FREE SPEECH WATCH : Boo Brouhaha

By most accounts, Don Bondi has been a dynamic, if sometimes obstreperous, teacher of dance. He helped found the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts nine years ago. But for now at least he is tied to a desk writing arts curricula at another school while the county Office of Education decides whether he should be punished for professional misconduct for booing at a school play.

Bondi’s offense was to have remonstrated too vocally at the play April 21, booing when a student actor portrayed Gov. Pete Wilson as a racist when it comes to Latinos. While no admirer of Wilson’s, Bondi found the lines vulgar and tasteless, which they were, and said so publicly. That was not politic of him, but certainly within the boisterous tradition of the theater.

Among those in the audience not appreciative of Bondi’s outburst was Maria Elena Gaitan, whose son was in the play and who happens to be a member of the county board of education. She got into a shouting match with Bondi, who is Anglo, ordering him to “Control your racism!”

Some see all this as another sign of ethnic frictions in a fast-changing region, as part of a struggle for control of public institutions like the schools. Perhaps. But, while the full facts are not yet known, we see it as more a matter of artistic expression and free speech. The student had a right to criticize the governor; Bondi had a right to criticize the performance. Gaitan, appointed by County Supervisor Gloria Molina, will not speak to reporters. But it may be that it is her behavior rather than Bondi’s that should be under scrutiny.