Cearley, A. (1995, December 17). Common ground: Indian, Latino students work to halt strife. San Diego Union Tribune, pp. B1, B3.

OVERVIEW

The lives of Indian and Latino students have converged on the campus of Fallbrook High School in Southern California. At times it has been an explosive mix. Two years ago there was a brawl between about 40 Indian and Latino students. At the beginning of this school year there were two more incidents of racial fighting involving about a dozen youths each. These types of incidents, though certainly not limited to Fallbrook High, offer clues into the source of the racial problem—as well as a possible solution.

Cheran Majel, a 15-year-old Indian from the Pala Reservation, and Armando Garcia, a 17-year-old Mexican, are part of the solution. They are student mediators who feel that communication and education are key to stopping the clashes. They both say the similarities between the two groups are more striking than the differences.

Cheran is very proud of her Indian heritage. She also knows that warped versions of pride have contributed to tensions between Latino and Indian students. After a brawl that occurred last fall, she was pushed by a group of Mexican girls she did not know. She realized they were motivated by her race. Soon after the incident, Cheran joined the school’s conflict resolution program. She was the only Indian to join that year.

The conflict resolution team is trying to break the cycle of racial tensions. Student members serve as mediators to work out differences between other young people. They are credited with preventing many fights. Cheran’s mother says that brawls between the Indians and the Latinos have been going on at Fallbrook High for several generations, and that there were fewer problems when the two groups were more evenly balanced. However, there are now 679 Latinos and only 40 American Indians included in Fallbrook’s student population of 2,000.

Cheran says she has some Latino friends but that the two groups do not interact outside of school and have little knowledge of each other’s customs. Since most of the racially motivated fights occur between males, Cheran says she is mostly able to remain outside the conflict. "I think for some the answer is to get educated, because a lot of Indians are Mexicans, and a lot of Mexicans are Indians...in a way they are fighting themselves."

Armando Garcia is also proud of his heritage. Unlike some of his schoolmates, though, he does not see the need to fight over it. Armando’s philosophy is to work within the system rather than to fight it, a philosophy that prompted him to run for student council. He and a Mexican-American friend were up against two popular football players. They were also working to gain entry to a white-student dominated student council. It was a struggle, but they won. Now, as vice president of the council, Armando tries to convince students "that they must look beyond colors and languages to achieve unity and peace."

In light of the history of conflict between Indians and Latinos, Armando’s message is not an easy one to convey. While he is heavily into the student mediation program, his cousins are still deeply into language and fists. Like Cheran, Armando sees far more similarities than differences between the two groups—especially in terms of historical persecution. Racial conflict continues today, but Armando, for one, does not let it bother him. His refusal to become involved in the peer pressure surrounding racial hatred has prompted other Hispanics to call him "too white."

Armando says that racial intolerance comes from people grasping for power in the name of pride. He feels pride is not about fighting someone else. "If you have pride...you don’t express it by making others in your race look bad by fighting, but by doing things that stand out in a positive way," he says.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. If you attended or taught at a school where there were racial tensions, how would you cope?
2. Have you ever been a victim of racial intolerance?
3. How would you prepare a young person to handle racial confrontation?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Peer counseling has been proven to be an effective means of reaching young people.
2. Racism is a learned behavior, either from parents or other adults or from peers. Adults must set a careful example to keep from transferring any racial ideals they may have to young people.

Sheila Walsh cCYS