8/12/2019 Amherst Equity Task Force Chairman Amilcar Shabazz'
statement in response to 'racist' controversy
1/2
My Dear Regional School Committee Members,
I profoundly regret how my words were misunderstood. More
importantly, however, I
would like to apologie to the student and the family that
e!perienced what now has
been veri"ed as an unfortunate, violent, traumatic incident. I
apologie "rst of all that this
happened in a school district that I serve as one of the duly
elected o#cials charged with
$oversight of and responsibility for the school system,
%who& sets the direction in which
the system must go, and establishes criteria to determine if its
goals and policies are
being met.' (hat now has been con"rmed as having happened in one
of my schools on
my watch deeply pains me and I apologie for what you have
endured. I want a district
with ero assaults because our students have learned ways to
resolve con)icts peacefully
and without resort to violence or the threat of violence. I
envision a district where the
humanity and dignity of each individual is so respected that it
overwhelms the angry
impulses, the bilious passions, and the cancerous hatreds that
erupt in us all from time to
time. *ur schools are striving for that vision, but we are short
of the mark. I take my
share of the blame and will do my best to work harder and
smarter to keep our districtmoving forward, openly and
honestly.
Secondly, I apologie for the way I raised what I $heard' in the
community. It was
incorrect, inaccurate, and inappropriate. If I could go back in
time I would phrase things
di+erently. o make it very clear, I called no one a $racist.' I
did not use innuendo to do so
by implication. -eople who were there, who heard me and who know
me better than
those who were not there that have sought to reprimand me, know
that I did not imply
such an odious thing. My comment at the une /0th 12uity ask
3orce 4135 meeting were
to say our district needs help with racism on all sides of the
fence, not 6ust with whitestudents. My comment then as now is that
such an incident should not have taken place
and should not occur again in the future. Indeed, at the heart
of the work of the 13
should be the prevention of such con)icts and the poor school
climate and lack of safety
it re)ects. 7onetheless, when such crises occur that involve our
students best practices
show that the in2uiry we should make as a community is "rst when
and how the event
occurred, not why and who. I recognie that my comment invited
speculation about
motives or the why of the incident8 when what I most intended is
that we realie we need
to dig into the how it occurred. (here were the trusted adults9
Did we miss seeing a
problem as it festered9 Did we fail to have appropriate
supervision9 (hat corrective
measures are taken in such situations9 :re there special needs
here we;re not
addressing9 he hope the 12uity ask 3orce and the :mherst
