Students consider landmark ruling

Gary Moskowitz

The city’s public schools are not legally segregated, but

blonde-haired, blue-eyed Katelyn Murphy knows she would probably take

flak from her peers if she dated a boy who is a minority.

In an Advanced Placement American government class discussion on

school segregation Wednesday at Crescenta Valley High School, Katelyn

said students integrate more freely in the classroom than they do out

on the courtyard at lunch.

“I think it’s kind of sad in a way,” said Katelyn, 16. “At CV,

it’s like taboo to hang out with or date someone of a different

background. In class, it’s easier, because we’re all sitting next to

each other. But we should be trying to integrate more.”

This week, high school government classes throughout the Glendale

Unified School District have been discussing the 50-year anniversary

of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case and its role in the

civil rights movement.

The case revolved around Oliver Brown, a black man who tried to

enroll his daughter, Linda, in a white elementary school that was

seven blocks away from their Topeka, Kan., home. The school refused

Brown’s request.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared that

separate schools are inherently unequal. In 1954, Glendale Unified

was predominantly white, with some “scattered” minority students,

officials said. In 2004, about 40% of the district’s students speak a

primary language other than English.

Edgar Shaghoulian, a Glendale High School senior, was one of many

students who said Wednesday that despite desegregation, students of

various ethnic backgrounds often flock together in social situations

outside of class.

“I think Armenians are the most noticeable, because there is such

a big population here,” said Shaghoulian, 17. “But in high school,

most people just want to fit in, so it’s only natural for students to

stick to what they know. If it’s not forced segregation, I think it

can be a good thing sometimes. But the message forced segregation

sends to society to me is morally a horrible message.”

In the 2002-03 school year, Glendale Unified’s black student

population was about 1% of its 29,000 -- or about 320 -- students,

officials said. Statistics for the 2003-04 school year were not

available Wednesday.

Many students and teachers in the district said the issue of

segregation and racism is not a “black-and-white” issue in Glendale,

but for Wanda Dorn, it is.

Dorn is the advisor for Glendale High School’s Black Student

Union, which has about 20 members. About half of the club’s members

are black students, but the other half are students from other ethnic

backgrounds, Dorn said.

“In this country it remains a black-and-white issue in many ways,

because there wouldn’t be any civil rights on the books had blacks

not fought and died for them,” Dorn said. “Even though we have been

here longer and fought harder, other groups benefit from it. The

black students are just here, in a way. They don’t have the kind of

safety in numbers that other minority groups have in Glendale.”

Kayla Alexander said she often feels frustrated as a black student

at Glendale High because she doesn’t receive enough guidance or

counseling.

“The African-American students here seem kind of lost, because

there aren’t enough people of authority who support us,” said Kayla,

17. “A lot of times, we can fall through the cracks because we can’t

rely on other people to guide us toward what we need to succeed. But

being here has been positive for me, overall.

“I never would have been exposed to the Armenian culture if I

hadn’t moved here from Arizona. If we were segregated, people would

only know their own kind and wouldn’t learn about each other.”