This Letter to the Editor is in response to Antioch Unified School District Board Trustee Debra Vinson’s Letter to the Editor published on June 11 and a very disturbing comment she made on Facebook regarding a party bus full of young people who were armed with five loaded handguns and for whatever reason came to our city an committed acts of vandalism, and theft.
Debra Vinson’s letter to the editor started with this quote.
“It is disappointing to see the vitriol that some in the community has hurled at the students of Antioch Unified School District as it relates to “equality and diversity”.
First of all, the vitriol was never hurled at the students of AUSD. The community had a problem with, what this event was called.
It should have never been titled “Antioch Unified School District African-American 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony.” This event was not sanctioned by AUSD.
The invitation should have read: Delta Bay Church of Christ invites everyone to come celebrate the scholastic achievements of the students in our community. This makes the event all inclusive. ”
Debra Vinson, that is the meaning of equality and diversity.”
Dr. Lamont A. Francis, a counselor at Black Diamond Middle school and the pastor of this church, had the ability to identify children of all races worthy of this celebration. Dr. Francis should have handed these students an invitation and told them to invite their families to attend this event that will honor their efforts to achieve—he chose not to, but instead focused on a single demographic.
AUSD’s name and email should have never been used for an unsanctioned event that gave the appearance that it excluded so many. A tweaking of a few words would have went a long way little debate would have occurred over the past two weeks.
I believe Debra Vinson as an elected official should not have attended and defended this event in the capacity of a school board trustee, as she was elected to represent the entire community. The thing that scares me the most is this is just common sense. Ms. Vinson and Dr. Francis are making decisions that affect the future of our children. I find their lack of common sense disturbing.
To make matter worse, over the weekend, Debra Vinson made a comment in regards to a party bus full of hoodlums from San Francisco that for whatever reason came to our city armed with five loaded handguns, to commit acts of vandalism and theft.
Ms. Vinson, an AUSD Trustee thinks that “Boredom” is the cause of this criminal activity. I find it appalling that she is not alarmed about this activity and for whatever reason, she tries to make an excuse for it.
Social Media is a wonderful tool, I’m glad Ms. Vinson as an elected official is not afraid to use it. My advice to Ms. Vinson is to think before you post. The only word I can come up with in response to her comment is, INSANE.
I find it insane that someone who is supposed to be leading education in our city is finding excuses for youths who fail to follow the law. With the bad behavior occurring both before, during and after school, is it safe to say she believes this is occurring because students are “bored”? I would hope not.
The purpose of this letter is not to attack Ms. Vinson, but I’m just stating the facts.
I want the good citizens of Antioch to be aware that someone that can’t seem to make common sense decisions and statements that impact all students, is sitting on our school board making decisions affecting the future of our children.
Sincerely,
Beverly Knight
Empower Antioch Today
7 comments
Thank you Beverly Knight. Your point is perfect as is the use of insane.
The bus incident at Safeway disturbs me for sure but the added information from APD that other cars met the bus at Safeway makes this a much bigger incident than it already was. Safeway didn’t stand a chance and had better hire armed security immediately. I will no longer shop there in the evenings.
Excellent article. To the point and done with class.
I, for one, can’t be as eloquent. I truly believe that selfish people, such as Debra Vinson, will always twist the truth in order to support their “agenda”.
I’ve said it before, black people are the MOST racist ethnicity, not all blacks, but most. YES, I am black.
Be careful about who you vote for. Just look at where we are in Antioch because of Harper, Vinson, and others who choose to promote their selfish agenda.
Another point I’d like to make, people who condone violence, theft, and hoodlums are the very same people who have some sort of relationship or know individuals who do the same thing. We can never expect these people to uphold what is right for the community as a whole. Essentially, it is a deep lack of INTEGRITY.
I see the outcry here but truth be told what’s the end game ? Did your child get turned away from attending the event because he/she wasn’t “African -American”? If that was the situation I’d understand but this just seems a little blown out of proportion especially sense this event occurred last year w/o a hitch and all of the sudden one guy should lose his jobs for attempting to empower kids that he felt were slighted. Granted there were a million other ways to handle this with out using the title “African-American” because in reality it’s deep than that. It’s an economic issue . I work at a school and you wouldn’t believe how many kids only live with 1 parent or a relative that’s not mom/dad it’s an alarming ratio . Like I said I see where mr. Francies was coming from but it’s not just black kids , it’s white kids, Mexican Asian and so and so forth so hopefully there will be more even geared toward helping our community and not 1 race . Btw if you’re wondering I’m a bi-racial American . PLUR
most people don’t attend event they are excluded form 😉
I am so tired of hearing how certain races are excluded from events and because of their oppression they act out breaking the laws and we,as law abiding citizens are supposed to say,,,Oh you poor person, I guess it is ok that you robbed that senior citizen knocking her down and breaking her hip because, you are misunderstood. Guess what folks, laws are for everyone if you break the law then you deserve to go to jail! BOTTOM LINE! We need to ask why the AUSD is being sued by the NAACP? They think it is unfair that a larger majority of our black youth are being suspended than other races,,,,,,,IF YOU ARE PURPLE AND BREAKING THE RULES THEN YOU DESERVE TO BE SUSPENDED. YOU ARE BEING PUNISHED FOR YOUR ACTIONS NOT YOUR COLOR. What happened to accountability for one’s actions? Singling out a race to celebrate accomplishments is a step back in our community, If someone had done this as a white celebration what do you think would have happened?
As long as we have people like Vinson on the board there will be no accountability. She is a major excuse maker.
You voters have been bamboozled by Vinson and Harper. Simple as that. If there is a majority of stupid self entitled voters in Antioch, this will happen time and time again.
All of the worst cities in the U.S. in regards to crime and bankruptcy are run by Democrats.
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