Dr. Jann Murray-Garcia - 2020 (Citizen of the year)
As Davis school district officials work on creating an ethnic-studies program to include in the curriculum the experiences and perspectives of people of color, there is precedent in the district not just to guide them but that reinforces the desire of students themselves to learn history, in particular, through a different lens.
Back in 2007, Dr. Jann Murray-Garcia, a pediatrician and mother of two in Davis, proposed that Davis High offer a college prep-level social studies course on U.S. history from the perspective of race relations and the quest for social justice.
The proposal followed five years of Murray-Garcia’s work with students in a club at Davis High who had been researching and presenting their findings on the racial and social disparities experienced by their peers.
Their work, which they ended up presenting all over the world, included evidence showing discipline was meted out in the school district differently based on a student’s race.
The new class Murray-Garcia proposed in 2007 would build on that work.
Davis High history teacher Kevin Williams agreed to teach the class, which would satisfy the 11th-grade U.S. history requirement, and the school district signed off but with a caveat: a minimum of 29 students would need to sign up to be funded for its first year.
Murray-Garcia said she was also warned that student test scores better not drop.
Students themselves, meanwhile, would have to choose the class over another option popular among college-bound students: AP U.S. History and the boost that class would provide to their grade point averages.
But they did. A total of 108 students signed up for the class that first year, requiring multiple sections to be offered, and test scores actually went up, said Murray-Garcia.
Over the last 13 years, interest in the program only grew, with more Davis High teachers signing on to teach the class.
Race and Social Justice, said Murray-Garcia, “became the most popular offering for the U.S. history graduation requirement.
“About half of students take it,” she said. “The young people really valued this information about an expanded U.S. history that emphasizes the experiences of marginalized, non-white and white ethnic groups that came here.”
And Davis was way ahead of the game, too, she said.
“There were less than three schools in the state that were offering something like it.”
That Murray-Garcia would be the one to spearhead creation of the class would surprise few: her work in Davis began in 2002 when she organized community forums to respond to racist incidents in the city as well as at its schools. For 20 years she co-wrote a column in the Davis Enterprise with Jonathan London that focused on issues of race and social justice.
Over the years she has provided both inspiration and foundation for community projects and discussions related to social justice, and for all of that, she has been named this year’s recipient of the C.A. Covell Award, also known as the city’s “Citizen of the Year” award.
First presented in 1944 to C.A. Covell, a longtime mayor of Davis, the award recognizes leadership in civic activities, unselfish service to the community and reliability in following through on commitments.
Murray-Garcia was nominated by Williams and Hiram Jackson, a longtime volunteer in the Davis school district. They are, said Murray-Garcia, “two of my heroes.”
In addition to Murray-Garcia’s contributions to the community over the years, Williams and Jackson noted how invaluable that work has been recently, during the racial reckoning of the last year.
“In light of recent incidents in national and regional news regarding unfair treatment of Blacks in various police encounters, Dr. Murray-Garcia has provided background and context to the local community for understanding how these incidents are perceived differently by different people, and a platform to talk about these issues constructively,” they wrote.
“She prepared us for a future we are now entering.”
Williams and Jackson are not the only Davis residents singing her praises.
Former Davis school board member Susan Lovenburg says Murray-Garcia’s “passion for social justice, and for promoting a broader understanding of the Black experience in America, shines in her long service to Davis schools.
“Jann influenced my personal views as a school board member, as she helped move the district to more equitable program offerings and a culture that welcomes diversity,” said Lovenburg.
The Race and Social Justice class, she said, “has influenced hundreds of students who have participated over the past decade.
“For my own children, the program opened their eyes to a societal reality they had never really understood before and shaped their future personal and professional choices.
“This is just one small example of how Jann continues to influence lives and create a better world,” said Lovenburg.
And just as some have pushed back against the introduction of ethnic studies in the schools now, there were those who objected to the Race and Social Justice class more than a decade ago.
“As I told students then, you’re studying history and making history, because there were a lot of adults that were saying this is political,” Murray-Garcia recalled.
“And they voted with their feet. They kept coming.”
So much so that there are now eight or nine sections of the class each year, she added.
In recent years, Murray-Garcia pulled back from her work at the high school and in the district to focus more on her family.
But her anti-racism and social justice work continues.
Now an associate clinical professor at the UC Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, Murray-Garcia includes among her work anti-racism training in the health system.
“I’m focused a lot more on building scholarship and training folks across the country on issues of race and impacts on health,” she said.
She also still works with the Black student union at Davis High and it is with the young people that her heart remains.
“As a pediatrician, I would hope that my legacy would be through young people,” she said.
Murray-Garcia adds that she “would not have even attempted the work I did in Davis if they’re weren’t a lot of great people in Davis… people who see the hundreds of hours we’ve put in as an investment in our young people and our community and our nation.”
As Coretta Scott King said, “Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation.”
“It’s an active ongoing process,” said Murray-Garcia.
And on a personal level, she said, “it comes from my faith, my Christian faith, and honoring the life and potential of each child, as much as I honor that of my own children.”
— From the Davis Enterprise - January 12, 2021. Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at aternus@davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy.
