Letter: Aspen schools must address hate speech

Editor’s note: The following letter was written to administrators of the Aspen School District.

By now, you are probably well aware of the findings of hate graffiti in the Burlingame playground. It was, at best, a distressing experience to arrive at the playground that day with my daughter and find these images all over the play structures. The other parents there shrugged it off, unwilling to respond in any way. I was the only one who felt the need to call the police about it.

My question to you is: How are you, as leaders of our public schools, going to take action in the context of educating our children to raise awareness and address this uptick of intolerance and hatred we are seeing not only here but currently unfolding across the country? Now is not the time to turn the other way, shrug it off and decide it’s somebody else’s problem. Our children need to be fully engaged and educated regarding the history of hate groups, bigotry, racism and intolerance here, nationwide and worldwide.

Community leaders are already speaking out, and I agree with them: It is imperative that we reach out to our children at this very uncertain and troubling time for our country.

Sue Shufro

Aspen