Last night the sixth annual MLK Scholarship Fund and Recognition Dinner at Freeborn Hall on the campus of UC Davis gave out scholarships to two UC Davis Students and six high school students that will enable them to either go to graduate school or go to college. The fund was co-founded by the late Mel Trujillo and the Reverend Timothy Malone.
Bob Dunning had the honor of introducing the night’s surprise key note addresser, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. Mr. Dunning said:
“Mayor Johnson is the first Sacramento Mayor to lead the NBA in assists. The former Mayor wasn’t very good at the assists.”
Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke at first about the importance of the election of Barack Obama and like many, that he never thought he would live to see an African-American elected President.
“What I appreciate most about Barack Obama is that he does not believe that he just represents the African-American community. He believes that his Presidency transcends color. That’s the best of America. Forty years ago Martin Luther King in his ‘I have a Dream’ speech he said that we should not judge people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. In a generation’s time, his dream is being realized. We all have a chance to witness it.”
Mayor Kevin Johnson said that while we have accomplished much, there is still much to be done. One thing specifically he mentioned was the importance of education and the failure of our education system.
“There’s still a lot more to do. Let me give you one statistic that I think ties into the theme today. That is, public education is failing our kids around this country. If Martin Luther King was around today, I could assure you that he would say that public education is the Civil Rights issue of the 21st Century.”
He continued:
“You have situation now where a third of our kids are not graduating high school. Half our kids are not graduating high school that are black or Latino. That’s just not acceptable. We’re talking about America being one of the most powerful leading countries in the world, and it’s no longer the case. When it comes to math and science we’re 18th and 25th. Our schools are not preparing our young people for the 21st century. What makes matters worse is that if you’re graduating high school and you are black and Latino, you are at the same academic level as white eighth graders. If your in third grade, and you’re not reading at grade level, 80% of those kids, never catch up… That means your future is determined by the time your in third grade. To make matters worse, that we are building prison facilities based on third grade reading scores. That we are taking reading scores and projecting it forward to know how many people we have that are going to be filling up our prisons.
That’s why none of us can sit on our hands or say we want to sit on the sidelines. We all have to get involved.
Among the awardees, first was UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef who announced that he is retiring in June after 25 years year. Chancellor Vanderhoef received the lifetime achievement award.
Chancellor Vanderhoef related a story from the mid-1990s during a time when the board of regents had repealed many of the state’s affirmative action programs in advance of Proposition 2009.
“UC Davis Gospel choir helped me make that point quite a while ago about 11 years ago. I was at the board of regents at the University of California. It was in the mid-1990s, it was shortly after the board approved policies that prohibited consideration of race and gender in UC admission and hiring.
The campus at that time had a rare opportunity, it had an opportunity to make a presentation before the regents–a presentation about what we thought UC Davis was and what we thought was important to UC Davis…
I could still picture the major event of that presentation. We were just about to begin and we had this group of students come into the hall. They marched in. Now the regents had been having a very difficult time with students marching into the meeting because of Prop 209 and things that the regents did prior to that. So they fretted about that group of students marching in and seated themselves altogether.
Then they all rose as one body and in fact it was the Gospel Choir. The diversity of faces, the diversity just in general was obvious, it just filled the room before they even mouths. And then they began to sing. It was wonderful. For one thing, the regents relaxed. They relaxed enough so that by the end of the presentation by the Gospel Choir, they gave them a standing ovation.
Afterwards I talked to one of those regents… I said that moving that the regents felt so good about that group of students. He said, I don’t think that we’ve ever seen any university group that showed the diversity that that group showed and at the same time they showed us how wonderful diversity can be. And what it can bring to the stage that other groups cannot.”
Dave Dionisi from Teach Peace received a well-deserved award as an Outstanding International Peace Leader. He shared early in the evening a rather moving story about some of the things they accomplished in Liberia in attempting to transform it from a war torn country to now a place where they provide hope in the form of education to young children for just $50 per year.
Mr. Dionisi talked about Martin Luther King and importance of action:
“In the packet tonight, there’s a quote from Martin Luther King that I just love about cowardice. ‘Cowards ask the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question: Is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right?’ There are many people out there tonight that have the courage folks that are standing up, that ask some hard questions about the Federal Reserve, what it’s doing to our country, to ask difficult questions about the massacre in Gaza and what that means for justice everywhere, to ask difficult questions about what really happened on 9/11 and what that means for our democracy as we go forward. I want to say thank you to all of you who have made such a big impact on my life…”
Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald received an award for Outstanding Community Service, she told the students:
“One person can make a change and we can all come together to make a better change. So when Dr. King says that we must sometimes take positions because they are the right positions to take, I want to challenge everyone in the community and students as you go through your studies, as you run into challenging opportunities, some of you have said ‘I don’t know if I’m going to get into that school,’ you know what, knock on that door. And if that door slams on your face, then you go through the window. If the window slams on your face, you go back and kick the door open. I came from a family where we… were in a one-bedroom home, where we shared mattresses, we were very poor. But we never knew it because there was so much love and hope in the family. So don’t let lack of finances and lack of opportunities… you keep asking questions and do not take no for an answer.”
Professor Bruce Haynes of UC Davis was named outstanding educator:
“We’ve heard this a few times on the stage here tonight, that sometimes we have to take a position because it’s right. That’s something that I try to do… I wanted to take this opportunity to say that thing that is uncomfortable but what must be heard. I’m one of the few black professors at UC Davis that is actually tenured. There are few Latino faculty, few Native American faculty, and we’re at historical times in the university’s history. Never before has there been so many faculty up for retirement, so it is a unique time for personnel change. We have a deep pipeline problem in the state of California. At times I found myself battling with Chancellor Vanderhoef because he had challenging times trying to find diverse faculty. Part of that crisis in education in California really goes back to something that happened in the 1970s, something that no politician seems willing to talk about. That’s Prop 13 which is pretty much the reason that education in the state of California left us in the dark ages. It prevents us from keeping up with other states in terms of expenditures, teacher qualifications, training our teachers. I guess I’m putting it on all us to do something about that…”
The Reverend Malone closed the night with a very moving tribute to Martin Luther King as the nation’s first African-American President is about to be sworn into office.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Vanderhoef has a good record on talking about supporting diversity and equality. He has a miserable record on operational civil rights (the part of civil rights after a complaint of discrimination is filed)
…He has a miserable record on operational civil rights… Agreed!
Is that a picture of Sue Greenwalds daughter , in that picture of Kevin Johnson ?
…That’s the best of America. Forty years ago Martin Luther King in his ‘I have a Dream’ speech he said that we should not judge people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character….And if Barack Obama was being judged by the content of his character, he wouldn’t be president right now.
You’re wrong Bush apologist, Obama was elected because he was dynamic, charismatic, and inspired people not because he was black.
Can we not turn this into an Obama thread? No one is going to convince anyone from the other side of anythign.My first thought at this report– Cecelia got some new stuff to add to her campaign materials when she runs for city council in 2010. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing that Kevin Johnson pic in the future.
Vanderhoef has a good record on talking about supporting diversity and equality.The worst thing about the left and …civil rights… is affirmative action. No matter what pretty bow you put around it, AA is racism. Some of it was eliminated at UC, when the people voted for Prop 209, but not all of it. If you are a contractor, and the project involves federal funds, UC still requires …minority… set-asides, which guarantees poor quality work at higher costs. I put minority in quotes because I am 3/4th Asian (half-Japanese, quarter Korean, quarter white), but that is not a …minority… when it comes to federal contracting laws. Strangely enough, a 100% white woman will qualify for set-asides, while I will not.Kevin Johnson spoke about the terrible performance of blacks and Latinos in public schools. (In Hawaii, where I grew up, you could substitute Native Hawaiian for black or Latino and find the same miserable numbers in school.) What he didn’t say is why students from those groups do so badly. The answer is low expectations. Their families don’t expect them to excel. The schools don’t expect them to excel. Society doesn’t expect them to excel. Therefore they generally don’t excel.That’s why affirmative action (of every type) is so bad. It sends a clear signal–we don’t expect quality work from you. You can’t earn the job or spot in school or contract or whatever because of your race or because other people don’t think your race is any good, so we will accept poor quality work from you. That message is heard loud and clear by …minorities….The answer is to get rid of all affirmative action, public and private. We need to raise our expectations of blacks and Latinos, beginning in preschool and all the way up. When children fail, we cannot pass them along or lower the standards. We have to say, …your work is terrible and unacceptable. Go back and do it again until you get it right….When expectations are raised, performance will follow.
Or is that a picture of Sue Greenwalds daughter -in-law , pictured with Kevin Johnson ?
…What he didn’t say is why students from those groups do so badly. …Actually he spent about ten minutes talking about that and how some of things he has done have helped turned things around. Unfortunately, I didn’t have another hour to transcribe the entire speech.
…Actually he spent about ten minutes talking about that and how some of things he has done have helped turned things around….I'm a Kevin Johnson fan. I think he's (in general) a great role model for his community. He's invested a lot of money in businesses in Oak Park, and his St. Hope Academy has provided after-school programs for kids to give them some advantages (like computers and books) that they lack at home. It's too bad there are not more people like Kevin Johnson.However, I'm disappointed that his efforts at Sac High have not been more successful. I don't know the reasons why. Maybe it's all beyond his control.If you compare Sacramento Charter High School with other public high schools with a majority black or Hispanic student body, Johnson's school falls in the middle. Its API scores are better than Grant, Hiram Johnson and Burbank, but worse than Valley and Florin*. However, it is not the case that Sacramento High School has broken out of the pack. It's still, alas, typical of most inner-city schools.These are the comparative API scores from Sacramento: West Campus 887 Discovery High School 849Muir Charter School 849Natomas Charter 838Rio Americano High School 795Mira Loma High School 787El Camino Fundamental High School 781School of Engineering & Sciences public 779John F. Kennedy High School 754 C. K. McClatchy High School 745 Sheldon High School public 733 River City Senior High School public 718Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep 715 Foothill High School 710Rosemont High School 705Florin High School 703Las Flores High (Alternative) 693 Valley High School 692West Sacramento Early College Prep691 Inderkum High School 689Sacramento Charter High School 686Met Sacramento Charter High School 669John H. Still 656New Technology High School 655Health Professions High School 644Natomas High School 642Encina Preparatory High School 628Luther Burbank High School 626West Sacramento School for Independent Study 618Hiram W. Johnson High School 611Grant Union High School 606Capital City Independent Study 599America’s Choice 578Genesis High School 574Laurel Ruff Center 545Calvine High School 529Vista Nueva Career and Technology High School 503 * I don’t think, by the way, that API scores are everything. If a school did a great job preparing kids for technical careers, but had low API scores, that (to my mind) would be a much greater success than one which failed at preparing the non-college-bound for the work world, but had an average API 100 points higher.
Rich Rifkin , no wonder you only write twice a month .Your support of Kevin Johnson proves that your a terrible judge of character .I guess birds of a feather always flock together .Please move to Sacramento ,thanks dude .
Anonymous:It’d be far more interesting if you actually had a point or made a point rather than resorting to basic character attacks from your safe location as an anonymous poster.
…… your a terrible judge of character….I won’t comment on you’re English, then.
David, it is good to read your account of the MLK Dinner event. My contratulations to all of the honorees and speakers. I can understand that UCD can be a frustrating place for Prof. Haynes regarding diversity efforts but I understand that demographers say that the data shows that the black middleclass has been leaving this state for years and regrouping in black suburbs back East. I was not aware that Kevin Johnson appearance at this event was a possibility and am sorry I missed him. I am a great admirer of his community and educational efforts in Sacramento. Also, he is a close personal friend of the exciting Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of Washington DC public schools. She specializes in and is nationally recognized for her revolutionary efforts in teaching urban children. My hopes are that she, Mayor Johnson and D.C. Mayor Fenty can get support from the Obamas’ in their efforts to help improve education. Finally, that is a great picture of Cecilia and Mayor Johnson with exciting possibilities for future political use.
By the way, Rich Rifkin, I really appreciate your input on Kevin Johnson.
Cory Golden in today’s Enterprise story had a positive note about KJ’s impact at Sac High, which suggests the API scores can be misleading:In 2003, the year before it became a charter school, 20 percent of Sac High’s graduates were accepted to four-year colleges. Under St. HOPE, the number of students qualifying for free or reduced meals has gone up – but so has academic success: 82 percent of last year’s graduating seniors were accepted to four-year colleges.
Why are there so few Davis minority kids receiving the MLK scholarship? My understanding is that all you have to do is apply for it.
Kevin Johnson is wrong to blame the schools for the poor education of blacks and latinos. The parents are to blame and no one seems to understand this point. I grew up in the same situation and chose NOT to join in with the lynching of the school system. Nor did I engage in the race card pity party. Everyone laying the blame on the school system is full of crap. Look at the track records of those involved and it will be evident with regard to blame.
I’ve worked for years in Sacramento and know a lot of families of color in Davis. In my observation, parents do have a lot to do with the lack of success of their children, but there are many cases where even when the parents try VERY hard to help their children succeed, the teachers and administrators don’t want to help. I have heard many parents frustrated that because their children are treated by teachers and principals like they are really too dumb to succeed anyway, so they don’t try very hard to give the kids the help they need, or cooperate with the parents in developing a game plan for them. And even bright kids with high test scores were put in remedial classes. This came from mostly African-American and Latino parents. My own child is at risk of dropping through the cracks and he is Eurasian. Of course, it isn’t just a color thing in Davis, because Caucasians of working class families are treated poorly, too. For all the talk about the wonderfully supportive Davis schools, there really is a two-tiered system. High achievers are treated like royalty, the rest are left to flounder. Kids know when their teachers and schools have labelled them and don’t care. These kids give up and drop out of the picture. I’m sure the schools prefer this so that test scores aren’t pulled down.Lots of people complain about …No Child Left Behind…. Though I think it was more for show because Bush never allocated money to help the schools achieve their goals, it DID get the principals to care about giving many kids the added help they need.
…The worst thing about the left and …civil rights… is affirmative action…. BTW, there still needs to be a way to track the hiring practices of employers to see if racism exists with their management, just as police need to be watched for racial profiling. Racism is very real even today. There are very ugly comments made in private by people who say …race doesn’t matter…. Those are usually the people who have never been treated rudely for no apparent reason. I think many people think that it’s okay to pull people of color over more frequently for public safety. What they don’t realize is that these people are usually subjected to insulting attitudes and rude, demeaning behavior. This is not usually included in statistics, just as the tenor of management comments behind closed doors is not disclosed. So we need something to bring this dark side of American life to light to prevent people from living in denial of racist tendencies. There are plenty of qualified people of color to hire. The managers who resent affirmative action will hire poor quality employees of color just so they can prove that affirmative action doesn’t work. It is not the fault of affirmative action if the employers set the bar low for minorities.Also, I don’t think Sue Greenwald has any kids.
I believe in the teacher training strategies of Teach for America and the New Teacher Project with their belief that all kids are teachable regardles of their family circumstances. That is why I am such an admirer of both Kevin Johnson and Michele Rhee. Teachers who have writen off kids of single parents should not be allowed to have such kids in their classes because these children would not have a chance. The school district should only hire those teachers who can teach them.
…The managers who resent affirmative action will hire poor quality employees of color just so they can prove that affirmative action doesn’t work. It is not the fault of affirmative action if the employers set the bar low for minorities….If you set the bar high for all people, blacks and Latinos will have to raise their performances. Once they raise their performances, there will be no need for affirmative action.Asians are …racial minorities… too. They are high achievers in school and work. They don’t require …affirmative action… to get ahead in our society. The only ones who need …affirmative action… are groups who don’t work hard enough in school to get ahead.If you look around the Silicon Valley, you might notice that the best, highest paid engineers in most companies are Indians and Pakistanis. You think they got those great jobs because of …affirmative action…? They got ahead by working harder than other people in school. If blacks and Latinos want to succeed, they should stop looking for …affirmative action…. They should look at the role model of Indian-Americans.
…If you set the bar high for all people, blacks and Latinos will have to raise their performances….Yep really worked well in California.