Beeman hosts Racial Equity and Social Justice Town Hall in Saline
Racial equity and social justice town hall, Tuesday, May 9, in Saline City Hall.
by Sara Swanson
District 3 County Commissioner, Shannon Beeman led a Racial Equity and Social Justice Town Hall on Tuesday, May 9 in Saline’s City Hall. After a slide show defining equity, panel members gave examples of the efforts of Washtenaw County to achieve equity in their areas of expertise.
In addition to Beeman, the panel included chair of the County Commissioners, Justin Hodge; County Administrator, Gregory Dill; Prosecutor Eli Savit; Washtenaw’s Racial Equity Officer, Alize Asberry Payne; and Sheriff’s Office Director of Community Engagement, Derrick Jackson.
To start with, Payne explained what equity is and how and how it differs from equality. Basically, while equality is giving everyone the exact same resources across the board, regardless of individual or groups of people’s actual needs, equity is recognizing each person has different circumstances and needs, and giving varying groups of people different resources and opportunities so everyone can thrive.
Payne explained that the county is executing “targeted universalism” with the goal of establishing a baseline quality of life for all residents. They are making targeted investments where there is need. She emphasized that the needs they are trying to meet are both data driven needs the county sees and also what communities say that they need. She gave the example of the county’s recent huge investment to build out broadband infrastructure into the rural parts of the county. This investment only benefits the rural residents and not the urban residents, but will close the digital divide, creating a baseline that all county residents will have the physical ability to access broadband services.
Prosecutor Savit talked about work his office is taking toward racial equity. For example, they are going back through all of the cases prosecuted over the last five years, comparing them and the sentences the defendants received, to see if any characteristics, like race, correlate to length of sentence.
Another example is that when someone is a victim of a crime, they receive a victim’s handbook from the county full of information. The handbook used to be published only in English. Something Savit’s office has done is translate it into the four next most commonly-spoken languages in the county. He explained that not only should all victims have access to it, but it increases the likelihood they will testify, which increases likelihoods of convictions, and makes the county safer for everyone.
Lastly he talked about record expungement, where some past offenses can be removed from one’s record, making it easier to find employment, etc. In the past, expungement required hiring a lawyer and usually cost thousands of dollars, often making it unobtainable. The prosecutors office now offers expungement assistance as a free service to everyone, county-wide. Savit stated that they’ve already helped residents from all parts of the county, including District 3, with expungement.
Jackson, speaking on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office, added to Savit’s message and talked about the importance of addressing racism/anti-immigration sentiment and explained that if marginalized communities are afraid of the police, they don’t report crimes, and that makes us all less safe.
He also addressed “why” achieving equity is especially important in Washtenaw. It is more difficult to raise yourself out of poverty in Washtenaw County, than almost anywhere else in the United States. Washtenaw County is in the top ten most economically segregated metro-areas in the country.
Administrator Dill added that according to a recent study, in Washtenaw County it costs on average, $65,000 for a family of four to meet their basic needs.
Jackson also talked about how the same problems are pathologized in one part of the county and criminalized in another. For example, Saline was the first district to agree that tickets could be issued for students vaping, when it became apparent students vaping was an issue. However, even though students were vaping at both schools, many tickets for vaping were issued at Lincoln Consolidated, and none were ever issued in Saline.
District 3 encompasses the Manchester area, Saline, and part of Milan. Residents from all parts of District 3 attended, including township officials from Manchester, Bridgewater, and Sharon Townships.
During the time for audience participation, Michelle McQueer, Bridgewater Township clerk, pointed out that everything the Sheriff’s Department is doing sounds good but that Bridgewater Township doesn’t have enough money to contract with them and has no police service at all. She stated that people in Bridgewater don’t know about services the County offers that could help them, like the expungement assistance. Beeman interjected that the broadband will help with that. On the topic of broadband, McQueer reported that the paths for the lines are currently being bored and she thanked the County for bringing broadband to Bridgewater Township.
Additionally, attendees asked about what the county is doing to house homeless kids, how the county can help seniors, and lastly, what the county can do to help stop racism in Saline. This last question is part of the reason behind the town hall in the first place.
Beeman, when asked after the meeting how it came about, explained that one motivator was that Manchester Township asked if someone from the Racial Equity Office could attend a township meeting to answer questions. However, that it wasn’t just Manchester Township who had concerns. She stated, “The main impetus was confusion and misinformation being spread about the work of the Racial Equity Office throughout Washtenaw County. This false message stuck and resonated with the western portion of the county, particularly District 3. I wanted to bring all of the leadership together to listen to concerns, answer questions, and bring the truth to light.” She pointed out that in the end, there were very few questions from the elected officials in the audience.
The second reason behind the town hall goes back to a number of racist incidents in Saline in early 2020. Right after racist snapchat messages between students were made public, video footage of a parent’s racist outburst during a school’s community meeting made national news. Shortly after, Beeman held what was to be the first of a series of listening session public meetings on racism in Saline. Of course, the remaining meetings never happened as Covid-19 reached Michigan. Beeman stated, “I’ve wanted to continue those conversations since we put things on hold because of the pandemic.”
Although venues in Manchester were offered for the meeting, Beeman explained that Saline City Hall was selected for its central location in the district, between Manchester and Milan, and for the ability to stream/record for those who could not attend in person (which unfortunately did not work at the time, though they are attempting to salvage a recording.)
Although not asked during the town hall meeting, Beeman addressed the concern existing around the county’s Racial Equity Office and the county’s racial equity work in general, that the west side of the county is subsidizing the east side of the county. Beeman stated, “A quick answer is ‘no, money does not flow west to east’. Property values are higher and there is more density on the central/eastern side of the county. There are more commercial properties on the central/eastern side which simply means more taxes collected.” She continued, “There is likely an argument for money flowing Central to East.” But pointed out it is not a concern often raised as many Ann Arbor residents are very supportive of equity work. She added, that the Racial Equity Office specifically, receives funding from the marijuana taxes of which Manchester does not contribute.
And as for continuing the conversation around racism in Saline, Payne stated in answer to the Saline resident’s question about what the County is actually doing to fight racism in Saline, that it would be inappropriate for anyone to parachute in and “do” anything. She stated that the county can support Saline in the fight with resources, but that the actual fight needs to be a community-driven effort.
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