To work and to play, to visit and to stay

To the Editor:

I thank the Sonora City Council for initiating the Social Equity Committee (SEC). I'm glad these challenging issues are being addressed. I appreciate the dedication and courage of the committee members.

I have learned to ask people of color what their experience has been and have been surprised and saddened by what I hear. For example:

In the late 1990s a Japanese-american co-worker left to work elsewhere. That person did not want their children growing up hearing the bigoted things that were said to them. In 2016, a temporary employee filling a government truck at a gas station was told, “I knew the Forest Service was going downhill, but I didn't know they were letting darkies in!”

Tourism, the state parks, the Stanislaus National Forest, and Yosemite National Park are important to our economy. They draw in people from all over. The way for us to thrive in the long term is to welcome all to work and to play, to visit and to stay. The parks and forest depend on the support from a wide segment of the population for continued funding. In addition, some of these visitors return to the area when they retire. We would not have the services nor the population numbers we have without them.

It is up to us to speak out when we hear someone say something disrespectful to a person of color. “... With liberty and justice for all” long ago meant white males who owned land. Now it means all!

I hope that the SEC develops recommendations that are compassionate and effective, drawing on their experience within the committee and in the community, and that we each do our part.

Margaret Willits

Sonora