Letter to the Editor: Susan Hoch

Haddonfield resident, physician weighs in on several racial incidents involving borough athletics in recent months, response by school officials

To The Editor:

I write in response to the email sent to parents, written by our new School District Superintendent Dr. Larry Mussoline. Over the four months he has been on the job, he has tried to address the most recent racial incident in Haddonfield. I feel however he missed an opportunity to bring the community together. First, he needs to acknowledge that Haddonfield has a long history of racism and prejudice.

The Ku Klux Klan marched down Kings Highway in the 1920s to protest Catholics and Jews. There was opposition and racism directed against the Italian migration out of Camden and South Philly in the 1940s to 1950s. Some people continue to refer to one part of Haddonfield as “Little Africa” today. Racism and prejudice are not new here.

Second, his words are not supportive of those who have been victimized in the past by discrimination and lesser treatment. The superintendent has no right to tell people to “move on.” Saying that negates the real experiences of people of color, gay people, Jews, Muslims and the disabled (i.e. deaf children) in Haddonfield schools.

What Superintendent Mussoline needs to do is to acknowledge racism and prejudice as a reality in our town. Helping a Sudanese child soldier is nice but it is equivalent to saying “One of my friends is black.” It does nothing to educate this community about insidious prejudice. I personally have experienced defensiveness and attacks by residents in this town as a white woman, after I suggested publicly that we should hire more diverse teachers. What he should have said, rather than “move on,” is “move forward.”

To do so, he needs to acknowledge the damage of the past continuing to the present day, not minimize it to one event. He needs to admit that there is a problem. The Superintendent must do more. We expect moral leadership from him.

Susan Hoch, MD