A Letter from Our Founder - November 2021
When I began In Purpose Educational Services in order to do equity work within my community, I did it with one idea in mind: I wanted to do something that I loved. Now, three- and-a-half years later, I can truly say that I have accomplished that mission. I love the people I have met, the programs I have participated in, and the changes that I have seen occurring as a result of the education I’ve provided. Most of all, I love seeing people empowered to also do the work that brings change to all of our lives.
This is why, in April of this year, I was so concerned when I first began hearing the anti-critical race theory rhetoric enter our national discourse. The more I listened, the more upset I became. Opponents of critical race theory were mischaracterizing the work that I do and love and were trying to assign negative outcomes to it that were untrue and misleading. They were mislabeling all equity work as CRT and then demonizing it.
My concern became all-out alarm on April 25, 2021, when I read proposed bills in the Missouri legislature that, by banning words and concepts central to the idea of equity, were aimed at preventing us from doing this work in our schools and communities. I immediately got in contact with my friend, Adelaide Lancaster, the co-founder of We Stories, to discuss what I could do, and that is how the Missouri Equity Education Partnership (MoEEP) was formed just six months ago.
“We can let those who oppose equity education
know that in our state,
we not only desire inclusion,
but demand it.”
— Heather Fleming,
Founder of the Missouri Equity Education Partnership
My hope for MoEEP is simple: to become a force for change that speaks in earnest support of equity education. We have built this organization from the ground up and are becoming a choir filled with hundreds of voices. I hope it becomes thousands more, so that we can let those who oppose equity education know that in our state, we not only desire inclusion, but demand it. We will no longer forget or ignore some groups in order to maintain the status quo for other groups. We will create schools, communities, and businesses that allow everyone to have the opportunity for success by working together to remove systemic barriers that have been in place for far too long.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., paraphrasing abolitionist Min. Theodore Parker, once said, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends toward justice.” I often think of this quote when I become frustrated that it seems we continue to face the same issues that Dr. King, himself, did. I sometimes ask how we arrived back here where we are -- arguing for the fundamental right of all human beings to exist with dignity and opportunity. However, what I’ve seen from MoEEP and from so many in my community gives me hope, even on our darkest days, that we will win. We are the ones curving the moral arc, and we must keep pressing forward.
Thank you for joining our journey and our fight. I know that we are on the right side of history, and I truly appreciate all that you do as we move forward.