BC has found ways to advocate for all students
Throughout the past six months, I’ve never been prouder to live in and serve this community. In my roles as the chairman of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Kern County Chapter, I witness daily the goodness of our people.
I’ve been deeply entrenched in the struggles of our community. The loss, illness, isolation and grief that COVID-19 has inflicted upon us has overwhelmed many, while recent racially-motivated murders have resurfaced long standing weariness, hurt and fear among the African American community.
I am called to believe biblical justice and racial justice are one in the same. We are to lift our brethren not at the expense of others, but instead for our shared prosperity. I know this is what Bakersfield does as a community. And as an alumnus and former Bakersfield College Student Government Association president, I also know first-hand this is what BC does as an institution.
So, you can imagine my dismay when I read Matthew Garrett’s Sept. 18 piece titled “Questions of ‘racial equity’ at BC.”
Garrett wrote, “Even well-intended policies based on race remain blunt and inefficient tools to help those in need.” While scripture certainly calls for fairness in processes, it also calls for us to be concerned with the plight of the downtrodden. My son, biblical justice requires us to both condemn oppression while lifting the oppressed. Psalm 72:1214 reads:
“For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.
“He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.
“He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.”
In recent years, I’ve seen the ways in which BC takes seriously the responsibility to understand and meet our community’s needs. I’m confident BC is guided by a moral consciousness not because of its actions in the past few months, but because of its steadfast commitment to action that can be traced through the better part of a decade. BC’s recent engagement around issues of racism don’t singularly define its commitment to justice.
Let me walk you through it. When distance from our city center proved to be a barrier to access higher education in rural communities, BC was there, opening centers, offering courses in high schools and visiting farmworkers in the fields at 5 a.m. before their shifts to share information about college.
When the issue of homelessness became contentious in town, BC was there, creating a coalition to support students in transitioning into work through training and educational programs with Pastor Robin Robinson while partnering with hotels to identify housing for homeless students.
When protest erupted nationwide following George Floyd’s murder, BC was there, uniting the community through its Juneteenth programming and conversations with public officials and law enforcement. Paula Parks, Ph.D., and others led this charge with grace and conviction.
These few examples certainly reflect our community’s “better angels.” To suggest BC has failed to advocate for or serve all students because of its stated commitment to racial equity is to willfully ignore the college’s longstanding history of service.
Garrett wrote, “We ought not turn our backs on the dream articulated by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” This, my son, is where we share a common interest. I urge you to consider how you can help us all achieve that dream. You see, it’s our responsibility as children of God to care for the other. In the Bible, we’re called to steward our blessings for the good of others (Matthew 25: 14-46). After all, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.”
Let us unite in the image of God to lift one another so we can all one day share in MLK’s vision.