OPINION: World Wide Freedom

Written by Jake Negovan | May 4th, 2010 | Comments (0)

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The internet is wonderful.  I love it.  I can’t decide which is harder to believe – that I’ve been using it for 15 years or that I grew up without it.  With innovations to communication, reporting, entertainment, commerce, and politics, there’s no question that the internet has changed the world.

Unfortunately, the internet is about to change forever.  The democratic freedom and equality upon which the World Wide Web is based faces serious threat from corporate interests, government capitulation, and public inaction.

Net neutrality is the philosophy that all internet content is treated equally by internet service providers.  That philosophy means that if you build a website and I want to visit it, I can get to your website just as easily as I could get to pages created by Matt Drudge, Perez Hilton, or Harry Knowles.  It means that if I want to read about new cars and their safety ratings, I have equal access to General Motors, Consumer Reports, or Ralph Nader.  It means that a handful of people in San Antonio can create a web outlet for multi-cultural commentary on politics and culture, name it RedBrownandBlue.com, and nothing stops those people from being read across the entire United States.

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For the People: A Lesson Learned.

Written by Jake Negovan | October 5th, 2009 | Comments (3)

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Something happened on my way to a good argument – I educated myself, applied reason and good sense, and found that I had less of a need to fight than I had previously believed.  In doing so, I realized that within the Texas text-book debate lies an opportunity to examine our current contentious political environment.

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about the Texas State Board of Education, new Board Commissioner Gail Lowe, and the revision of Texas Essential Knowledge Skills.  Most of the talk concerns the fact that Lowe is a conservative Christian and she feels our Founding Fathers intended for our country to be guided by Christian principles, thus making it acceptable to use those principles to shape the education of American school children.  Like most of the things regarding the country’s Founding Fathers, it is debatable whether that was their intention, and statements can be cherry-picked from each of them to support either side of the argument.  Those men were remarkable thinkers, interested in multiple disciplines of thought, and supporters of the advancement of science to achieve greater understanding of the natural world.  Because of that support, I have a hard time believing that any of the Founders would argue against evolution or the Big Bang in favor of creationism or a fundamentalist time-line, which Lowe’s predecessor did while serving as Commissioner.

I read several of the published criticisms of the Texas State Board of Education.  I became concerned with some of the changes that were being considered which seemed to defy reason in favor of promoting a conservative political agenda.  I wanted to help publicize this revisionist agenda, criticize the flawed logic of the changes suggested, and call people to action against the subversion of public education.  Before sitting down to type, though, I took an important step.  Rather than regurgitate information that had come to me through secondary sources, I found the drafts of proposed revisions to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, annotated with commentary from members of the board.

What I found actually came as a surprise.  Looking at the proposed changes for Social Studies, Special Topics Social Studies, US Government, US History, Sociology, and World History, I discovered that the proposed changes in these drafts overwhelmingly support a broad and multicultural point of view in public education.  Despite reports to the contrary, Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall are not being eliminated in favor of Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh.  Many, many historical figures are being proposed as additions to the curriculum (including Chavez and Reagan) that were not previously specified as part of the required teachings.  The majority of the controversy surrounds opinions made by one or two board members (or panelists appointed by those members) on the significance of particular figures, or the balance of “liberal” figures against “conservative” figures.  This again brings me back to the Founders.

The process underway in Texas to shape the education of our children is reflective of the Founder’s desire for elected representatives to debate the merits of public policy and act in the public interest.  They knew that a consensus would be rare, so they created a government in which debate could be used to sway opinion, and the opinion held by the majority would emerge victorious.  Checks and balances would be in place, though, to protect against tyranny by the majority.   Americans seem to have forgotten that this is the way the system works.  Follow this train of thought – if our students are subjected to an education that is scientifically deficient or politically slanted, it is because the Board of Education, chosen by the citizens, approved of that education.  If the Board approves of that education but the majority of citizens do not, it is because dissenting citizens did not adequately exercise their right to vote for the Board. And if they did not adequately exercise their right, it stands to reason that the eligible voters did not take the time to educate themselves on the gravity of that election.  In turn, if an unfavorable outcome occurs, the next election provides a means of redress.  Knowing this, I can only shake my head in disbelief when I see modern tea-party protesters claiming that they have no representation.  The representation is present, only now, that particular opinion is in the minority.

It is important to the core concepts of our government that we hold our elected officials accountable.  We must make clear before and after they are elected what we want them to do on our behalf.  This is true right now in Texas as the Board decides the things teachers will talk about with our children, and it’s important nationally as our lawmakers decide how to change the health care system.  Equally important is remembering that decisions will favor the majority, and as a member of the minority, one must maintain a rational opposition. Extreme vitriol not only reflects poorly on your point of view, but causes an immediate disconnect with the party you’re trying to persuade.  We have all been guilty of it at some point.

The Texas Board of Education is accepting informal feedback on TEKS proposals through October 9.  You can go here to find the annotated drafts, the contact information, and the appropriate procedure for submitting commentary.  Shouts of “you lie” are not considered valid.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jake Negovan.

Jake Negovan strives to shine a light on truth and hypocrisy when the mainstream media overlooks those small details. “…For the People,” Jake’s column, is his platform to address the issues that our country faces as we continue growing toward a society of equality, as well as to provide him a place to tell you that he’s always right.

Hispanic Parents and Children Have Options Too.

Written by Dr. Jose Flores | August 19th, 2009 | Comments (7)

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I remember entering school in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a kindergartener. There were no Hispanic or bilingual teachers to help me overcome the language differences I encountered. We spoke Spanish at home. Many people think that this is just a problem for immigrants and that somehow we should go back to where we came from or just “Speak English…you’re in America now!” Well, interestingly enough I was born in Weslaco, Texas where my mother was born and my father was born in Chicago, Illinois. I know that makes me American. I never expected that I would encounter a system so resistant to accommodation for my family’s language and cultural differences, but I did and somehow survived to complete my studies. The closest role models in the teaching ranks of the schools were Italian American and Irish American teachers who understood the language issues and cultural assimilation issues my family experienced.

For the most part, White teachers told us to “Stop speaking Spanish at home…speak American… (English)…change your Spanish names to English …and fit in!” Perhaps these experiences have helped me to understand the emotional hardships of modern-day immigrants. We too, worked in menial jobs growing up harvesting crops in nearby Nunica, Hudsonville, Sparta, and as far away as Traverse City. I remember my escape from the fields to work in restaurants locally and later in the factories while attending school. These experiences made me well rounded by the time I reached high school. I left home at 16 and continued attending high school until graduating from Grand Rapids Central High School.

I hadn’t expected to go on to college but was recruited by a Chicano Counselor to Eastern Michigan University and the rest is history! I completed my degree and began working in the Grand Rapids Public Schools to change the system. I went on to earn my Master’s Degree at GVSU and Doctorate Degree from Wayne State University. As an educator I have been at the forefront of several movements to change the school system from within. Change has been slow to come and in recent years pushed back to the philosophies of yesteryear.

As I near retirement age, I often find myself at odds with individuals that seek to dismantle the progress we have made in hiring bilingual teachers and implementing programs to curb the horrendous Hispanic drop-out rate in the public schools. My two older sisters and my brother dropped out of school before the 9th grade from the Grand Rapids Public Schools. That left me, my younger brother and sister to navigate the system and graduate from high school. Therefore, the math worked out to 50% drop out rate for my family. Not much has changed in Grand Rapids according to the district’s dropout data for Hispanic children since…in fact, our drop-out rate is actually higher…nearly 75% and we are worse than Detroit and Flint pubic school districts.

A group of concerned Hispanic leaders met with Superintendent Bernard Taylor to express our concerns and were met with arrogance, condescending attacks and lack of respect for the elder leaders who expressed their concerns about the lack of progress of our district in meeting the needs of children learning English. The district is cutting back programs and in some areas has failed to meet state and federal laws regarding the education of ELL children in the classroom. We pointed out these concerns and challenged Supt. Taylor to address these issues. Dr. Taylor failed to take an opportunity to receive input about the concerns of the community which he had asked for in public meetings. He failed to be a problem-solver.

I am convinced that the Hispanic Community of Michigan will not meet success in our public schools classrooms until there is real reform. The statistics demonstrate that Hispanic children enrolled in private religious schools and in Charter schools are having greater success completing high school. The recent demographic statistics regarding urban flight to suburban schools by Black and Hispanic students also suggest that Hispanic parents realize there is a better standard of education in the suburbs. Wyoming, Godfrey Lee, Godwin Heights, Kentwood, Comstock Park schools all have experienced dramatic increases in Hispanic enrollments over the past five years. There is a lesson in this …Hispanic parents have options too! We can leave and take our children elsewhere if urban public schools continue to fail the majority of our children.

As a seasoned educator and community activist, I recommend that Hispanic parents consider enrolling their children in private schools or public charter schools where there are opportunities to do so. Many Hispanic parents live in the city and send their students to suburban schools by using friends and relatives’ addresses. Many Hispanic parents have moved and continue planning to move to the suburbs as a solution. I also recommend that we Hispanic educators who have the contacts and the knowledge base, expand the number of Charter schools with a Hispanic American centered theme in order to insure that more of our children achieve an education.

Public schools that cannot meet national or state standards should be closed or re-organized. Superintendents who can’t provide safe and orderly schools or provide “appropriate instruction” for ELL children to succeed should move on. I have reached new decisions on my next course of action. I strongly support the movement for a statewide demonstration of Hispanics to boycott our schools on the fourth Friday count day in September! Perhaps when districts lose the millions of dollars they reap as financial gain that we produce for them, they will begin to listen and act to properly educate our children.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dr. Flores.

Dr. José Angel Flores is the publisher of The Community Voice/La Voz Bilingual Magazine, www.lavozweb.com in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Latino in the Ivy League, Vol. 2

Written by Rolando Rodriguez | July 27th, 2009 | Comments (0)

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Ruben Navarratte (left) and Rudy Ruiz (right) were classmates at Harvard College and have equally interesting perspectives on the life of a Latino in the Ivy League.

Ruben Navarrette (left) and Rudy Ruiz (right) were classmates at Harvard College and have equally interesting perspectives on the life of a Latino in the Ivy League.

In a recent commentary on CNN.com, Ruben Navarrette Jr., a nationally syndicated columnist and a regular contributor to CNN , reflected on his experience as a Latino in the Ivy League. The riveting piece mirrored his experiences in the 1980’s as one of only 35 Mexican Americans in a freshman Harvard class of 1600, to those of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s time at Yale in the 1970s. The column tears a page from Navarrette’s critically acclaimed book “A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano,” which reflects heavily on his experience as a minority in arguably the nation’s most prestigious academic institution.

RedBrownandBlue.com senior writer and editor, Rolando Rodriguez, sits down with Navarrette’s Harvard classmate, Rudy Ruiz, to get a different take. A published author and multicultural advocate, Ruiz is an acclaimed multicultural communications entrepreneur. He founded RedBrownandBlue.com, as well as Interlex , one of the nation’s leading advocacy marketing agencies ranked by Ad Age as one of the Top US Agencies across all disciplines. Prior to that, Ruiz earned his BA in Government at Harvard College and his Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

RedBrownandBlue.com: Rudy, in Ruben’s column, he writes about the culture shock and surprises he faced entering Harvard, writing, “Once you arrive on campus, you expect to find the place flooded with Latinos, since you’ve been told that they’re admitted wholesale and that white males are discriminated against to make room. So imagine the shock when you see plenty of white males and only a relative handful of people who look like you.” You both come from “Valleys.” Ruben grew up in San Joaquin Valley, CA, where in the 60s and 70s, ethnic and economic friction between Mexican-Americans and the valley’s predominantly white farming elite manifested itself when the United Farm Workers, led by César Chávez, went on numerous strikes and called for boycotts of table grapes. You’re from the Rio Grande Valley, where agriculture is equally vital and the area wasn’t at all ignorant or non-participatory in the advancement of farm worker rights. But growing up in an area that was overwhelmingly majority Hispanic, racial friction wasn’t as prevalent there as in San Joaquin; thus, it’s safe to make the assumption that you didn’t fall prey to the self-identity issues many Hispanics in more segregated, racially-hostile areas of the country might develop. Yet, it seems your experiences entering Harvard drew some similarities, peppered with some obvious differences.

Ruiz: Actually, when I first got there, it was the first time I became truly aware of the fact I was a member of a minority group as I had grown up in a place where Hispanics were the majority. After a couple of years there, I came to feel I was losing a grip on my Spanish-language abilities and I also realized I was feeling disconnected from my culture. My response to that was to delve deeply into taking courses in Latin American literature, intellectual history and culture. I developed great relationships within those departments at school with professors and graduate students, and it was extremely rewarding intellectually, culturally and personally. Harvard for me was a fantastic, awesome experience, one that opens lots of doors and gives you glimpses into the multigenerational privileges of our nation’s traditional elite.

RedBrownandBlue.com: Ruben also – justifiably in many instances – compares his experiences at Harvard in the 80s to that of Sotomayor’s tenure at Yale in the 70s, writing, “I have a good idea what she went through in college – and, later, at Yale Law School – because many Latinos who also traveled that road experienced the same thing.” What’s your take on those comparisons?

Ruiz: I think some of the points Navarrette makes about how he envisions being Latino in the Ivy League influenced Sotomayor are probably right on, but they are his projections or imaginings about her based on his experiences. I do think he may be underestimating the difference of having been there in the 70s like Sotomayor and the mid to late 80s like us. A lot changed in that time and I think Sotomayor’s generation was more of the pioneer, first wave generation. Also, their numbers were probably a lot smaller at that time and the affirmative action issue was a lot hotter and newer at the time.

RedBrownandBlue.com: Alienation tends to be a feeling many minorities get when they enter predominantly white college campuses and that’s only amplified if they come from a traditionally segregated community with a history of racial friction. Ruben addresses that in his column writing about how Sotomayor felt alienated and sought out other Puerto Rican students, eventually founding a Hispanic group on campus. Some might argue this pushes Hispanic students further into alienation and into the shadows of college life. Instead of pushing diversity it could contribute to clear lines separating student bodies by ethnicity or skin color. As someone who suddenly found themselves as minority, what was your reaction?

Ruiz: I would say that there are many ways people can react when they find themselves in that great, if challenging, position of being Latino or minority in the Ivy League. My reaction was to embrace diversity, including friends and colleagues from other minority groups, as well as from the majority group, from poor and wealthy backgrounds, from farms in Kansas and from international capitals like Taiwan and Mexico City. I saw first-hand the value that diversity brought in terms of range and depth of ideas and collaboration, perspectives and solutions to complex problems or issues. Ultimately, I was inspired by Harvard and then the Kennedy School to put my learnings and lifelong commitment to ongoing learning and growth to work for the betterment of not only minority communities but for the symbiotic progress of diverse communities both at home and abroad.

RedBrownandBlue.com: I also found a great similarity in that both of your high school classmates were quick to point out how affirmative action played a major role in your admittance to Harvard. He writes, “Word gets around your high school, and soon, people you thought were friends are in your face in calculus class. ‘If you hadn’t been Latino … you wouldn’t have gotten in,’ they helpfully point out. They’ve heard at the dinner table that, thanks to affirmative action, any Latino or African-American who can hold a pencil can get into any university they want. The story takes on an extra irony if you’re getting a better grade in calculus than your accusers.” Tell us about your experience.

Ruiz: I did encounter non-Hispanic people within my local high school community that were less qualified than me in respect to my grades, extracurricular activities and test scores. They accused me of having been accepted only because I was a minority. It was an eye-opener to how resentful and mean people could be, but it did not deter me, rather it only pushed me to always try harder and prove myself further, which is akin to one of the points Navarrette makes.

RedBrownandBlue.com: Speaking of non-Hispanics pulling the affirmative action card, Ruben also references the inscription entering and exiting the Harvard campus. “Enter to Grow in Wisdom.” “Depart to serve better, thy country and thy kind.” He writes, “I bet thin-skinned Senate Republicans would take exception and demand to know: “What do you mean, ‘thy kind?’ Is that code for picking on white males?” Ruben’s referencing the suddenly ridiculous “reverse racism” campaign Republican politicians have embarked on amidst Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment. What was your take on the Sotomayor hearings?

Ruiz: Ultimately, I have found the way many of the Senators treated Sotomayor during the hearings disrespectful of her experience and her capabilities, misdirecting of the public regarding the real issues and her real qualifications, and a reflection of their own profound lack of understanding of what it’s like to come up from nowhere as a minority and reach the level she has. But she has to bite her tongue and wait it out. That’s part of life trying to make it in America regardless of your race or ethnicity. You can’t let anger get the best of you…or you’ll be the one who loses not only your temper but your opportunities.

Rolando Rodriguez writes for CATALINA, a magazine that breaks stereotypes of Hispanics in the media and entertainment. In addition, Rolando is a producer for Red Brown and Blue, a nationally-syndicated, Spanish-language radio program. He is also Managing Director of Public Relations, Government Relations & Community Based-Outreach at Interlex Communications, one of the nation’s only advertising firms dedicated to socially conscientious multicultural marketing.