Everyone Is Welcome Here

Ada County, ID Teacher Reminds Us of the Power of One

Greetings from Idaho, where we continue to make the headlines for regressive policies and town hall meetings.

But wait! While the current administration continues to shock and awe, so do the actions, ideas, and impact of ordinary citizens standing up for all the gains we’ve made in dismantling systems of superiority and hundreds of years of colonialism.

A week ago, a middle school teacher, Sarah Inama, from the West Ada school district near Boise, was ordered to take down two signs because of a district policy that prevents signs that express a personal opinion. The signs–one simply saying “Everyone is welcome here” with multi-colored hands and the other stating: “In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued and equal.” She took them down for a couple of days, then put them back up because she was deeply troubled about what this would signal to her students. The local TV channel reported the story, and it’s now being shared worldwide. Check out the original story here.

In the days since KTVB’s story was published, West Ada students have held a walkout; a resident created t-shirts that bear the posters’ message and design and resulting in over 1500 sales of these Ts to be worn Monday, March 24. Students have called for the resignations of district officials. Idaho native Aaron Paul, a graduate of Centennial High School in Boise and star of the hit series Breaking Bad with 6.5M followers on Instagram, took to social media to criticize the district and support Inama.

“I was told that not everyone agrees that everyone is welcome here, so that’s what makes it a personal opinion,” said Inama.

My mother, Ann, was a kindergarten school teacher in Evergreen, Colorado. Some of my favorite memories were helping her “set up her room” every year in the final days of August before school started each year. She was so thoughtful and careful about this process. Looking back, she planted my activism seeds by setting an example for standing up for your beliefs.

I don’t know what she was fighting for, but I remember her coming home exhausted from school board meetings. Other memories include telling my father about her interactions with her principal and my parents whispering about whether it was worth risking her job to stand up for what she believed was best for her students.

“The system is not here for our benefit. It holds us back as individuals to support its own continued existence.”

“As children, few of us are taught to understand and prioritize our feelings. For the most part, the educational system doesn’t ask us to assess our sensitivity but to be obedient. To do what’s expected. Our natural independent spirit is tamed. Free thought is constrained. There is a set of rules and expectations put upon us that is not about exploring who we are or what we’re capable of. ~ Rick Rubin

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This week, I’ve made significant progress on my book proposal for True Nature: Bringing Dignity Down to Earth. Even if I found a publisher tomorrow, it would be years before it gets published. Going forward, this Substack offers the opportunity to apply whatever I’m writing about at the time to current events.

The idea that Everyone Is Welcome Here and the actions of Sarah Inama couldn’t be more illustrative of Dignity and the collective resistance brewing among the people in power, who are attempting to create policies that go against everything our forebears fought for. But the cat’s out of the bag regarding diversity, inclusion, and equity, and our children “are not going back.”

I had the opportunity to hear Erin Brockovich speak in Jackson recently. As a reminder, Brockovich was the paralegal who became a whistleblower when she spoke out against PG&E after finding widespread unexplained illness in her hometown of Hinkley, California. Brockovich's work in single-handedly bringing litigation against Pacific Gas & Electric was the focus of the 2000 feature film Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts. I came across notes from her talk, and they couldn’t be more apropos this week in light of the firestorm Sarah Inama has started:

“Superman is not coming … Every single thing starts with one pissed-off mom.” ~ Erin Brockovich

As for action on my part, yesterday, I asked AI to write a draft resolution for the City of Victor simply supporting this idea that Everyone is Welcome Here. I’m pleased with what she came up with. It’s now in the hands of our city manager, Mayor, and legal counsel. Perhaps wherever you live, you might want to go to your local city council or county commissioners and make the same suggestion–feel free to use this template.

I envision the lamposts lining our one-stop-light street through our small town, greeting our residents as they return home from work each night, our children as they head to school each morning, and our tourists as they start their adventure in the Tetons.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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In a Dangerous Time
By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

I think of the bones
of the unsung rib cage,
the way they protect
the heart. How bone,
too, is living, how it constantly
renews and remakes itself.
I think of how ribs engage
with other ribs
to expand, to contract,
and because they do
their solid work,
they allow the heart to float.
This is what I want to do:
to be a rib in this body
of our country,
to make a safe space for love.
There is so much now
that needs protection.
I want to be that flexible,
that committed to what’s vital,
that unwilling to yield.