This letter is in response to BOE Member Clarissa Kendrick.

It is my opinion that your statement made at the recent Board of Education meeting was seriously flawed on several points.

You compared the 1945 time period to today. The worlds of then and now are radically different. I agree that in the world of 1945, there were serious racially motivated practices that occurred that were outright wrong. African-Americans were unfairly discriminated against, including being prevented from riding school buses in the South, and there is no justification for that. Native Americans were also severely discriminated against.

I will concede that you have a point that the BOE should consider, relating to students being picked up at their homes in the McCrayville area. However, for you to insert race into this equation is completely absurd. I am fed up with the race card being thrown into situations where it doesn’t belong. You are debasing issues where race truly is a factor.

Has any parent before your statement, ever complained to the BOE about the McCrayville bus stop?

Have you ever brought it up, before now, for consideration to the BOE?

Have you ever asked that this issue be placed on a BOE meeting agenda? If not, why not?

I question why you brought this up in this way. What personal agenda do you have to cause you to do so?

Address the problem in the correct way. If the bus routes need to be reconsidered, then why don’t you put that on the agenda for discussion?

What you did was unprofessional and your statements, in my opinion, were unjustified and baseless.

Address race issues where they exist, but claims of racism in situations where it is not a factor, actually perpetuates racism, not racial unity.

Are you truly against racism, or is its existence unimportant unless you think it affects the black community only?

If you want to speak as simply a citizen rather than an elected BOE official, there is a very easy way for that to be achieved!

Sincerely yours,Keith D. Sellars