Teachers Protest ‘Racism’ at Rally

A group of Latino faculty members staged a news conference at Ventura College on Wednesday to discuss what they call “racist” behavior toward Latinos who attended a political rally for vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp last month.

“This is not just a Chicano issue,” said Benjamin Saiz, a member of the La Raza Faculty Assn., which organized the conference. “It’s a human issue and it goes to the issue of human dignity.’

During the rally, numerous racial epithets were hurled at the Latinos attending, witnesses said. At first, it had that “nice patriotic everything-is-beautiful look when we were suddenly inundated with remarks like ‘Go back home’ and ‘Go back to Mexico,’ ” said Francisco Romero, a Ventura College student who attended the gathering.

The association also said that suspensions handed out to seven to 10 Fillmore High students were unfair. They said the students’ First Amendment rights may have been violated and have contacted the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund to look into the matter.

The faculty members also said Fillmore teacher Joe Torres is being targeted as a scapegoat. He faces unspecified disciplinary measures for allegedly not reining in his students.

Administrators said the suspensions were issued for violations of school rules and had nothing to do with freedom of speech.

“The behavior that was viewed was inexcusable,” said Joanne King, president of the Fillmore Unified School District board. “You can talk about freedom of speech, but the bottom line is that as a public school, we have a responsibility to those students to make sure they’re safe and behaving in an appropriate manner when they are in our charge.”

Torres has until Oct. 23 to appeal the principal’s disciplinary recommendation.