Even though Renee Wilson said she said she’s never personally felt discriminated against or threatened in Erlanger because of her race, Wilson said that doesn’t mean that issues of diversity ought to be sidelined, particularly within the school system.
“We want to have more interacting with students so that when they come out of school,” Wilson said at the first meeting of Erlanger’s new diversity and inclusion task force last week. “When they graduate that there is a place for them to find employment, to continue to grow as a family… and to continue to be a part of this community.”
Which is why Wilson, a task force leader and Erlanger City Council member, was happy to be part of bringing the task force, which dissolved in 2022, back to Erlanger. The meeting covered the diverse history of different groups in and around Erlanger, the history of the task force itself and the group’s goals before holding a brainstorming session with attendees.
“I have always been embraced in my community and in my neighborhood,” Wilson said. “What I hope to accomplish is to getting others involved in what’s happening in this city.”
Wilson had been a member of the task force that dissolved last year, and it was her idea to bring it back. She said she hoped that the group could help address the varying and specific needs of different communities within the city.
Wilson and her daughter Serena Owen, who is Elsmere’s first elected African-American council member, led the meeting. They gave a brief history of noteworthy African-American events and figures from local history, including Rosella Porterfield, who led efforts to integrate Erlanger and Elsmere schools in 1956 after the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case ruled school segregation as unconstitutional.
They also played a video from Kenton County Library, which described the historical significance of the region for Black Americans.
The task force would not only focus on racial diversity and inclusiveness, Owne said, but on other forms of diversity as well, including issues related to the LGBTQ community.
One idea pitched at the meeting was a city ordinance that would ban discrimination in schools and workplaces based on hair style and growth pattern.
“Hair discrimination is real,” Owen said. “It’s a real issue for folks, especially people of color, people who wear their natural hair, like in locs or braids. To ensure that these protections are in place for all Kentuckians is a step in the right direction.”
Such an ordinance would be modeled after the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, often shortened to the CROWN Act, which California signed into law in June of 2019. Covington, Louisville and Frankfort have all passed similar legislation.
Steve Klare, who served on the previous task force, recommended cultural heritage celebration events throughout the year, citing a successful and well-attended Hispanic heritage event that took place at the city building before the pandemic. He recalled a family member describing the event as “the most diverse room I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s positive, and it teaches people, it teaches everybody,” Klare said of such events. “If we’re going to do something in the city and coordinate with the school system, those are the types of things we need.”
That kind of conversation, Wilson said after the meeting, is what a diversity task force is about.
“To open that door, to let it be known that you can be a part of this,” Wilson said. “And it’s open for all of the community. You don’t have to have a PhD or be in the political realm. If you have a concern, you can be a part of it.”
The task force will meet on the last Wednesday of each month at the Erlanger City Building to discuss diversity initiatives and policies in the city. Owen said that a similar task force will be instituted in Elsmere as well.
If you’re an Erlanger resident who would like to get involved with the task force, contact Council Member Renee Wilson at (859)802-1214 or renee.wilson@cityoferlanger.com.