(OUT)LAWS & JUSTICE In the Press
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Pedro A. Noguera |
Eighth-graders
Separate the Myths of Violence from the Reality
The violence of
ethnic conflict that Joaqu’n Murieta suffered, a century
and half ago, still echoes today in the lives of the urban
poor and it is more painfully evident in public schools
that do not serve Latino students well. When Joaqu’n
Murieta set out from Mexico with his wife to seek their
fortune in California's Gold Rush, he may not have
anticipated problems because he was Mexican. After all, it
was only two years since Mexico lost the Mexican-American
War and Spanish was still the primary language in Alta
California. But the California Foreign Miners' Tax of 1850
and the brutal expulsion of Californios and Mexicans from
the mines set the stage for ethnic violence. Murieta was
forced off his claim by American miners who raped his wife
and hanged his brother. Murieta's vengeance became, as
historian Richard White observes, "An enduring myth that
symbolizes ethnic conflict as a response to personal
injustice."
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The Murieta myth keeps alive powerful
cultural beliefs about the outlaw as a hero, a romantic figure,
with the myth resting on the laurels of its tragic story in
romantic corridos. Today, however, peaceful resolutions to
conflict, justice not vengeance, are what we need. There is
nothing vengeance can do for illiteracy, dropping out of school
or the eight children and teenagers a day lost to gun violence.
An alternative strategy in the classroom
is needed. One that places diversity with respect to culture,
class and environment, at the center of education in middle
school, where the seeds of despair and dropping out in high
school are sown. (OUT)LAWS & JUSTICE, a non-profit Los Angeles
education project that addresses youth literacy, violence and
its prevention, provides such a strategy. Exploring themes of
racism, poverty and injustice with students in the context of
core American values formed in westward expansion- honor,
justice, rugged individualism and self-defense - (OUT)LAWS & JUSTICE addresses the roots of violence. The perspectives held by
adolescents toward violence and their education provide a unique
window through which to understand how violence is enacted and
how its meaning is conveyed in a variety of settings. Such an
approach is not only more effective in appealing to the
sensibilities of urban youth, but also in giving them a means
and motivation to alter their own behaviors.
(OUT)LAWS & JUSTICE provides eighth-graders
the opportunity to study the roots of violence through the
stories of the many 19th century people who ranged, settled and
contested the land, the mines and the reins of power. Through
examining the basics of identity, culture, violence and justice,
the skills of non-violent conflict resolution are developed. The
goal is for students to decide to become informed citizens and
participate in creating a just and civil society.
Latinos are over-represented among the
ranks of the poor and low income in part due to the
pervasiveness of racialized inequalities, particularly within
education. Consequently, too many Latino youth are trapped in
the worst schools, and are treated as though their inability to
speak fluent English is a sign of cognitive and cultural
deficit. Latino students are over-represented in most categories
of crisis and failure (i.e., suspensions and expulsions, special
education placements), while underrepresented in those of
success (i.e., honors and gifted and talented classes). The
prevalence of the hardships faced by these youth has contributed
to the notion that they are by their very nature "at-risk", and
promotes stereotypes of them being irresponsible, anti-social
and even dangerous. As a result of such views, school
authorities, policy makers and the media have promoted punitive
policies aimed at controlling their behavior through harsh
school expulsion and law enforcement measures leading to
increased incarceration. Such measures overlook the real
environmental factors that place urban youth at risk (i.e.
joblessness, de-industrialization, environmental degradation,
school failure, etc.) and that shape their lives and
opportunities. Violence in America is so central to our national
identity that it permeates the fabric of our society.
The intensive (OUT)LAWS & JUSTICE
curriculum is one way to change a school's culture; teachers
display greater interest in their students and modify their
teaching approaches to become more effective at meeting their
students' learning needs. Students, in turn, take their
education more seriously. They culminate a year's work with
performances of original poems, family oral histories and short
plays written by the students for their peers, families and
community. These works interpret historic events like that of
Murieta, and their relationship to today's urban frontiers.
(OUT)LAWS & JUSTICE successfully promotes resilience and relief
from the hardships Latino youth endure. Through culturally
competent values and a rigorous academic context to understand
the challenges they face, students step away from circumstances
that stifle their ambitions and dreams.
This is the gold of our time and place.
This city and school district have done poorly in providing
opportunities that address ongoing racial conflicts, which are
historically linked to violence. Now, with Out(Law) & Order,
there is a chance that Joaqu’n Murieta and his assailants never
had.
Pedro A. Noguera, Ph. D.
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Pedro Antonio Noguera, a board member of (OUT)LAWS & JUSTICE, is a
professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York
University and the Director of the Center for Research on Urban
Schools and Globalization. An urban sociologist, Noguera's
scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools
are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban
environment
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