is the role of the educational system in addressing questions of social justice?"
"The education system has a tremendous opportunity to learn about and have discourse around equity and inclusion," said Mary Jane Evink, director of instructional services for Grand Haven Area Public Schools. "Reflecting on how this is done allows us to build our skills and to examine institutional practices that promote inequities."
Terrell created The Social Centric Institute, a nonprofit, to educate people about the “historical trauma around racial intersections, class, religion, gender and environmental disruption,” according to his website.
In Bush’s role as a social studies consultant at the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, she assists K-12 social studies teachers in developing curriculum, improving strategies in social studies literacy, and designing district level formative and summative assessments. Bush is also an adjunct professor at Hope College and works as a field instructor in the West Michigan region for Michigan State University where she works with secondary social studies education interns.
Bush also currently directs the G.I.A.N.T.S. Project—an inquiry-based social studies curriculum for grades 3-8 created by West Michigan teachers, consultants, and internationally known geography educators.
The suggested reading by organizers is “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn.
Registration for the event can be done on the Momentum Center website.
RELATED VIDEO:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.