Southern California Voices: A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES : ‘We Believe That the Melting Pot Is Not Possible’

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and, more recently, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, were born out of minorities’ struggle for civil rights. Student organizations such as MEChA, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan and the Black Student Union continue to be formed along ethnic lines. DANIELLE MASTERSON asked high school students what role they see for such organizations in their own lives.

SEAK “C.C.” CHAN

17, senior, Crenshaw High School

Those organization don’t play a role in my life because I’m Cambodian. But since I go to a predominantly black school and a lot of my friends are black, I’m sort of bicultural. I think organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League play a big role for my peers. They enhance other minorities and help them overcome obstacles. I feel they are necessary.

There are a lot of things that affect us, but we [teenagers] don’t think about it. It’s just like voting. They don’t think their one vote matters.

Although there’s more interracial dating and mixing, those organizations will still be around 10 or 20 years from now.

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DUFF MORTON

17, senior, North High School, Riverside

I am white, so I don’t belong to any of those organizations. My perception is that these organizations are important. I work with MECHA and the Black Student Union on campus. I find that those organizations are best equipped to mobilize their members. I’m familiar with the adult organizations [like the NAACP]. I imagine they But, on the other hand, I have problems with it. When you organize people along racial lines, then people get used to dealing with each other along racial lines.

The ‘90s have sort of reversed the political settings of the ‘60s. Instead of going toward racially integrated politics, we’re moving toward a segregated politics.

I think my contemporaries and I have given up the dream of a classless society and a raceless society. We’ve all accepted the fact that in our lifetime and in our children’s lifetime, there will still be racial barriers.

We all believe that the melting pot is not possible.

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LUIS KING

18, senior, North High School, Riverside

I think those organizations are a way to preserve the past and teach us how to learn from it. It also teaches you the history of how races have been oppressed.

I see these organizations being in existence when I’m 30 and 40 years old. It’s a way of belonging [for people in different ethnic groups]. People feel comfortable knowing the same people with the same customs. It’s a need to be with the same people you relate to.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I’m a member of the Asian Student Union on campus, but I was a member of the Black Student Union and MEChA because I wanted to learn about other cultures. They welcome other cultures and races to come. But I feel more comfortable with my own race because there’s more I can relate to with my own culture.

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MYSISHA GRIGGS

16, sophomore, Venice High School

So far, these organizations haven’t played any role in my life. The BSU and the NAACP may benefit other students, but not me. They may have good intentions on why they organize just one race, but sometimes they treat you with attitude. There’s jealousy between girls and guys. There’s backbiting.

From what I’ve seen with our student organizations on campus, they serve no positive or productive energy. Particularly with black people, just because we’re the same color doesn’t mean we have the same character. Unlike other minorities, we don’t even have a common [non-English] language to bond us.