Their numbers, thankfully, are small.
But the ugly, distorted message they bring is hard to escape, despite the smallness of their group, and the smallness of their thinking.
School officials and other authorities in and around Monona are concerned about the emergence of a gang at Monona Grove High School that apparently is intent on fueling racial tension and furthering hate-mongering among teenagers
This follows up on a related news story from several days ago:
MONONA - With racial tension continuing in the Monona Grove School District, middle and high school officials are cracking down on students displaying symbols of a youth gang espousing racist ideas.
Its clear that we have a problem in our schools. I can't speak directly to the scope of the issue, and I have no reason to doubt the reports that it is a small number of problem students involved. But that doesn't minimize the seriousness of the issue: it only takes a few to create an intimidating environment. I believe that we should have zero tolerance for racially motivated harassment, threats or violence, or any activity that creates a threatening or intimidating environment. All our students have a right to attend school in a positive, supportive environment conducive to learning.
I have already asked that the board be presented with an analysis of the situation, including a review of actions we have taken and most importantly our measures of success.
Update: District Diversity coordinator Charlie Ellis comments on the issue here in the most recent Herald-Independent.
What’s to be done? First, acknowledge the problem. Second, begin consulting with those law enforcement resources that have factual and authentic information about the gang. Third, begin an awareness program apprising the community of the problem. Fourth, utilize school resources such as pupil services staff and other staff who understand and relate to minority and cultural issues: openly listen to and assist victims of racial harassment in learning effective strategies to handle race baiting as well as reporting it. Finally, the same staff should be employed to provide interventions and counseling to members or potential members of the gang.
8 comments:
Hi Peter-
I agree with all of your statements. I do wonder why this is appearing now in the paper. The activity has been ongoing for a while. In my opinion, when something reaches the paper-something has gone wrong-someone feels that the issues is not being addressed or something else.
For instance, there were racial problems in Winnquah the last two years, but it never reached the paper.
Jessica posted a letter on her blog from Art teacher Judith Durley. I think Ms. Durley is a very good art teacher, but her letter gets to the root of the problem. Essentially, she asserts there is no big problem - that it is a small group, the administration is dealing with it, and that the vast majority of students and staff are not racists.
First of all, almost all of us do possess elements of racism, and to try and whitewash (pardon the pun) this problem as Ms. Durley has can be very offensive to minority students and families even though I am sure Ms. Durley intended no offense. Second, at this point, I care far less what Ms. Durley or any other majority teacher or student may have to say and care far more about what minority students, families and staff have to say. But oh, wait a second, how many minority staff do we have? And why is that? And how many of the few minority staff we have believe it is safe for them to speak out on this topic? Have any of them been disciplined for speaking out? The deeper we dig, the worse this problem looks.
Maybe the district can find a couple hundred thousand bucks laying around to hire a few more diversity administrators. That should take care of this HUGE 'problem'.
Listen, if you think MG has a 'racial problem', go spend a few hours at any Madison public high school. And if you grew up going to an urban high school in the 70's like I did, then you might have a better perspective on what a 'racial problem' is or isn't. Back then, city police in the schools with riot gear (because there were 'race riots') was not unheard of.
My point is this, we have come light years since those days. Does every person see other people without regard to the color of their skin yet? No. I would wager that day will never come (unless we all go blind). There will always be people who struggle with racial issues - 'white' people, and 'black', and 'brown', etc... But we have made great strides.
Like a good education - giving our children an understanding and acceptance of people who are 'different' than us STARTS IN THE HOME! If parents don't give a damn and don't supplement the education their kids receive at school with 'coaching' at home, then they have failed their children. Likewise, if they inject race as an issue into their children's lives, then they have failed their children again. Children will bring their parent's attitudes and beliefs to school with them until (hopefully) they can think these things through for themselves. And if this 'racial problem' didn't come the kid's parents, it is their parent's job to get involved and stop this hate or prejudice from developing in the first place.
Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill. And let's all talk to our children about this. That's the first step...
Peter, are you aware of this post a former employee wrote last year on her blog? http://nycitymama.com/2009/08/white-people-can-live-anywhere-tales-of-a-latinas-travels-part-2-of-2/
Why won't we listen to the voices of color in our district? This is a travesty and a HUGE concern.
Asleep at the wheel, this is a mountain, NOT a molehill.
I agree, this is a mountain and not a molehill. Hatred in this form is a travesty that cannot be tolerated. We must bring an end to racism in our schools, no matter how few are involved. There can be nothing less than a zero-tolerance policy. Minimizing it, or comparing it to an area that is worse, insults everyone involved!
Thank you for addressing this issue and for taking it seriously. While there may only be a “small” number of students actually professing membership to a hate group, shouting racial slurs in the hallways, physically threatening and pretending to run down African American students in the parking lot, the issues in this district are much much bigger than a few kids. This became clear after reading the comments following the WSJ article, many of which minimized the problem, said that this is a class issue and not a race issue, that the black students brought it on themselves, or blamed the victims for “inserting race”. Well, I am a middle class white parent of African American children who receive excellent grades and exemplary behavior reports from school, and I can say I have never had to inject race as an issue in my kids’ lives but it is still there.
My children began hearing openly racist taunts starting in early elementary school, which is not unexpected and happens everywhere. Yes, there were primarily one or two taunters and they tended to have lots of other issues, but my child has received racial taunts standing in a group of her own white, middle class friends who may never say such things themselves, but will stand silently by or even laugh when they hear another person direct such things at my child.
I believe that the school district needs to do more to address this head on - in the classroom and at a young age - so that white children will be better prepared to respond to racism when they see it. Combatting racism should not be solely the job of the 10% of minority students in this district. I believe that most white families simply do not talk about race. Many believe they can raise their children to be colorblind, which is not enough, even if it were possible (which I don’t believe it is). Parents of white children don’t have to worry about their children riding bikes in the front yard being subjected to racial taunts from kids with Confederate flags in their windows driving by. Meanwhile, families of color are constantly trying to walk the line between protecting our kids from racism as long as possible and preparing them for it once it inevitably occurs. Parents of children of color have to start talking to their kids about race at a relatively young age, while many parents of white children think they can just tell their kids “everyone is the same” and leave it at that.
I wish that more white parents of white children in this district would take up this issue and try to see things from the perspective of minority families. I wish that more white families would realize that just because they weren’t aware of and haven’t seen any racial issues, that doesn’t mean they do not exist. I wish they would realize that silence can often equal complicity.
To the above poster, I'm all in. How do we organize this? I spoke with my junior son (who has minority friends who come to our house, though I realize that doesn't mean we fully understand the world they live in each day)and the way he sees it, the problem might involve a few students but it is not a mole hill. He gave examples of hearing members of "the group" making slurs while discussing literature in English class(saying things like "the south will rise again")and students selecting junior project topics that get teacher approval but are blatant racist topics based on the people selecting them, according to him.
It doesn't matter if it is a small number of kids doing it, it IS racism, and we can't tolerate it.
Since minority achievement is a board/distirct goal, who is going to take this on? I'm pretty sure kids who don't feel safe and accepted at school aren't achieving their best.
White Mom - your response is really encouraging to me. As far as who should take the lead - that's a really good question. I really think the administration has a responsibility to do more and to come up with a concrete plan, but to be honest I am not all that confident they will without more nudging. We can't eliminate all racism, but our schools do not have to be places where even a small number of students feel comfortable espousing hate. While there are no quick fixes there are certainly things that can be done to change that. Young children can learn how to respond when they see a friend being bullied - for their race and for other reasons. Older white students can understand that standing by and permitting racist jokes to be said in their presence contributes to creating a racist and hostile environment for minorities, they can learn to spot more subtle forms of racism and how to respond in a way that is not confrontational.
I'm not sure how much can be done this year, but I do think we could start thinking about next year. I plan to do some research and contact my kids' school to see what kind of age-appropriate training can be planned for next year. Hopefully there will be other parents who will do the same!
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