As the Martin Luther King holiday approaches, I am thinking
about prejudice circa 2003 right here in Gilroy.
As the Martin Luther King holiday approaches, I am thinking about prejudice circa 2003 right here in Gilroy. I am trying to answer questions from my children, even as questions of my own arise. I am trying to differentiate between the ideals of equal rights and equal opportunity.
I have been a lifelong supporter of equal rights for all persons. I support equality regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. But equal opportunity? I am struggling with that one.
Over the course of the past year, I have become aware of many ideas which look good, but actually discriminate in the name of equal opportunity.
Last year Enid Lee was hired to work at Gilroy High School. This woman runs a company dedicated to getting corporations, governments and schools to “put race on the table” and deal with racial inequalities at these institutions. Now, I have no problem with private companies employing Ms. Lee to hash out any real or perceived inequalities which exist within those organizations. A little soul-searching and hand-wringing and self-flagellation by the people who run a private enterprise doesn’t bother me at all. However, spending public money, taxpayer money, employing Ms. Lee is totally unacceptable. And from what I can gather, Enid Lee was not paid to promote her world vision with the personal funds of the ex-principal of Gilroy High School, but with public dollars.
These are dollars which could have been spent on books, computers, office supplies, or a leaky roof. Someone at Gilroy High School made the decision that it was more important to use education funds to “put race on the table” then to waste it on educating our children.
In perusing the website of Enid Lee, I was appalled at some of the ideas she advocates. I wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Lee that racism still exists in this and every other place on earth. However, I don’t believe that the way to overcome racism is to become a racist. Ms. Lee is affiliated with some of the same folks who brought us “Ebonics.”
She tells of her use of “Ebonics” when traveling to the Caribbean to avoid paying the higher “tourist” price she would have to pay if she used standard English. I had to read this twice, not believing on my first reading of this published speech that she advocates “discounts” based on race.
I need to ask around town to find out if Chinese restaurants and Mexican restaurants have been charging me more because I’m not the right ethnicity to receive a discount. I never heard of this, and certainly never expected a self-proclaimed advocate of racial equality to engage in such a practice.
In addition to this speech, there are links to numerous other articles which seek to raise the flag for victimhood. If Enid Lee can convince people that they are victims, she is sure to be in business a long time.
Her entire business is built around the notion that those in power – which here in Gilroy must be the 35 percent of us who don’t fall under the label Hispanic – need to be reprogrammed.
We do this, ostensibly, by “putting race on the table.”
Since Ebonics won’t sell in Gilroy, she has plenty of other ideas. I read about the struggle to overcome the “preference for standard English.” Huh? Reality check Ms. Lee: we are living in the United States of America. English is the language of our nation. I don’t prefer it over any other language, but I take comfort in the fact that Americans have one common language regardless of where they lived before they came here.
Supporters of bilingual education in Gilroy are all for teaching two languages, as long as one of them is Spanish. There has never been a push to teach the Polish, Farsi or Mandarin speaking students to be bilingual.
Likewise, I have a friend whose child was invited to participate in the Puente program. It is a great program, which gets kids on track to be successful in college. They have this program at Gilroy High to provide college opportunities for Hispanic students. This means that non-Hispanic kids don’t benefit from the program. Now the AVID program is being proposed for junior and senior high students. This is a program for kids with high potential, whose GPA can range from 2.0 to 3.5.
Again, I admire the program, it is wildly successful. However, you need to be a minority student or economically disadvantaged to participate.
When questioned if GATE or high achievers could take advantage of this program, I was told “probably not.”
This is because we ostensibly are already providing for those students. At then end of the day, it doesn’t matter that your grandmother narrowly escaped from a pogrom or your grandfather was forced to leave school at age seven to work on a fruit truck. If you don’t fit the guidelines, your child will not be offered a place at the AVID table.
I am writing of this now; before the school board sits down to decide whether or not to expand the honors program at Gilroy High.
I am not suggesting we do away with AVID, Puente or bilingual programs here in Gilroy. These programs cater to students who have traditionally slipped through the cracks.
What I am suggesting is that we put a little balance into our program, so that our high-achieving students – without regard to their ethnicity or economic status- stop slipping right out of Gilroy.
Offer challenging rigorous honors classes, across all subject matter, to 100 percent of our students who are willing to put in the hard work required. Equality demands no less.
Denise Baer Apuzzo has lived in Gilroy for 5 years. She is married and is a parent of three children who attend Gilroy public schools. You can reach her at: lu*****@ea*******.net. Her column is published each Thursday.
