Some students were asked by their parents to report Coronado Unified School District (CUSD) teachers who use the words Equity, Justice, Inclusion, and Diversity. These parents are marketing fear and highlighting these words as though they lead to something dangerous or wrong. And yet, for centuries, scholars, schools, and communities have used these words and concepts to imagine a more just, fair, and productive society and to debate the best ways to achieve that. Here is Merriam-Webster’s definition of these commonly used words:

Equity – fairness or justice in the way people are treated.

Justice – the quality of being just, impartial or fair; conformity to truth, fact, or reason.

Just – having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason; acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good; legally correct.

Inclusion – act or practice of including and accommodating people who have historically been excluded.

Diversity – state of having people who are of different races or have different cultures in a group or organization.

Let’s stop putting CUSD students and teachers at a disadvantage by censoring basic words like these.