Inglewood High Cancels Ethnic Celebrations

Inglewood High School, for more than a decade the site of tension between African American and Latino students over ethnic celebrations, has dropped its traditional observance of Black History Month and also scrapped plans for a Cinco de Mayo celebration in May.

Principal Lowell Winston said in a recent memo to teachers that the high school “will not celebrate Black History Month or Cinco de Mayo . . . as in the past.”

Rather than have celebrations dedicated to one ethnic group, the memo called for teachers to follow a “multicultural education approach” throughout the school year.

Winston, who became principal at the start of the school year, called his decision a step toward racial healing at the school.

“I’m saying, why should we have black history taught in just one month?” Winston, who is African American, said in an interview. “Let’s talk about all cultures and contributions all the time.”

Already this year, Winston said, the school has sponsored several multicultural celebrations.

He cited as examples visits to the school by former state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, who made a campaign stop while running for governor, and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who spoke to students about the impeachment hearings, and the time a group of students met briefly with President Clinton off campus. He did not elaborate on why he considered these to be multicultural events.

“That’s absolutely ludicrous,” said one teacher, who asked not to be identified.

During staff meetings, a few teachers have criticized the new policy. One of them, Mary Reese Boykin, an English teacher who has been at the school since 1971, said, “It seems we are forgetting our past.”

Many others, however, said they welcomed Winston’s decision.

History teacher Eugene Pea said Winston simply wants to be sensitive to all ethnic groups in the school, an approach he agrees with.

“Not once has he said you cannot recognize black history or Latino history . . . but you just can’t do it exclusively, and [he doesn’t want you to] advertise it.”

The issue is coming to a head now because February is Black History Month, and schools across the country are kicking off special observances of the contributions and struggles of people of African descent.

Most students interviewed about the change said they supported it and feel it has contributed to better relations between black and Latino students this year.

“We sort of feel like it’s better to try to make our celebrations focus on all of the races in this school, rather than have a special focus on any one race on a certain day or month,” said Monica Landa, 17, the president of a Latino student group.

Landa said a group of black and Latino students is planning an assembly for the end of the month stressing the contributions of both cultures.

LaToya Stance, 17, a black member of the student government, said she has grudgingly accepted the new policy.

“I wish that nothing had changed,” she said. “But every year we’ve got these people [fighting]. So maybe now we should do anything to make sure there’s no fighting.”

Last May, Inglewood High was forced to close for a day after a melee erupted between black and Latino students.

A conflict-resolution task force, appointed to study racial tensions at the school after the riot, found the fighting was sparked in part because Latino students felt the school gave African American students preferential treatment by celebrating black achievement in February for a whole month, while Latinos got only one day of observance (Cinco de Mayo).

Winston said he took task force findings and recommendations into account in reaching his decision to drop the traditional observances.

“You can’t continue to do things the way they were done in the past. . . . We all know the history here and that this school has had racial problems that are unique. . . . The old ways didn’t work at Inglewood High,” he said.

The city of Inglewood has had a long and complex racial history. Once an all-white town with deed restrictions that barred blacks from owning property, the city by the 1970s had become a major African American enclave. More recently, like many once predominantly black communities in Los Angeles County, the city’s population has become increasingly Latino.

The school district is now almost 60% Latino, and Inglewood High is just over half Latino.

As the numbers of black and Latino students at Inglewood High began to reach equal proportions, said one teacher, tensions mounted between the groups. Starting in 1990, the school has had race-related fights every spring.

Two of Inglewood’s top elected officials on Friday questioned Winston’s decision.

“As far as I am concerned, nothing should change,” said Mayor Roosevelt Dorn. He added he is a proponent of multicultural education, but said it was important to use some time to focus on individual ethnicities.

Tomasina Reed, president of the Inglewood Board of Education, agreed. She said she has heard complaints from some faculty members who usually plan events for Black History Month.

Reed said the district leaves it to individual schools to decide whether and how to observe ethnic tributes. But she added that as far as she knows, all the other schools in the district observe both the celebrations that Winston has dropped.