Black-listed teacher’s stance is bedrock democracy

I write in response to your Dec. 3 story about David Roberts being banned for wearing a Black Lives Matter pin to teach.

We should all be troubled by the idea, put forward by the Clovis Unified School District, that publicly avowing the value of minority lives is a breach of “neutrality.” In the America I grew up in, the notion that each human life, regardless of race, economic situation, or beliefs, had equal dignity and protection under the law, was shared across political lines. It was neutral: a shared value common to all Americans.

The idea that black lives matter is in keeping with this principle. It is guaranteed by, for example, the part of the 14th Amendment called the Equal Protection Clause.

Recent events have sought to erode our common values and transform universal principles of equality and dignity into “political” positions. I am a teacher, and in that capacity, I am perhaps particularly sensitive to efforts to render debatable the core values of American civic life. Those efforts should be resisted.

I commend Mr. Roberts for realizing, correctly, that acknowledging that black lives matter is not a political position but a bedrock principle of American democracy.

This story was originally published December 17, 2016 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Black-listed teacher’s stance is bedrock democracy."