SPOTLIGHT ON EQUITY
equity at our core Disrupting racism and dismantling biased practices
B
rimmer and May, an institution steeped in tradition that has been educating students for over 100 years, is seeing the dawn of a new age in its existence and practices. 2020 has been, if nothing else, a year of rapid change, constant and alarming news cycles, and experiences with anxiety that many of us never thought we would experience. In March, as COVID-19 began its hard attack on our state and our country, we embraced and protected our community by developing, with near superhuman speed, programming and protocols that would ensure that our students were safe while continuing to experience the Brimmer education in which they have invested. We did a good job, and we confidently promoted our
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Fall 2020
Brimmer Magazine
students to the next levels in their learning. Just as COVID-19 hit us, however, another pandemic, one that has existed for hundreds of years in America but has not yet found a cure, was forced upon us: racism. Images of racist violence and murders, along with the names of far too many victims—because even one is too many—flashed before our eyes on television, social media, and other outlets on the internet. Protests, in the name of justice for innocent Black lives lost, exploded across the country. As of the writing of this article, protests continue for Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her home by police officers executing a no-knock warrant. They continue because unlike Ahmaud Arbery
(shot by a civilian while jogging down the street in Georgia) and George Floyd (killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck for more than seven minutes after arresting him for allegedly trying to use a counterfeit bill), Breonna Taylor’s killers have not yet been charged with any crime. Spring of 2020 hit the Brimmer community with waves of hardship and difficulties. We had to witness our students react first to the news of a global pandemic spiraling out of control, and then to news story after news story of innocent Black people killed by either police officers or civilians. Responding to COVID-19 was and continues to be a challenge. However, we have hard science on our side. We live in a state with
