Here is the kind of scene that probably won't be discussed before the
President's advisory board on race relations: in California's working-class
town of East Palo Alto, a group of Hispanic parents went before the
black-controlled school board last April to demand better bilingual
education for their children. Before the meeting ended, police had to be
called in to break up a fight between two participants: one a Latina and
the other an African-American woman who had told her to "go back toMexico."
Until now, the racial issue in public education has been sorting out the
competing claims of white vs. African-American students: Who should be
bused where? Or, how many dead white males should crowd the curriculum? But
the newest racial flash point in schools in many parts of the U.S. pits
Hispanic parents against African-American ones. The disputes like East Palo
Alto's arise in part from frustration over how to spend the dwindling pot
of cash in low-income districts. But they also reflect a jostling for
power, as blacks who labored hard to earn a place in central offices, on
school boards and in classrooms confront a Latino population eager to grab
a share of these positions.
In East Palo Alto blacks made up 85% of the student population a decade
ago; today almost 70% of the 5,000 students are Latino. But while the
composition of the schools has changed, the composition of the people who
run them has not. A black woman, Charlie Mae Knight, has served as
superintendent for the past 11 years; the five-person school board has just
one Hispanic member; and only oneof the district's school principals is
Latino. Says David Giles, a lawyer who represents East PaloAlto's Latino
parents in their battles with the district: "African Americans struggled
for years to gaincontrol of institutions here. To now see this community of
immigrants come here and ask for someof the resources is threatening to
them."
And in many cities it has already led to bitter face-offs. In Dallas the
school district's first Hispanic superintendent, Yvonne Gonzalez, resigned
in September amid corruption charges brought by blackemployees; in
response, Hispanic leaders demanded that the black associate superintendent
who ledthe assault on Gonzalez step down too. In an episode in Washington
early this year, Hispanic parents accused an African-American principal of
taping the mouths of two Latino students who had allegedly cursed their
teacher, and parading one of them through the school. The city's
superintendent immediately pledged to hire more bilingual teachers and a
full-time multicultural administrator. Hispanic-black tension also
underlined last December's "ebonics" controversy inOakland, Calif. The
black-majority school board's announcement that African-American students
spoke their own second language was made in part to garner a share of the
federal bilingual fundsthat Oakland's blacks perceive as solely helping
Latino students.
Invariably, the issue that drives Hispanic parents into local school
politics isbilingual education. In East Palo Alto Latino parents filed a
complaint with thestate earlier this year demanding that the school
district provide English-deficientkids with general instruction in Spanish
along with daily English lessons. Saysparent Sergio Sanchez: "[The
administration] always says yes, yes; they promiseto do things, but they
never change. We need a new face in there." Many of thecity's blacks, for
their part, don't see the value--and resent the cost--of bilingual
education. "If they want to learn Spanish, they should go to Mexico," says
Lorraine Holmes, who has grandchildren in the system. Claims parent
EvanMoss: "The school district is spending an awful lot of money on
bilingual education when it could be used to educate all children."
Bilingualism isn't the only point of conflict. Hispanics in East Palo Alto
are using their increasing clout to protest what they say is the schools'
overall mediocre performance and the inefficiency of its bureaucracy, as
well as alleged instances of cronyism and graft. Parents like Sanchez
accuse Knight of stirring up racial resentments among blacks to deflect
criticism about her administration. Knight dismisses her critics, saying,
"Wheneverwhites are in charge of Latinos, they don't get the same kind of
push that a black superintendentdoes. People... tend to distrust those who
look more like them."
That distrust, which runs in two directions, seems to touch everything in
the district. Not long ago,Latino residents decided to rename one of the
elementary schools after the late activist Cesar Chavez,as a mark of
cultural pride. But on the day of the dedication, supporters of the name
change showedup at the school to find a group of blacks there
too--protesting. They thought the Latinos wanted tohonor Julio Cesar
Chavez, the boxer, and they disapproved. Recalls Matias Varela, a Hispanic
resident who heads the county's arts council: "It was a total
misunderstanding between the twogroups." Or perhaps it was the clearest
sign that such conflicts might be eased if the two groups were to spend
some time swapping stories about each other's political struggles.
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