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Lakota parent Ray Murray once attended a one-room school house with all black children, worn out books and no running water or

plumbing.

It was the 1950s in Pulaski, Tenn. — a hot bed area for the Ku Klux Klan — and he lived with his grandparents on share-cropped land.

"They had serious (race) issues back in those days," Murray said.

When people say the Lakota Local School District has issues with racism, Murray, a district parent council representative for Cherokee Elementary School and a hospitality manager for Neyer Holding Company, says it is a matter of perspective.

"Even though they had serious issues (in Tennessee), I saw blacks and whites working together even then,"

Murray said of his childhood. "I look at society at a different level than some people do. Everywhere I look, I see progress. I see the best in people. I don't look for the worst. Sometimes I wonder if I didn't get the memo that certain things should offend me."

It wasn't until the 1960s when the Giles County Schools were integrated, he said. Barring unfairness that was out of his hands, Murray said he got a good education and appreciated the opportunities later provided to him.

"I am not the victim of systemic anything," he said. "Where I am today basically has to do with the choices and decisions I made my entire life. I am where I am today based on my own judgment and decisions I made. I think we all need to hold ourselves accountable. We can't point fingers at white people and say they caused every problem we have."

Lakota listens to the concerns of racial minorities, he said, and he encourages those who have felt discriminated to speak up.

"They enjoy working with people, and they want to have you as part of their team," Murray said.

In his 20 years volunteering in the district, Murray said he has seen the student population grow more diverse.

"I'm just an everyday guy, and I have just as much voice in talking to the school board and Mike (Taylor) or any of the principals as anyone else. You just have to get up and get involved.

"It's an excellent school district. We're doing so many wonderful things and we're moving forward. Mike Taylor is not sitting still," he said.

Moving forward is definitely the goal, said board Vice President Joan Powell, and while the district can't instill cultural proficiency in every employee over night, she said it will get to that point eventually.

"I believe Lakota is a microcosm of society, and just as society has a range of people in awareness that are all in different places on a scale of awareness, I believe the Lakota school district is comprised of individuals who are in a similar place," she said. "I wouldn't put us as being better, I wouldn't put us as being worse ... it takes a while to move the hearts and minds of people."

Contact this reporter at (513)

755-5067 or lhilty@coxohio.com.

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