Years ago, my eldest son was suspended from Live Oak High School
for wearing gang colors. The problem was that the item of clothing
was purchased by his mother and me when we went back-to-school
shopping. Often times, parents are the last to know when their
children get into mischief. We were no different. We never had any
reason to suspect our son was involved with gangs.
Years ago, my eldest son was suspended from Live Oak High School for wearing gang colors. The problem was that the item of clothing was purchased by his mother and me when we went back-to-school shopping. Often times, parents are the last to know when their children get into mischief. We were no different. We never had any reason to suspect our son was involved with gangs.
Without knowing all the details of our son’s suspension, we assumed this was a typical case of racial profiling. We thought that perhaps the faculty looked at our son and “reasonably suspected,” since he was male and Hispanic, that he was a gang member. Needless to say, my wife and I were livid.
At the time, information traveled a lot slower than it does today. There was no text messaging, no twitter, no Facebook. We didn’t blog. We didn’t send out mass e-mails to our friends expressing our feelings over our son’s plight. We didn’t write a letter to the editor of the newspaper to communicate our outrage, even though that thought crossed our minds. We didn’t march down to the district office demanding they do something about this blatant example of racism.
Instead, we scheduled a meeting with the high school administrators to get all the details and facts surrounding the incident and to have them explain to us how an item of clothing purchased off the rack at a local clothing store could be considered gang attire. Maybe we were naive or oblivious to the secret language of gang membership – the hand signals, the meaning of acronyms, numbers, or certain colors. We hoped that someone at the school with better knowledge on the subject could enlighten us, and we felt sure that we could convince them that our son had been inappropriately targeted.
We met with Rich Knapp, then principal of Live Oak, and one of his assistant principals. They listened attentively as we expressed our frustration and stated our case. Then they explained to us the harsh realities and challenges they faced on campus everyday to ensure the safety of 2,000 students.
They informed us that the situation with our son started when a campus supervisor noticed a group of boys all wearing the same color congregating together. Sensing there might be trouble, she approached the boys and told them to disperse, since school code prohibited groups of five or more from assembling with like-attire. The boys didn’t disperse, so they were all sent to the office. Our son had not been identified as a gang member. However, a couple of boys in the group had been, and that is why all in the group were suspended.
We left the meeting with a better understanding of the many obstacles administrators, teachers and support staff face to ensure a safe learning environment for all students. We also left satisfied that our concerns were addressed. Our son had not been unjustly targeted; he was associating with students who had records of causing trouble, and, unfortunately, he was dressing in a similar manner.
The recent incident at Live Oak High School where students went home after refusing to turn their patriotic clothing inside-out brought back memories of my son’s experience. I don’t want to compare wearing gang attire with wearing patriotic clothing. They’re completely different. However, there are similarities in the situations.
In our situation, we leapt to judgment quickly without knowing all the facts and details. In the midst of ambiguity, it was easy for us to scream “racism.” Our son maintained, as most teenagers do, that he had done nothing wrong – he was completely innocent of wrongdoing. It wasn’t until we met with the administrators that we learned the issue was behavioral, not racial. Our son had been associating with known trouble-makers. He was guilty by association.
Much has been said and written in the media regarding the Cinco de Mayo incident at Live Oak. Hastily the media leapt to judgment, and the actual facts were much slower in reaching the nightly news. To some degree, we have all played judge and jury. Complete factual details are still not known by the general public; there are even conflicting details that have been accepted as fact.
I attended the May 11 school board meeting at the Britton auditorium where community members spoke out; some wanted accountability, others expressed hurt over the division within our town. I was reminded that we need to strive to live up to the ideals of the words in the Pledge of Allegiance ” … indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Mario Banuelos has lived in Morgan Hill for 21 years. He has served on the south County Dayworker Committee and is a member of the Morgan Hill Community Foundation. He is married and has four children.
