Retired Teacher asks that the race card be put away

[ilbegone]

We stood up, and it mattered.

By Luis Torres

The Chicano walk out of 1968 was about dignity and fundamental change that we're still striving for...

We also wanted to protest the conditions that led to a drop out rate hovering around 45%. Barely half of us were making it out of high school. Something was desperately wrong and we wanted to do something about it...

I gained a pride in my heritage that made me more comfortable with who I was -- a young man whose parents were from Mexico. I overcame the shame that I used to feel as a kid when my mother "spoke funny" in public. ..

In those times, I remember reading that "the best way to get the Man off your back is to stand up." We stood up on that day...

Forty years ago, the Los Angeles school board was the Man. Today it is an ally with the community in the effort to improve education...

The drop out rate at my alma mater, Lincoln High School, and the other Eastside high schools is still about 45%...

PDF:

http://classjump.com/mrcilker/docume...20mattered.pdf

HTML:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...,5135201.story

So, Mr Torres, what are you trying to say?

In 1968, the LAUSD board of education was white. Now, it's mostly brown, and those representative of other races on the board are mostly sympathetic to the Aztlanista program.
The race game has gained them nothing in all these years, and now it's about to come crashing down around their ears.

Some "Aztlan".