How often do you think before you leave to go to a TUSD governing board meeting, “Hey, I better bring my knife, cause you never know if there’s going to be a potluck or turkey dinner?”
Probably not that often, unless you’re a guy named John White, who has spoken at previous school board meetings, and Tuesday night was no different. He even signed in as Juan Blanco, something he thinks is kind of funny and just loves confusing the board when he introduces himself.
According to reports, before White ever got into the board room, before he was ever called up during call to audience, he tried to bring a knife into the building.
Perhaps before he left his house he thought, “I’m going to talk tonight at the school board meeting about killing and blood and how those damn Chicanos want war. I better bring a knife with me to illustrate my point.”
Now, I guess, if they are sticking to orders that go back to the contentious May 3 meeting, the security folks must have been told, “Look, we’re just interested in chains and anyone who looks Mexican that either has a speech written out in their hands or just looks suspicious.” Evidently, the security folks took the knife, but let White right into the 1010 building, even after he reportedly first refused to give the knife to the security folks.
If the knife was reported to the board, it isn’t noted during the meeting. As White began to speak, he spewed a diatribe of violence on”La Raza” calling for a civil war and killing people, saying things like “blood will flow and white flags will mean nothing.” He even flipped off the board.
The problem with all this, besides the knife, is that when he was over his time, when it was noted by board member Judy Burns that he was not just over time, but out of line and breaking board policy, president Mark Stegeman allowed him to continue to have the floor. It wasn’t difficult for some in the audience to compare the scene to the May 3 meeting when about seven members of the community were arrested for speaking out in support of Mexican American Studies — none brought knives, many brought notes and signs.
The fact that he was allowed in even after his knife was confiscated, and then allowed to speak, despite breaking rules that others in the past were arrested for (and despite attempting to bring in a weapon) is troubling.
Three Sonorans’ David Morales was there and put together a video to show what happened and compared it to what’s happened at past meetings. I’d also check out his latest blog post here.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.
They weren’t arrested because of “what” they were reading, it was because they were out of order………people were standing up out of the audience and just started reading or talking………that was different than John White who was given time to speak……..not just jumping up out of the crowd. I don’t agree with the hate that I feel on both sides…….Why so much hate?
i dont believe that we mexican american studies supporters are hating on anything. we are only using democratic ways to get what it is our. our culture and our right to access that knowledge. We use our freedom of speech to fight back. We dont bring knives and hatred comments towards anyone. And yes some of the people that were arrested were standing up randomly from the crowd but despite that some were also arrested for going a bit over time.
Two lessons from this latest incident: racial privilege (racist double standards exist) and the function of non-violent Raza/Ethnic Studies. Critical race theorists would likely pose a story: what if a brown beret attempted to go in with a machete, would we have the same outcome. It is more likely he would have been detained outside, possibly arrested for bringing in a “deadly weapon,” and if he were to speak, it is unlikely Stegman would have defended his “right to rant” past allotted time. The fact is that white males have privileges, that racism exists. Secondly, this stands as a warning that the Gifford-like violence is not unlikely, and results from violent rhetoric espoused by right wing extremists. Public officials need to be held accountable, re-called or forced to resign, if they cannot run meetings fairly or ensure people’s safety. Raza/Ethnic Studies ultimately creates inter-cultural understanding between groups. It does not invoke violence like the right does.
So, Deborah, basically you are agreeing with the nazis that it is only ok to speak if you threaten to kill people, but if you make a peaceful speach you do not have a right to speak?
*speech oops.
the tusd board just makes the case against itself. the community of color, specifically anyone who supports the ethnic studies programs, are shown nothing but disrespect, disdain and violence. People who show agressive behavior (including bringing a knife to the board meeting) is treated with the red carpet rolled out and as much time to speak the vitriolic xenophobic rants over and over. whatever shred of respect that i had left for stegeman is gone. i had none left for pedicone who was ordering elderly women arrested at his will by tpd back in may.
You people are fiddling while Rome burns. TUSD is one of the most dysfunctional school districts in Arizona, and that’s saying something because it’s the second largest district.
You don’t care whether the kids get a good, solid education, which they are not. All you care about is taking potshots at some nutball speaker at a TUSD board meeting, defending La Raza studies, slamming school board members, and lamenting non-existent racist BS. You don’t care when TUSD wastes tens of MILLIONS of dollars on useless crap that will not get the kids a better education.
You could care less about the children. It’s all about me. What you do care about is making sure your ignorant voice is heard and disrupts meetings and creates chaos. That’s it. That’s what you care about.