In early February, a flag displaying the symbols of the Ku Klux Klan was hung up and displayed towards Grosse Pointe Park resident JeDonna Dinges’ home. A few weeks later, on Feb. 21, the community rallied around her and held a Pointes-wide “Hate Has No Home Here” rally through Welcoming Everyone Grosse Pointe (WEGP).

We at The Tower fully stand with Dinges. White supremacist, racist, and otherwise harmful hate speech has no place in our community. Likewise, we fully support the students, staff, and community members that took a stand and used their voices for good. Protests and demonstrations like these are direly needed, both in our community and nationwide, and we must continue pushing for change.

Racism has existed in the United States since the beginning of our nation, starting systemically in the very roots of our systems. Though the Founding Fathers wrote that “all men are created equal”, this is, evidently, not true today– an obvious problem still persists when it comes to widespread equality for all.

We believe this first step to eradicating racism and truly creating change begins with your own mindset. It starts with examining our thoughts and actions for any biases or prejudices we may have. In order to make this progress, we need to commit to becoming anti-racist. We at The Tower believe we should be accelerating change in a logical, respectful and progressive manner on the basis of equality.

However, we do fully support (and encourage) effective and progressive efforts to lobby change from our lawmakers. This concept is the heart of the majority of protesting we have seen, from the WEGP march to those over the summer, and we offer nothing but support to those who peacefully protest. Considering how we are able to exercise our First Amendment rights week in and week out, we would never consider limiting someone else’s right to express their views.

The march was a success and more light was shed on the discussion in our area. We heavily encourage community members, from students to students to parents, to participate in these types of protests. We all have a voice and a capacity to truly make a difference, and now more than ever, we need to use our voice to call out these injustices and hateful acts.

Our generation has brought forth huge amounts of discussion and change on the matter, and we are proud of the efforts we have seen our classmates making. Students have put in so much effort to spark change. We at The Tower want to provide you a platform where you can express your views.

Again, we at The Tower thank and support the community members that used their voices for good and took a stand against this racist incident. We also urge you to recognize that our work is not done. Protests and presentations like this are great ways to take a stand, but we need to push for real, tangible change as well. Progress is being made, but we are not at the finish line yet. We believe we need to keep working and advocating for change, one step at a time.