Blacks Demand Apology After Union Chief’s Slur

African American community activists from South Los Angeles on Monday demanded a formal apology from teachers union President Helen Bernstein for describing their local school board representative as a “racist bitch.”

The remark, which was carried in at least two newspapers last month, had come in response to school board member Barbara Boudreaux’s criticism of Bernstein and individual members of United Teachers-Los Angeles for not supporting a drive to create a charter school cluster in the area.

“We’re asking her to make a formal apology to this community,” said Danny Bakewell, president of Brotherhood Crusade, who called the news conference. “It is absolutely the kind of immoral behavior that we do not want our children to see.”

Bernstein acknowledged that she “made a mistake,” but said she had already apologized in a letter sent to Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Sid Thompson and all board members, including Boudreaux. However, she agreed to meet Wednesday with Bakewell and other leaders.

She likened the incident to Jesse Jackson’s now legendary use of the term “Hymietown” to describe New York City during his 1984 presidential campaign, saying that, like Jackson, she regretted the term she used, but not the underlying anger that led her to say it.

“I was sorry the minute it appeared in the newspaper,” said Bernstein, who claims she made the comment off the record to the Los Angeles Daily News. “I suspect Jesse Jackson was sorry he called Jews Hymies, but he probably was not sorry for the emotion that was behind it.”

Bernstein’s volatile phrase, which was picked up by news wire services and also ran in the Torrance Daily Breeze, was her reaction to Boudreaux’s assertion that white teachers were trying to impede the charter effort.

Boudreaux on Monday accused Bernstein of resorting to the personal attack because she feels threatened by Boudreaux’s push for independence. “Her demonizing of me because she cannot control me has gotten out of control,” Boudreaux said.

Boudreaux is working with parents and community leaders who would like to gain autonomy from the Los Angeles Unified School District for a portion of South Los Angeles, which she represents, either by creating a charter complex of the 30 schools that feed into Crenshaw and Dorsey high schools or by breaking off into a separate district.

She recently voted to approve a bid by parents and teachers for a charter cluster in Pacific Palisades, expecting, she said, reciprocal support from teachers in her area for the Crenshaw/Dorsey charter. Instead, when a petition supporting that charter began circulating in the area in November, Bernstein advised teachers against signing it.

“We don’t need somebody else to tell us what we want for our children,” Bakewell said. “If it’s good enough for Palisades, good enough for those children, then why in the hell is it not good enough for our children?”

Bernstein defended her actions, saying she has advised teachers in all of the other district charters--including Pacific Palisades--to withhold their support until the charter proposal has been reviewed by union attorneys.

At the school board meeting later Monday, a few community members called for Bernstein’s resignation and many challenged the board to publicly condemn her. Board members, however, said the problem should be resolved privately between Boudreaux and Bernstein.

“The remarks that she made were grossly offensive to all of us,” said board President Mark Slavkin. “But I think we have to resist the temptation to further inflame the situation.”