Font ResizeSudanese. Tongan. Cambodian. Bosnian. Fijian. Latino.
Educators from Salt Lake City's west side tried to list all the ethnicity they encounter.
"It might be easier to say who's not," said Northwest Middle School Principal Rod Goode. "We don't have any French. I think."
Educators and community activists met Thursday at Glendale Middle School to talk about race and ethnicity in schools and its role in pushing or pulling children into gangs. The meeting was part of a U.S. Department of Justice effort to address racial tensions in Salt Lake City.
The 30 or so adults who attended disagreed about how much racism exists on the west side -- considered the heart of the city's gang activities -- and in west side schools.
Goode said students of different races get along when they are in the schools, but when they leave campus, gangs recruit the students along lines of race, ethnicity and language.
"I think those groups exploit our students," Goode said.
Frank Cordova, from the Utah Coalition of La Raza, said the issue is not necessarily whether there are fist fights among different races at schools, but whether the students are interacting with one another or if they are segregating themselves in classrooms and cafeterias.
Cordova discussed his own experience growing up on the city's west side. He said he only spent time with the few other Latino families and the "Anglo rejects."
"We never
Salt Lake City police Lt. Isaac Atencio, who commands the department's gang unit, said too much emphasis is being placed on problems in the schools. He said problems rest with parents, many of whom don't realize their children are in gangs because they don't speak English or are too busy working. He listed some efforts the police department has made to help parents, including providing English training or translation.
"We need to start looking at parents," Atencio said, "and, secondly, to the community."
Glendale Middle School Principal Betty Valenzuela recalled a fight last year between five boys of varying races. But the fight wasn't about race so much as boys misbehaving, she said.
This year, the school had adopted a theme encouraging all students to get along.
"We have a handful of kids that are looking at race," Valenzuela said, "but most of our kids mix with one another."
