Demand equitable processes and policies

'We don't want equality for our children; we want equity.” As a school board member over the past few months, I have heard that same statement, repeatedly, in many of the meetings I have attended and in many conversations with local officials and educators. It gives me pause.

The word 'equity” has joined other buzzwords like 'diversity” and 'cultural competence.” We may like to use these words when we talk with our friends and when we want to sound inclusive, but they seem to all be spoken with disdain and distaste.

Each of them - 'equity,” 'diversity,” and 'cultural competence” - are spoken as if they mean the privileged must give up something. As a community, we don't talk about 'equity” as a benefit for us all; we talk about it as something that attacks and takes what many of us already have - comfort.

When 'equity” comes up, I try to explain what 'equity” should really mean for us, particularly when we are talking about our children, classrooms, and communities, and I can't count how many times after I give my explanation that someone emails me the same comic.

In the comic's left panel, three white boys of different heights stand on boxes outside a baseball game, trying to look over the fence to catch the innings. One boy is tall enough to see over the fence while the other two are of shorter heights and can't see in. In the right panel, the same boys appear. Here, the two short boys stand on boxes to see over the fence, their height is now in-line with the tallest boy. They can all watch the game together.

The image carries the word 'Equality” and a statement that reads something like, 'Equality is about sameness.”

But equality does not mean sameness. Equality is the STATE or CONDITION of being equal in regards to status, rights, quality, and opportunities.

Equity, on the other hand, is a metric to review our disaggregated data and demographics to ensure that no one particular group is being disadvantaged because of a budget we put in place or a policy that is created without using an equity tool. Such tools are usually a list of specific questions that you answer to ensure that you are looking at your process.

' Which racial/ethnic or vulnerable groups may be most affected by and concerned with the issues related to this proposal?

' Have stakeholders from different vulnerable groups - especially those most adversely affected - been informed, meaningfully involved and authentically represented in the development of this proposal?

' What factors may be producing and perpetuating inequities associated with this issue? How did the inequities arise?

Somehow, the senders think that they don't want equality if it means the boys' boxes were taken from someone else. In this discussion, then, people get so distracted about who had to give up boxes that they forget the whole point of the cartoon - to encourage creating and supporting equality through equity or everyone being able to see and enjoy the game.

So what can you do?

As a community, we must measure how we are doing when we talk about wanting to make our lives better.

You can change how this community functions. Do not wait for your leaders to do this. By being silent on these issues, our leaders believe the issue doesn't matter. When you don't write letters, call, or email officials and don't show up to their meetings, they think you don't want them to be accountable about these things.

My hope is that we really make leaps forward in addressing our community's equity issues. How will you help?

' LaTasha DeLoach is an African American professional, mother of twins, wife and Iowa City School Board member. Comments: latashajd@gmail.com