Ask A Former Sonoma Mayor: Racial and social equity?

What can city leaders do to usher in more racial understanding and social equity in Sonoma?

Joanne Sanders

(2008, 2012)

Economic equality is an integral part of social equity. City leaders have plenty of tools to propel local minority-owned businesses: modest subsidies, contract set-asides, waiving business fees, fewer regulations, etc. Enabling minority entrepreneurs to succeed, build wealth, and grow their role in the local economy is a direct way to tackle social inequity. I believe this is an area where local leaders can have an effective impact.

Ken Brown

(2001, 2009, 2013)

We need to look into our own hearts and find the essential self and tune into the spirit of All Lives Matter. Each one of us deserves the blessings of being alive and human. Not that long ago 6 million Jews, gays and gypsies were killed by the Germans. As a New York City child I hid under our school desks to “protect” me from the Bomb and the Russians.

No matter we were in ground zero. It’s my sincere belief we can find an inherent desire to be good. So please follow the dictate of our friends at the Sebastiani Theatre: To be well, be safe and be kind.

Larry Barnett

(2000, 2005)

I think the question conflates and confuses two related but distinct issues: racism and social equity. Solving racism is a matter of cultural change: overcoming historical attitudes, an honest accounting of the past, acknowledging complicity and outright bigotry on a personal and social level, and educating our youth differently to shift future attitudes and behavior. Moving toward social equity is a matter of policy change: removing uneven regulatory burdens, eliminating restrictive legal covenants, improving economic opportunity, and ensuring that laws and justice are applied evenly and fairly.

Larry Murphy

(1988, 1992)

I’m not aware of any changes to our municipal code that can change people’s hearts. Nor can those of us who are not minorities fully appreciate racial or religious bias. So city leaders need to listen to the wisdom of those who experience discrimination, Black, Latino, Asian, Muslim... whoever feels marginalized and has ideas how to make change that will matter to them, like Sonoman Maurice Parker (“Sonoma Is Not Hallelujah,” July 3). Real estate companies need to ensure that housing opportunities, one of the principle repositories of discrimination, are available to everyone irrespective of race.

Both city and private employers should examine hiring practices and aggressively offer employment and advancement opportunity to minorities. We, like every city in America, can do a better job. We need to listen.