To the editor,
Re: Black Lives solidarity fills park, June 10.
As a first step, body cameras will help make the police accountable, but minorities and subcultures without political power will continue to feel that a white society is imposing a biased justice system on them.
Affirmative action hiring processes would help make the policing and justice systems representative, but will cost money to attract and hold minority members during the uncomfortable transition from the existing white male oligarchy to a representative service.
However, even with short-term solutions like these, the current system of under-funding the education system results in a two-tiered system where poor and remote communities produce disadvantaged individuals while wealthy neighbourhoods self-fund the counselling, sports, music lessons, field trips, libraries, computer services and other ‘extras’ which keep children interested and learning. Children of wealthy parents rarely go to school hungry. If the students from disadvantaged neighbourhoods even graduate, they rarely have the skills or mindset necessary to give them access to high-value careers. Therefore, they will perpetuate the perception that they will be unproductive and ‘un-valuable’ members of society and the good jobs will remain elusive. It is a never-ending cycle.
The way to counter this is to fully fund all public education systems in the province and to insist that the immediate family members of all politicians and senior bureaucrats use only public education systems. Also, privatizing education which allows children of the wealthy to avoid the public education system should never be funded by the taxpayer. This should incentivize those with political power to distribute the benefits of this power more equally. Children must be given equal opportunities to excel.
Stephen Piggott, Nanaimo
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