Students gather at NVC to address flag-burning incident at Cinco de Mayo

By CARLOS VILLATORO

Napa Valley Register

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Last week, some Vintage High School students burned a Mexican national flag on campus in protest of Cinco de Mayo, one of several such incidents on campuses around the country that sparked intense online debate touching on the First Amendment, immigration reform and racism.

On Thursday evening at Napa Valley College, a group of students, teachers, school officials and others took the discussion out of cyberspace and into the open.

About 70 people gathered to talk about the incident and brainstorm ways to avoid future ones.

A panel consisting of students from Vintage, New Technology and Napa high schools, a Vintage High instructor and Napa Valley College students set the discussion in motion by talking about the incident.

Vintage High senior Rosa Murrillo said the media exaggerated the incident. Murrillo said she did not see Swastikas, though a Bay Area television station reported via a Vintage parent that the symbols had been seen. Murrillo said she saw only a handful of students clashing after the incident. 

"Everything seems to have gotten out of hand," she said.

Vintage High Spanish teacher Azalea Aguilar said "It was a very small group of people" doing the fighting and many more were attempting to stop the fights. She said the commotion didn't resemble the coverage in the Napa Valley Register or on CBS 5.

"There were problems, but they were addressed by the administration," Aguilar said. 

Vintage High student Austin Simpson, who was not a member of the panel, spoke of what happened in the parking lot during the Cinco de Mayo celebration at Vintage.

"I am one of the so-called ‘hicks,' I hang out in the back parking lot," Simpson said. "Cinco de Mayo, we don't celebrate it as much. There are some people who hang out who made some very poor choices, and that's burning the flag. There were about three or four separate fights. Some of the conflict continued into the two following days. I don't want people to see us as a bad group."

Some students said that Cinco de Mayo and other ethnic-themed events often ignite racial tensions. Others said that the Mexican flag is not the only one that has been disrespected by students; they said that students have also burned the American flag.

Some people criticized how administrators handled the situation, saying that administrators did not do enough to extinguish racial tensions at Vintage. But Jose Hurtado, a member of the Napa Valley Unified School District board, said officials took several steps to deal with the problem and ensure the safety of the student body. 

"If you have any doubts that something will be done, that something good will come out of this, lay them to rest," Hurtado told the crowd.  

Hurtado and Brian Marchus, an assistant principal at Valley Oak High School, propelled Thursday's discussion into finding solutions to racial tension.

Marchus noted that students far outnumber administrators.

"We cannot possibly supervise everyone," he said. "We need the student support to help us solve the problem. We are all here to talk about what can be done in the future. We are all here because we care. The administration is doing everything they can."

Hurtado said that he'd like to see organizations such as LAYLA - Leadership Academy Youth Leaders in Action, which will soon unveil a cultural plaza and neighborhood center at McPherson Elementary School -spread to other schools in the district as a way to unite students from different backgrounds. 

The crowd also offered the following solutions: 

• Creating an e-mail network of students, educators, parents and leaders;
• No more racial jokes;
• Establishing a social science graduation requirement for high school students;
• Creating a multi-cultural music project;
• Requesting uniforms be worn at schools;
• Forming a multi-cultural coalition that can deal with these problems as they arise;
• Hosting a food festival.

Organizer Alex Shantz, a student at Napa Valley College, said the goal of Thursday's forum was to"bring the community together and let the Latino community know where white students are coming from, and also to let the white community understand where the Latino community is coming from."

Shantz and co-organizer Julio Soriano, also a student at NVC, said that the forum was a starting point that they hope will lead to additional cross-cultural understanding in Napa.