In his first media availability as the official owner of the Jazz,
Ryan Smith made a promise to his team and to the community about how the Jazz will go about dealing with matters of social justice.
“It’s not that we’re going to be anti-racist; we’re going to be actively anti-racist as an organization,” Smith said. “And that means we’re going to take our time and our energy, and we’re going to use this platform to help make our communities more equitable from education to health care.”
Welp, this being the United States of America, it didn’t take long for an incident to arise prompting Smith to make good on that promise. Earlier this week, teammate
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Parents in Utah can object to lessons on religious grounds or if they violate strongly-held convictions.
Utah made national headlines last weekend, after the Maria Montessori Academy in North Ogden said it would allow parents to opt their children out of Black History Month curriculum.
Administrators denied requests for interviews. But in a written statement, the school’s director said “a few families” had requested to opt out and, given their rights as parents, he “reluctantly” agreed to let them.
According to Jaime Tracy, whose daughter is in 4th grade and one of the few black students at the school, the new director shared her vision for expanding the school’s curriculum to incorporate stories from Black Americans and other underrepresented groups. It’s something she’s been pushing for a while, she said.
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SALT LAKE CITY The statement was merely in writing, but you could still feel the disgust that filled Donovan Mitchell. I don t know where to start.. racism is taught. and the fact that kids are being told by their own parents to not learn about black history and black excellence is sickening and sad!! And this is just part of the problem... Smh, Mitchell tweeted earlier this week.
That tweet was in response to the viral story of a North Ogden charter elementary school that allowed parents to opt their children out of participating in Black History Month events. The decision, which has since been reversed following backlash, was made after a few parents asked for their kids to not participate.