Third Latino/Black School riot this year in LA
Posted on Saturday, May 28 @ 14:37:17 EDT
Topic: illegal immigration alien riots crimes
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 Parents Worry, and Many Students Stay Away at Jefferson
Only a half-day of classes is held at the South L.A. school one day after a third racially motivated brawl on campus.
By Wendy Thermos and Monte Morin
LA Times
May 28, 2005
Topics: Gang riots, race riots, school riots,
Illegal Immigrants, Education
One day after police were called to break up the third in a series of racially charged brawls at Jefferson High School, worried parents stood vigil outside the South Los Angeles campus Friday and demanded that administrators clamp down on the unrest.
As several dozen police officers and members of the Nation of Islam patrolled the streets surrounding the high school and Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa met with students and administrators to discuss the fracas, scores of parents descended on the campus and expressed fears that administrators were losing control of the situation.
"I'm afraid for my son's safety," Leticia Espinoza said. "He wants to come, but I don't want him to come."
More than a third of Jefferson's students failed to show up for class Friday after police in riot gear broke up a series of fistfights and shoving matches Thursday.
Black students in particular appeared to have stayed away. Parents and students said they were as worried about violence occurring on the way to school as they were that it would break out on campus. Senior Emmanuel Wilson, 18, said he saw only two fellow black students on campus.
Latinos constitute about 92% of Jefferson's 2,405 students, while blacks make up 7%.
School administrators insisted that students were safe, and that keeping them home from school was a mistake. Among other precautions, administrators had beefed up security patrols at the school.
"This is a very complex problem that is not fixed overnight," said Rowena Lagrosa, superintendent of the school sub-district that includes Jefferson. "But I do know that students who come here can feel safe."
Los Angeles school police arrested three students and cited 20 others in Thursday's incident; dozens of students and six police officers were treated for minor injuries. Twenty-two students â€" both Latino and African American â€" have been barred from campus as a result of Thursday's fight, which was the third such incident
in six weeks. Larger, bloodier brawls occurred April 14 and 18.
Though Principal Norm Morrow and other administrators insisted that the fights were not motivated by race, Villaraigosa said that after talking with students, he believed race played a role.
"I've heard from the young people that, yes, there were racial implications to what happened yesterday," Villaraigosa said. The incident was fueled by a small group, some of whom were gang members
, he said.
"We're working with the teachers currently to address the situation," Villaraigosa said. "We wanted to hear from the young people directly what's going on so that we didn't have a 'filter,' if you will."
The pattern of events Friday was similar to that of the previous two brawls. In each, school attendance plummeted the following day and parents appealed to administrators for action. Eventually, students returned.
On Friday, parents congregated in small groups outside the yellow, two-story school, talking worriedly among themselves and with any campus employee who happened by.
"It's dangerous," parent Angelica Romero said.
Veronica D. Walton said her son wasn't yet in high school, but she was worried that too little was being done on all campuses. She said her son was knocked unconscious March 16 at Bethune Middle School, also in South Los Angeles, in an incident she believes was racial.
"Violence is violence. If it happens at one school, it'll happen at the next," she said.
School officials declared a half-day of classes Friday â€" dismissing students before lunch, when violence was most likely to occur. Much of the time was devoted to a campuswide "Day of Dialogue," during which teachers and officials from county government and the U.S. Department of Justice discussed the fights.
Students leaving campus said the exercise failed to dispel their concerns.
"We just talked and laughed," said freshman Jeovanni Serrano. "The teacher said it's wrong to fight, and we shouldn't be doing this, and it makes our school look bad."
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