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April 1, 2008
Walkout a civics lesson
Students marking Chavez Day learn price of protest
By Laurel Rosenhall
Students calling for schools to recognize Cesar Chavez's birthday by
giving them a day off got an impromptu civics lesson Monday: Civil
disobedience has its consequences.
On what would have been the 81st birthday of the leader of the
farmworker rights movement, dozens of students from Sacramento schools
left their campuses and made their way downtown to Cesar Chavez Park.
They were there to express pride in their Latino roots and call for
greater recognition of Chavez in the public schools.
"I think it's racist because Martin Luther King got a day. How come
Cesar Chavez doesn't get a day?" asked Maria Jimenez, 16, a sophomore at
Luther Burbank High School.
She had permission from her mom to leave school after a morning test and
attend the event. But many other students had just walked out. They were
met by police – in squad cars, on horses and riding bikes – who told the
students they were truant.
"You're still in violation of state law," Officer Isaac Knutila told a
small group gathered in the park. "You gotta get back to school."
Lt. Don Rehm said his officers picked up about 35 Hiram Johnson students
as they marched to the park. They were taken to Sacramento City Unified
School District's truancy center, he said.
Monday was a holiday for state workers and some local governments. But
schools across the region were in session.
That's something activists are trying to change.
A group called By Any Means Necessary organized student protests across
California on Monday, saying schools aren't doing enough to honor
Chavez. Yvette Felarca, the organization's Northern California
coordinator, said schools should close for Chavez's birthday and teach
lessons about him in preceding days.
"Until this holiday is fully won and recognized the way it needs to be,
this is going to continue," she said. "We're not going to accept
second-class treatment."
Educators responded by saying the best way to honor Chavez is to stay in
school. Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of schools, said he knew
Chavez well. They were friends and political allies until Chavez's death
in 1993.
"We want students to study his life, understand his belief system. He
was a great American," O'Connell said. "But he would want students in
school preparing for their future."
He urged schools to use curriculum the state has developed to teach
about Chavez, who is considered the country's most prominent Latino
civil rights leader. Chavez fought for better conditions for farmworkers,
led a massive grape boycott in the 1960s and formed the United Farm
Workers union.
"This is a teachable moment and a moment to learn more about Chavez,"
O'Connell said.
Students at Luther Burbank honored Chavez on Monday with a special event
in the quad at lunchtime, said principal Ted Appel. There were speeches,
Mexican music and posters with Chavez quotes decorating campus.
Throughout the academic year, the school offers Latino leadership
classes where students learn about Latin American history, Spanish
classes designed for native Spanish speakers and after-school clubs
especially for Latinas and Latinos.
Absenteeism was not especially high on Monday, Appel said.
"I think there are a lot of things happening in the school that are
increasingly engaging Latino students in their own education and helping
them to be active in the community," he said. "The result of that is
that fewer students feel like it is valuable to simply walk out."
Some of those who had walked out changed their mind after the
conversation in the park with Officer Knutila.
"I'm going back," Guadalupe Ramos, 15, told her friends as she left the
park heading for school.
"I can't go to the truancy center again."
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