More Racism Accusations Arise

Fremont California Argus ^ | 31 Oct. 2003 | Sandhya Somashekhar

[BeAllYouCanBe]

My wife is a teacher and we wonder how bad things will get before they come to their senses??

[Coop]

On Tuesday, a Kennedy teacher allegedly complained out loud that the Mexican students in her Spanish class were disruptive

Well, were they?

[lady lawyer]

Is it now profiling to accurately describe a particular suspect? Of course not. This is ridiculous.

[Political Junkie Too]

Both Lowe and Riley have apologized, saying they were trying to help and not to racially profile.

Maybe I'm missing the point here. Racial profiling is about identifying groups of people likely to commit a crime before a crime happens. It sounds like these teachers were identifying actual people on the premises who weren't supposed to be there. That is not racial profiling, it is reporting what was seen happening.

-PJ

[henderson field]

She made a statement of fact. The Mexican students are disruptive almost everywhere. They are very much part of the reason that "No Child Left Behind" is fiction. The children left behind are the mainstream majority of the children whose time and learning opportunities are wasted by Mexican children whose parents do not care if they, or anyone else, are educated or not.

[HELLRAISER II]

My wifes a teacher to and all I can say is, Don't hold your breath waiting for things to change. We as a Nation are so worried about offending someone that we are willing to overlook the truth instead of meeting head on. It's just like searching A White Grandmother at the airport while simultaneously sending through a half dozen arabs without even so much as a second look.

[ladylib]

These people are nuts. If two blacks are suspected of committing a crime, they're suspected of committing a crime. What is the big freakin' deal?

This PC nonsense, as well as zero-tolerance, has to stop. It makes school administrators look like total idiots.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"Racial profiling is about identifying groups of people likely to commit a crime "

I also thought that being a racist was a person who prejudged based on skin color but now you cannot judge after the fact either. I guess we all off to re-education camps!

[boris]

If the women had been painted purple, would it have been inappropriate to note that purple-painted thieves were on the loose at various schools?

--Boris

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"purple-painted thieves "

You notice in the article that they mention Muslim parents that are upset for unknown reasons so it isn't all color.

Afghans here look really just like this old caucasian.

[Political Junkie Too]

I also thought that being a racist was a person who prejudged based on skin color...

When those judgements are based on nothing but one's own perceptions. When those judgements are based on statistical facts, such as drug trafficers on the NJ highway, or terrorists at airports, then it is something else. One can argue that the stastistics of drug runners in New Jersey is skewed because police don't hunt for the white drug runners as aggressively as the black ones, but you'd have to prove that with statistics, too.

-PJ

[PRND21]

She made a statement of fact. The Mexican students are disruptive almost everywhere.

She may have. You didn't.

[george wythe]

I guess we all off to re-education camps! Stating facts=Racial profiling

When the local news describe a suspect as a 5'-10", 180#, male wearing a red shirt and white shorts, you know that you have entered the twilight zone.

If the suspect is white, the light-brown hair, blue eyes, and skin tone can be included in the perp's description. Otherwise, you may only describe his clothes.

???

[templar]

On Tuesday, a Kennedy teacher allegedly complained out loud that the Mexican students in her Spanish class were disruptive, Principal Vivienne Paratore said.

Perhaps it would be more benefit to Mexican students to take English classes rather than Spanish classes.

[usadave]

On Tuesday, a Kennedy teacher allegedly complained out loud that the Mexican students in her Spanish class were disruptive, Principal Vivienne Paratore said.

If the Mexican students in the Spanish class are being disruptive, then that is the problem. The teacher who identified the Mexican students as being the problem is not the problem.

Meanwhile, an e-mail conflagration erupted after principals at Mission San Jose and Warm Springs elementary schools sent notes about some thefts at their schools last year -- committed, they said, by black visitors to their campuses, e-mails obtained by The Argus show.

If black visitors to the campuses of the two elementary schools are committing thefts, then that is the problem. The two principals who discussed black visitors to their schools as being the problem is not the problem.

"There are a lot of issues out there that we need to deal with as a community," he (district Superintendent John Rieckewald) said. "When comments like this are made by staff, it makes it very apparent we still have a long way to go."

When comments like this are made by a school district Superintendent, it makes it very apparent we still have a long way to go before we can talk openly and truthfully about race without fear of being branded a racist.

[Clemenza]

You shouldn't limit your analysis to "Mexicans." I can think of a few other ethnic/racial groups that are more "disruptive" than others in the classroom.

[Spok]

Local news reporters in my city will withhold the ethnicity of a perpetrator or alleged perpetrator if that person is one 'of color'-that's how fearful they are of being labelled a racist. They will withhold this information even if it impedes locating and arresting a criminal. When a picture isn't shown I often wonder if they're holding that back, too. It's pathetic.

[WackyKat]

"I unfortunately made a huge mistake," a tearful Riley said Thursday, noting that she recently invited a cultural sensitivity specialist to speak at her school. "I've spent my whole life trying to fight this injustice, and very unintentionally I ended up propagating it."

This woman has been successfully "re-educated" to believe that telling the truth is "racist"

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"The two principals who discussed black visitors to their schools as being the problem is not the problem. "

One thing that has to be mentioned is that the children are reporting this stuff to the administration. So imagine you are a kid and you can "ruin" a teachers career by taking some statement out of context. That is power! (Kids pick up on opportunities like this.)

[ibbryn]

"[they] left, driving away in a silver car, she said."
"I saw them get out of an older, beat up, silver Toyota."

In both cases the car was described as "silver," however I feel this unfairly stigmitizes light colored cars. Could the cars have not been gray? Perhaps the light was shining on them and they only appear "silver." What if the "witnesses" were lying in an attempt to bring shame and dishonor on all cars of [silver] color?