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Saturday, February 24th, 1pm @ Iguana Taqueria The Youth Council invites you and your colleagues to our February 2007 Speakout: History Lessons. If you are not familiar with NAACP's "Speakouts," they are basically open forums designed not only to encourage discussion about relevant issues that are plaguing our society on all levels but also strategizing to repair problems. In essence, they allow students, parents, and other community members to voice their opinions, and exercise their personal power, by collaborating with local elected officials and those in positions of leadership towards a solution. Speakouts are a unique way for us to express our novel ideas, and positively impact our environment as young people. Iguana Taqueria, 1:00 PM, Saturday February 24 330 South Third Street, San Jose CA 95112 (S 3rd and San Carlos) This month, we're tackling the issue of the poor and declining academic performance of African American and Latino students in our Santa Clara County, and the Bay Area as a whole. Of course, this has been a common topic of discussion for years, but very seldom do you see such a discussion amongst the students themselves. We chose to address this issue now because as students, we feel that the situation is dire and worsening. The issue is not that the kids are incapable of performing well in school, its just that many of them don't even attend their classes regularly. How can they gain from their education if they don't even have value for it? There are already more Black males in our prison system than in this country's entire university system and we can't afford for the trend to worsen. That's why we have put our great minds together, put a twist on the issue, and come up with a solution. In the spirit of Black History Month and the upcoming Cesar Chavez commemoration next March, we are sponsoring the February Speakout to create awareness amongst parents, students, the County Office of Education and our State government not only about the issue, but about our solution--which is for schools to start offering elective ethnic minority African American History, Latino American History, and Asian American History to supplement the traditional history courses already offered. Last year, concerned African American parents in a San Jose school district conducted a study to see just how bad the situation truly was. The results were shocking, and disturbing. In that district, about 64% of the Black students were failing at least 1 class with a D or an F. Within the individual schools, some of the results were ridiculous with over 70% of the students failing. The statistics amongst Latino students aren't very different and their drop out rates are just as astonishing. It may be hard to believe, but many African American kids dont even about Ruby Bridges or James Meredith, two kids who risked their lives and were victimized just because they had the dreams of receiving quality educations. They don't know that Bull Connor used fire hoses that packed enough power to strip bark off of trees, and set police dogs on unsuspecting children who were peacefully demonstrating in Birmingham, Alabama. They're unaware of all the harrassment, shootings, intimidation, and "disappearings," that affected the Hispanic farmworkers that tried to speak out about being sprayed with harmful pesticides in the fields. We sincerely believe that if the students were aware of the strife, struggle, tragedies, and steadfastness, that paved their way, they would be more appreciative and realize that their educations are an expensive luxury that should not be taken for granted. The histories of ethnic minorities, especially in California, have been filled with pain of course, but are also prodigious, rich, beautiful, and were instrumental in the development of California. These are lessons that should not be overlooked. Our state already has a reputation of being the innovative role model in our country when it comes to social reform, join us by being part of the process that will bring another one to the list. Please support this speakout by attending and spreading the word. The event will take place on Saturday, February 24 at 1 PM at Iguana Taqueria--330 South Third Street, San Jose CA 95112 at the corner of 3rd and San Carlos. If you have any questions, the youth council can be contacted by email youth@sanjosenaacp. org, or by phone (408) 295-3394. I look forward to seeing you next weekend! Amaka Uzoh San Jose NAACP Youth Council, President |