40 years of cultivated "outrage". 40 years of denouncing the white cucui and playing victim. 40 years of Chicano insertion into the political arena and subversion of the educational system and the result?
The article:
Hispanic activist speaks to students
A nice quote here:
He said that the dropout rate at his alma mater, Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, is about the same as 40 years ago.
Hispanic activist speaks to students
Things have changed since Bobby Verdugo walked out of school to protest discrimination.
"The mayor of LA is Latino, and we have a Hispanic Supreme Court justice," he said. . "These are things we couldn't fathom 40 years ago."
But in a talk to Moreno Valley High School students Tuesday, the 59-year-old Verdugo said some things stay the same.
He said that the dropout rate at his alma mater, Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, is about the same as 40 years ago.
Speaking as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Hispanic rights activist recounted how he was one of thousands of students who in 1968 staged walkouts at several East Los Angeles high schools to demand equality in education opportunities.
"There was so much anger and disappointment among Chicano students," Verdugo said. "We wanted things to change."
He said that Hispanic students were often ridiculed and beaten by their teachers for expressing their heritage through ways such as speaking Spanish in class.
Verdugo dropped out of high school in 12th grade. He went back to school and got a degree in social work from Cal State Los Angeles in 1994. In 1995, he started Con Los Padres, one of the country's first teenage fatherhood programs for Hispanics.
Stephanie Martinez, 17, a student who helped organize the event, said she hopes Verdugo's talk can help students from different backgrounds understand what challenges Hispanic students had to overcome to have the rights they have today.
"I hope people realize that Asians and blacks weren't the only ones treated badly," she said.
About 65 percent of the students at Moreno Valley High School are of Hispanic descent, said teacher Pete Loza.
"The mayor of LA is Latino, and we have a Hispanic Supreme Court justice," he said. . "These are things we couldn't fathom 40 years ago."
But in a talk to Moreno Valley High School students Tuesday, the 59-year-old Verdugo said some things stay the same.
He said that the dropout rate at his alma mater, Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, is about the same as 40 years ago.
Speaking as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Hispanic rights activist recounted how he was one of thousands of students who in 1968 staged walkouts at several East Los Angeles high schools to demand equality in education opportunities.
"There was so much anger and disappointment among Chicano students," Verdugo said. "We wanted things to change."
He said that Hispanic students were often ridiculed and beaten by their teachers for expressing their heritage through ways such as speaking Spanish in class.
Verdugo dropped out of high school in 12th grade. He went back to school and got a degree in social work from Cal State Los Angeles in 1994. In 1995, he started Con Los Padres, one of the country's first teenage fatherhood programs for Hispanics.
Stephanie Martinez, 17, a student who helped organize the event, said she hopes Verdugo's talk can help students from different backgrounds understand what challenges Hispanic students had to overcome to have the rights they have today.
"I hope people realize that Asians and blacks weren't the only ones treated badly," she said.
About 65 percent of the students at Moreno Valley High School are of Hispanic descent, said teacher Pete Loza.
We are NEVER going to catch up to the youth drop out or youth gang problem as long as we keep expanding the number of problem youths through immigration and illegal entry. We educate the latest batch and thousands more are let in to fill the void
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