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Thread: I'm a 12 yr adjunct faculty at LCAD and the only WOC instructor. 3 weeks ago the LCAD social media account made an attempt to reach out to its community with a msg of compassion but posted an All Lives Matter tag instead of #blacklivesmatter 
. The onslaught was enormous.
. The onslaught was enormous.
The response from students/alumni/ex-faculty/faculty revealed experiences that exposed LCAD is a place where racism is prolific, as is discrimination, harassment, prejudice, discrimination, abuse of power, & other injustices. It was eye opening to some, but not to others...
After attending an accountability staff meeting where I was thankfully given the space to speak freely to my experiences as a Black woman & called the school to accountability for their actions, I received this letter from a colleague.
It angered & frustrated me. She asked that the letter be shared to everyone else in the meeting, too, in case they wanted to support her (?) or perhaps to make sure that she had HER POV considered. I sent the letter out to my colleagues, hoping that someone else would respond...
but it was radio silent. No one else that I know of addressed this letter. I mentioned her (not by name) in a facebook post. She discovered the post and then wrote back to me. https://www.facebook.com/larissa.marantz/posts/10158511294223234?notif_id=1592586688668156¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic
She demanded a public apology, along with the demand that I share the email in its entirety so that others could make up their minds about what she said. Well? What do you think? I could no longer ignore this. I had to respond. No one else would...
This was a letter I did not want to write, had no motivation to address and was reluctant to do. But my husband helped me through it. He has seen the effects of racism in his own life and he was seeing the toll it was taking on my own life, and it was affecting our family life...
I am tired of fighting bigotry, racism and ignorance. I'm exhausted from having these difficult conversations but I know that If I am to be the change I want to see in the world, the work needs to be done. But when this person demanded an apology from me, I couldn't sit idle...
Educators should be educated, not ignorant. And at LCAD where our diverse student body needs to feel safe and seen, we need people who are willing to see them as equals. My letter has been signed in concordance with 70 students, alumni, faculty, and former faculty.
