This Prescott resident says the city needs a new mindset when it comes to race, DEI

SAM DINGMAN: In Prescott, the City Council has been debating the latest version of the city’s general plan. Controversy has erupted over a version of the plan which would include non-binding language expressing the city’s commitment to DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion.

Conservative critics of that version of the plan say DEI language is ideological and potentially harmful. They argue that it’s outside the scope of a document which should focus narrowly on issues like land use, transportation and water.

But at a recent council meeting, a Prescott resident named Isaac Jackson stepped to the podium. Jackson grew up in Prescott. He’s a student at Yavapai College, and works part-time as a delivery driver at a pizza restaurant.

He says his experience on the job is evidence in favor of including DEI measures in the general plan. I spoke to Jackson last week, and I began by asking him to share some of those experiences.

ISAAC JACKSON: So I had an order that was in this gated community, and the customer, of course, provided me the code to get in everything. But then as I parked in front of his house, I saw this woman walking up to me. I mean, she looked like she was in her later 30s, maybe early 40s, and she was walking her dog. And she came up to my window and she just said, "Are you lost? You look like you're lost." So I just. I replied, "No, ma', am, I'm not lost. I'm in the right spot. I'm a delivery driver." And she responded with that, "OK, well, you look like you don't belong here."

And there is a certain tone that people of color can — how do I put this? You could tell when there's a little bit of an underlying — I think you know what I mean?

Jasmine Romero

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SAM DINGMAN: Sure. I'm following you. I'm following you.

JACKSON: Yeah, yeah. And so then after that, I was just kind of in shock that she had said that. And then she said, "Don't park in front of my house or near my house." And then she just walked away. And I wasn't doing anything. I was doing my job.

DINGMAN: Yeah. And just to make sure I am following you, you interpreted her saying, "you look like you don't belong here" as a reference to the fact that you are a person of color.

JACKSON: Yes, I definitely interpreted that as racially motivated.

DINGMAN: So that was one experience that you shared, and then there was another one.

JACKSON: Yeah. So the second one was. It was another delivery not too much long after that one, by the way. I was delivering to this church, and when I got there in front of the church, there was an elderly gentleman wearing a leather jacket. He was sitting on a Harley. He was smoking a cigarette.

And I didn't really know where I was supposed to go. So I just asked him, "Excuse me, would you happen to know where I could find Tim?" I'm just going to use Tim as the placeholder name here because honestly, I honestly don't remember the name. ...

And the man didn't respond to me. He didn't even look at me. He just puffed his cigarette again. And then I saw the church doors open, and five or six men, they all came out. And the last one that came out was a muscular man. He was wearing a ribbed tank top. And I noticed a swastika tattoo on his upper chest.

And he came up to me and he just asked, "Is this for Tim?" And I was. I nodded, yeah. And so he said he was gonna go get him. And then Tim came out, and he also had a swastika tattoo. It was just a little bit smaller. And he said, "Yeah, man, the pizza's 30 minutes late. I'm not paying for that. What are we going to do about this?"

And again, going back to the first story, there's a certain tone that you can — you can just sense when people. When people ask you questions or when people say anything to you, and it's like it's so recognizable. And after he said that —

DINGMAN: Well, sure. And that's. That's the case even when there's no swastikas present. I mean.

JACKSON: Oh, yeah, yeah. We're pretending that the swastikas weren't even there for a second. That's something I'm. I don't think I need to touch on. But —

DINGMAN: No, they sort of speak for themselves.

JACKSON: Yeah. Yeah. And so they all just stared at me, waiting for me to respond. And that was —I'm not going to lie. That was kind of scary. So I just. I just said, yeah, I'll. We'll take care of it. And I gave him his pizza. And then they all went inside.

And first of all, I wasn't late. Second of all, if I had not have given him his food, I really don't know what would have happened from there. I mean, it was a little threatening. I'm not going to lie. I was pretty scared.

DINGMAN: Yeah, Yeah. I don't blame you. And one of the other things that you shared in your speech is that you have lived in Prescott, I think you said, for something like 14 years. Prescott, as you say, is your home.

JACKSON: Yes, it is. I was. I believe I was 6 years old when I moved here. And so the majority of my childhood memories are from Prescott.

DINGMAN: How would you characterize these experiences that you shared about in your speech in the broader context of your life there as a person of color?

JACKSON: The best way to put it is as I got older, the experiences became a lot more prevalent, especially in high school. I mean, I went to Trinity Christian School, which is a private school here. And I was only there from fourth grade to my freshman year.

But I started to notice some of these encounters. They started showing up more around that time. I mean, when I was at Trinity, this was in sixth grade. I have a core memory of. I was at the time, one of my friend's house. I'm not going to say his name, but we were watching, we were watching a boxing match. And the result of the boxing match was not in my favor. And I got up and I was like, oh. Like, I was. I was visibly upset. And he just said, "Shut up. N-word." And him and his whole family started laughing.

And I'm not gonna lie to you. At the time, I started laughing, too, because I was in sixth grade, and I was super impressionable. And I was around a bunch of my white friends and his family.

And so I really had no idea like, it didn't even occur to me that, like, that is a problem. And then until I started getting older and started to realize, like, wow, this is a problem. I don't know why it's difficult for people to realize that, like, this is a problem and we should be doing more about this.

Something I've noticed is because of the lack of care in these areas, people my age and of similar background to me just feel hopeless, man. The amount of conversations I have about the dreams and the goals that, like, the visions that we have for this town, because, again, it's beautiful here. But —

DINGMAN: But I'm really glad you. You're bringing this up, Isaac, because this was gonna be my next question for you. In your speech, I think you said, you know something to the effect of, God has blessed Prescott with all of this beauty. It's clear that you're not coming at this from a place of hating Prescott.

JACKSON: From the complete, yeah, the complete opposite, man. Oh, my goodness.

DINGMAN: But I appreciate you describing how these incidents made you feel, because you gave your speech in the broader context of this ongoing debate that is happening on the Prescott City Council about whether to include DEI language in the 2026 general plan. And you said, quote, "DEI is not about unfair advantages for people who look like me. It is about basic fairness and dignity."

Can you tell me a little bit more about what you mean when you say it's about basic fairness and dignity, especially in relationship to these incidents that been describing.

JACKSON: I think it would just make people like me understand that like we are seen and our, like the problems that we encounter to a day to day basis. Like it is something that the, that the, the City Council is thinking about, and it's something that they do care about. And it's just really concerning to me that like this is even a conversation.

DINGMAN: For you, you're saying this is about the town kind of declaring a mindset that is aware of the types of incidents that you and it sounds like other people you have spoken to have, have had to deal with.

JACKSON: Absolutely. Why is it a common theme of like people coming here and having bad experiences? I mean, just today, literally just today as I was coming home, I parked and I saw that there was a family looking around my complex. And when I got out, one of the gentlemen asked me, "Hey friend, we're thinking about moving here. What's your experiences here in this apartment complex?" And I asked him, "What's your concern?" And his only answer was: racism. Like that's your concern about like moving into this apartment complex. So what that tells me is that that is a thought that's on a lot of people's minds when they're moving here.