I got this in the mail this morning. It seems we are still a ways from "Liberty and justice for all," or "All men are created equal," or moving closer to Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. The parent asked to remain annonymous for fear of retaliation.
Hello:
I am a retired teacher/coordinator in California, and a Johns Hopkins 1999 SDB fellow. This past Friday night I tried to gain the upper hand on this hazing practice, seemingly
innocuous, but both my child and my husband saw no harm in it. I don't care if it's shaving cream or eggs thrown at a newcomer. Whatever it is, a human being is inflicting his power over another in the name of seniority means abuse to me. Our child was excited at the chance of practicing hazing, an apparent right.
We learned of the truth by bits. First, our child was hazed. Last year we granted
permission for this. Fear, peer pressure I felt, they guaranteed everything would be all right. Not this year. Second, our child was left in the middle of the street two blocks away from home at well past one in the morning by a few of his fellow school mates. We all know of a kid who was shot at nine-thirty p.m on 26th and Pico. I know his family, actually. Eddy López was related to very high achievers, these formerly from a neighborhood school I know quite well.
Then, after I spoke to a mother, she wondered why I called her. Gee, isn't her child a minor? Shouldn't she know what happened to mine to better counsel hers so these things don't happen? Only after our call did we learn our child was left in the middle of the street, hazed although our child is no longer a freshman, in the middle of the night, a few blocks from where Eddy López was murdered.
In addition, we also learned our child has been harassed for our child's ethnic background, teased for dad's ethnic origin. This is against the Civil Rights Act, signed by President Johnson, 1964, amended several times. In case SAMOHI receives Title VII funds, which it does, SAMOHI could lose them.
Our child endured years of harassment in elementary, called gay because of inferences from our child's name. Get it? A name which means the messenger of the word of God becomes the butt of derogatory slurs. In part, what happened at the elementary school was due to the principal's ignorance and oblivion of SMMUSD code, which clearly specifies the illegality of any type of name-calling. When the administration decided to do something about this, eight months after we first reported the problem, damage was done and our child was taunted well into seventh grade.
I have no mercy for bullies. The law is zero tolerance for bullyism. Our child has always been known as a polite and courteous student and citizen. It is the parents' responsibility to teach and model ethics and proper values to their own kids. Should my child do something wrong, I would rather hear it immediately from a parent than learn about it after his deeds have gone through all the knitting group circles. I have e-mailed the teacher in charge of the kids and the principal. I have heard from the teacher. I am sure the principal got my mail. Dr. Hugo Pedroza is a remarkable man. I googled him at length, and both his life story and experience in education are remarkable.
Hazing is illegal. So is name-calling or touching in an inappropriate manner. If kids use slurs, they must stop. Our generation was raised at a time when nick-naming ethnic groups was the norm. Let's hope our kids do better than that in a metropolitan area where 163 languages are spoken. Once dead, we are all dust. Let's make MLK's dream a reality. Together we can do this. I hope this episode will be the end of an abusive practice for once and for all. Let's teach our kids about their rights and others'. And parents please contact me when or if my child has been inappropriate regarding your child.
No child should endure abuse silently. Nobody should. We are the nation of "E pluribus unum," many in one. Let's be inclusive.
Sincerely,
anarchic_universe
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