Berkeley Parents Network: Race matters at BHS

Berkeley Parents Network

Race matters at BHS

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > K-12 Schools > Berkeley Public Schools > Berkeley High School > Race matters at BHS

Daughter feels BHS is too segregated

September 2002

How do you deal with issues of reverse discrimination at Berkeley High after you have explained the benefits of Affirmative action and the need to reach out? I hear concerns about the fact that only the "white kids" get egged on Fridays. I hear concerns about "why are only the african american kids invited to the PACD dinner." My child now wants out of Berkeley High as she feels it is too segregated. I have often had concerns about the fact that so many of the clubs and associations are exclusionary - you have to belong to a "special" group to be considered. Wouldn't it make more sense for there to be "activity" related clubs rather than race/ethnicity/religious/sexual preference related clubs? I am looking for answers for my child and myself. Any thoughts? Anonymous.

I have felt very similarly to you. I am also waiting for the day when the club can be about common interests rather than what separates us. The situation seems to be a kind of 'backlash'. My daughter (who is white) has fortunately found the courage to challenge the kids who put her down because she is white. Unfortunately, these problems are taught and perpetuated by the parents. My advice would be to teach your child YOUR values. Sometimes this means speaking up for yourself and demanding equal treatment.

In a perfect world.... Well, dream on. You deal with reverse discrimination at BHS in the same way you would if you were black in an all-white school without the option of going to another school. You also have to become a bit street-smart and know to stay away from the area where "egging" occurs on Fridays, or wear your grungiest clothes, disguise yourself as a junior or senior. Your daughter should know more about PACD and then she'll understand why only african-american kids get invited to PACD dinner. She could start her own club, just about anything goes at BHS--there was a club about teen girls and self-esteem at one time, and she couldn't possibly be excluded from the "Ice Cream Club." Get a list of all the clubs at BHS and you'll find the silly to the serious. Being an observer is fine for awhile, but your daughter needs to focus on her intrinsic values and interests and then follow them, finding friends to share her interests with and not be so concerned about exclusion, but about including herself in what interests her. "Diverse" as BHS is, it doesn't mean everyone mixes and gets along. You've already explained the benefits of affirmative action, now you explain the benefits of being white. Race and socio-economic factors determine segregation at BHS--white kids and black, alike, who've lived in the same neighborhoods all their lives and gone to the same schools have more in common and will want to hang together (also, many caucasian families leave their kids in private schools until middle or high school); african-american children most likely have gone to public schools from K-12 with each other, and so it's quite natural that they would want to hang with each other. The divide is simply there -- you can cross it sometimes, sometimes not. What would make sense at BHS is far different from the reality and emotions of 2,000 plus teens of every make and color mixing it up. It's a joy and a pain at the same time. Your daughter can leave BHS for a safer haven, for a school that's not segregated, except for cliques which exist in every school and in some ways are far more demoralizing to a fragile teen ego than realizing you won't get an invitation to a PACD dinner because you're not black. --jahlee

I can't speak to the particular situation at BHS but I wanted to empathize with the difficult feelings your daughter is having and encourage you to encourage her to stick it out a bit longer. When schools had primarily activity-based clubs they were dominated by white kids and so kids of color felt and sometimes were excluded. All school club meetings must be open to everyone, though I don't know about the dinner. My understanding about BHS is that there are some kids who manage to cross racial lines in their friendships, perhaps your daughter can be one of these trail-blazers. Encourage her to reach out to people of color she knows through her classes, sports, other activities. Encourage her to take an African American studies course. Encourage her to start a Unity or Multicultural Club. Finally, even though it's painful for her, I think it's a valuable lesson to feel like an outsider and one that many European-American kids never get. Deborah dl

I am a black parent that agrees with you and your child. I have two children in the Berkeley School District (7grader and 9 grader). In the last year or so I have also notice segregation on the part of the district and groups like pcad. I do not agree with anyone that excludes people (parents/students) for any reason. I think the reason is that we have parents and people in the district that are breeding racism. Our district has gotten to the point where it is really turning people against each other. I don't think the Institution is racist, it is just individuals.

I think the answer is that we parents that believe that we are IN THIS TOGETHER need to let it be known. We need to let it be known that we will not tolerate groups or individuals that exclude people for any reason. People are too quite because powerful people in the district are telling them to keep their mouths shut or else. People are being quite for political reasons. The bottom line is that our children are being hurt by this racist attitude and we the good parents have got to put a stop to it.

I will give my name because I don't care who knows how I feel. We have a lot of closet racists in our district that are black, white, spanish and etc....... I want the best for all children and we will not get that until all good parents come out of the wood work and let it be known that we will not put up with racism. Lee

Thought about this one for awhile. While I can sympathize with how your daughter feels, quite frankly I think that your daughter needs to learn that as a white person she shouldn't expect to be automatically accepted in groups of color and that to the extent she isn't accepted she should be led into see the broader context of what's going on. What would be her reaction to a boy/man that insisted that woman-only groups were inherently wrong and unfair to him? Would she see him as being maybe well-intentioned but unconsciously a little paternalistic and ignorant of the history of women's subjective role in this nation? Certainly the self esteem, support, and just respite/haven that many women receive through Girl Scouts, "girl" sports teams or all-women colleges (given this essentially chauvinistic and patriarchial society), or even just a "girls night out" is important for women just dealing with this male centered society , not to mention for t! ho! se deciding to be "on the front lines". Same thing for many people of color in this country dealing with racism every day - being "with our own" is supportive, self-affirming, and also respite from living in a white dominated society.

Having said that I also believe that BHS or for that matter any educational institution should enourage students to mix based upon intererests and even to encourage "cross" interests (for example I've known whites in "African" dance groups and African Americans in Balkan singing groups). Cultural identity should be a secure springboard to the whole world not a self-limiting box. For example in our A-A family we mostly listen to r&b, jazz, reggae, and African diaspora music but we also appreciate folk music,Western classical music (even opera!) and most recently discovered Hawaian slack guitar. And in fact a tip: your daughter may find more "inclusion" in school art and music activities or sports as these interests are the most likely to cut across ethnic lines. Lastly, I just want to say that the "egging" is bullying, pure and simple and shouldn't be tolerated behavior by any group or even individual at any school. Karen

It's occurred to me that the segregation that my daughter has commented on at King and at Berkeley High is made worse by the size of the schools - kids aren't necessarily in class with any of their friends from previous years, so the result is a tendency to make new contacts based on superficial similarities. Where there are fewer kids they are forced to get to know one another better. Fiona

I, too, agree clubs should be interest-based versus race-based. By their very nature, race-based clubs are always exclusionary and the children being excluded feel it the most as schools will not consider allowing them to have their own club based on race. They consider that to be racist in and of itself unless it's for non-whites. I know this for a fact when my son tried to start a Scottish club at his school. He was told he could not because it was racist and would create an element of hate. I have to tell you there are an awful lot of black scots over here so I find that highly laughable. My son was not allowed to start a Scottish club for assumed hate reasons. This was very racially biased as the principal who denied the club was black and my son was white and very proud of his Scottish heritage. Her reason was for the alledged hate it would create, not that there was any hate beforehand, just that she felt it would create it.

I also noticed schools are not very diverse when it comes to diversity or multicultural week. They often exclude anyone of european heritage, again my son was not allowed to represent Scotland. Diversity means all, not just non-white origins. Teaching history is not the same thing as teaching culture. All cultures should be included and celebrated and an ethnic club that includes everyone is the place for this to happen. Schools would serve their students better if the only ethnic clubs allowed included all backgrounds and all members would have their turn to share their culture, whether it be caribbean, peruvian, scottish, vietnamese, any and all.

Also when I say share heritage, I don't mean the Americanized version of it. I mean the real version of it. For example, I refused to take part in a multicultural food event at work because all the food was stereotyped. For African Americans they had fried chicken wings (like that had anything to do with Africa). For the Irish, they had corned beef and cabbage (cattle were too expensive to kill for food - they used the pig instead, ham and cabbage). I could go on. The point is, the stereotypes need to be shown for what they are - not the real thing. By allowing groups to be exclusionary, there is no opportunity to dispel the misinformation and to share the realities. That's what the kids need. A place where they can show the similarities as well as the differences. That way they can see just how much they ALL have in common.

Lee is right when she says powerful people intimidate others and make them keep quiet. There is too much PC in the world. This can be corrected with shared information. When people have knowledge, lies can't hurt them. Most kids are good. They don't really want to hurt or exclude others. They are being taught to believe that is what they should do in order to be "equal". They are all "equal" now. They just need to understand that and stop hyphenating who they are. They are all Americans. It is their ethnic background and personal histories that make them individuals. We need to respect the individual. Marianne

These are complex issues that are being discussed. I am hoping that all that participate can speak from their truth rather than their fears. My truth is this. Race has been an issue for more than 400 years. Why are we discussing it now? Because someone felt excluded? Exclusion has been one symptom/by-product of racism. Please think seriously and deeply, from as many perspectives as possible, before making comments about race.

As individuals, we work all of our lives to find our center. The more we know about ourselves, the better we are able to deal in the world. The same holds true for families and communities. Every community should know itself. If our collective ego and integrity are intact, we can more fully participate in the world around us without being consumed by it or feeling insecure. We will all select the groupings of people we want to be with throughout our lives. It even changes as we change. I choose to be with PCAD - Parents of Children of African Descent. The reason is, I want to make sure that kids who look like me have every advantage possible in an environment that tried and continues to try to limit my potential, both intentionally and unintentionally, because I am African American and male. I didn't make that up, it is real. And it is real today that kids are being marginalized.

In PCAD, I work side by side with people who are African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, European, and African - a wide variety of folks. But we all have one thing in "COMMON." We love, nurture, support, encourage, parent, motivate and advocate for children of African descent. Yes, people will and do come together for what they have in common. Excluding people has never been our issue. We focus on including people who are willing to do this work. We specifically encourage people, who are intimately involved with our kids, to join with us. As a result, our target membership is African American.

One last thing: The big flap over African American Studies at BHS, the reality is that if you want to know about African and African American contributions to the history of this country, you cannot get it in an American history class. However, if you study African American history, you will also get American history. Every child, woman and man in this country should know our collective history.

So I ask the "good" people of Berkeley to work hard to recognize and then try and resolve racism in our community. It stands to be the most significant work that we can do for our children and our nation. Michael

Althought I am no expert on race relations, I did want to put in a plug for the Communication, Arts, and Science, CAS Small School program at BHS. (see CAS recommendations for the rest of this review.)

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