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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeCommentaryOp-edOp-ed: Equality

Op-ed: Equality

Head of VI Montessori School and International Academy Michael Bornn

We may have finally reached the tipping point in the pursuit of equality for all, with the murder of George Floyd in full public view by a cavalier white police officer.

The atrocious inequalities in the United States have continued way too long. With the election of the first Black President in the United States, forces doubled their efforts to keep their collective knees on the backs of Blacks, Hispanics and all non-white human beings.

We must implement change now!

The first priority is to provide equal access to quality education, for education is the ultimate factor in creating opportunity and leveling the economic and social divide. (Barack Obama was elected in spite of his color because he is highly educated.) Quality education must become the norm for all. Educate yourself and your family.

The second priority is to register to vote and to go vote. Vote for people that believe in your values. Do not let the active minority control our lives. In the US, only 55% of eligible voters voted in 2016, we must vote, or our protest is for naught.

The third priority is to pressure elected officials to change the judicial and justice systems to enforce an equitable society. Racists are protected by our existing systems.

The fourth priority is to force the elected officials to fund quality education for all, per the first priority. We must affect systemic improvements to our education program in the United States.

I absolutely support the protests across the United States and now the world, yet these are milestones in the march to equality. Do not let your participation in a march be a release of your anger. Much more must be rectified and accomplished in the drive for equality amongst humankind. A march is merely one step in a 10,000-mile journey. We must continue and enact lasting change.

Each and every one of us has the personal responsibility to solve the inequalities. The burden of implementing equality in America is not someone else’s chore…it’s ours.

Editor’s note: Michael Bornn is head of school of the Virgin Islands Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy.

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