WE, THE STUDENTS OF GARDEN GROVE, ASK THAT GARDEN GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT MAKE ETHNIC STUDIES A REQUIREMENT IN ALL OF OUR SCHOOLS, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

We are the current and former Black Student Union of Garden Grove High School, the head pursuit for the requirement of Ethnic Studies in high schools across the Garden Grove district.

From kindergarten all the way through the twelfth grade, students of the Garden Grove Unified School District are taught through a Eurocentric lens: Pilgrims were friendly people who came from England on the Mayflower, the Emancipation Proclamation freed all black people from the bondage of slavery, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, and Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Rights leader in the 1960s who was assassinated.  

With such a limited picture of the contributions of people from marginalized groups, students that are part of a marginalized group(s) start to become disengaged as they don’t see themselves reflected in the curriculum they’re taught. And just as problematic, students that are not from these marginalized groups—for example, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, and womxn—develop a lack of understanding toward the identities and experiences of underrepresented marginalized groups.

In reality, this is not the bulk of our history, and there is so much we do not discuss. We don’t learn about Lewis Howard Latimer and his contributions to the light bulb and telephone. We don’t learn about writers and activists such as Yuri Kochiyama who write about their experiences in Japanese internment camps post the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We don’t learn about Victor Ochoa and his revolutionary invention of the windmill. But these are only a few examples of what U.S. and World History, A-G high school requirements, fail to teach its students. We, as students, are taught our history through a White perspective; not to mention the fact that our textbooks are shallow and romanticized. They lack depth and un-sugar-coated truth; which then leads to the desensitization of young minds everywhere.

But that is not our only concern. As well as the History department, the English department lacks representation in the novels selected for reading. A few of the novels we read are, To Kill A Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and Secret Life of Bees, all of which contain derogatory language that is undoubtedly insensitive to a large community of students that are required to read them. With a wealth of contemporary authors at our fingertips, such as James Baldwin, Angie Thomas, Julie Otsuka, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Julia Alvarez, why is it that the Garden Grove Unified School District refuses to update the curriculum with contemporary authors that are more reflective of the student demographic which they serve?

“Why is recognizing these issues important?” you may ask? Or “What good comes from shedding light on these matters?”—It is imperative because everything starts in schools; it’s where we learn our history and read novels that’ll have impacts on us for the rest of our lives. It’s where we learn to interact with people who are different from ourselves, and it’s where we find our senses of identity. Most importantly, it’s where we are free to immerse ourselves in cultures that are not our own. Changing the curriculum and the books we study is crucial, as we need representation and inclusivity. It is time for our horizons to be broadened. This is why we need Ethnic Studies. Please join us in demanding the Garden Grove Unified School District making Ethnic Studies a requirement.

Read your students’ testimonials in support of the Ethnic Studies requirement here or by visiting https://bit.ly/2ZAdYhY

WE DEMAND THAT GARDEN GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT RESPOND WITH THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS:

1. Announce the Garden Grove Unified School District’s commitment to passing the proposed Ethnic Studies Resolution made by students, teachers, parents, and community leaders at the Garden Grove Board Meeting on August 14, 2020.

2. Adopt the proposed Ethnic Studies Resolution made by students, teachers, parents, and community leaders at the Garden Grove Unified School District Board Meeting shortly thereafter on August 14, 2020.

3. Collaborate with the Garden Grove Black Student Union to ensure the integrity of the course’s commitment to many disciplines and areas of thought to comprehend the socio-cultural, intellectual, and historical experiences that inform the construction of racial, gender, and cultural identities.

4. Ensure that the course is from the community, by the community, and for the community.

5. Actively work to empower students to eradicate the racism we witness and experience within our schools and discover their own area of research and action that can affect social justice for all.

Your Black students, your minority students, your marginalized students, your Indigenous students, your disabled students, your APIA students, your multi-ethnic students, your LGBTIA+ students, your ever-growing and celebrated diverse population, are asking for your leadership in taking the formal steps necessary to create the Ethnic Studies requirement in our GGUSD schools.

Will you hear the concerns of your students?

With urgency,

The Students and Parents of Garden Grove

The Garden Grove High School Black Student Union

Educators in Garden Grove

Members of Key Club at Garden Grove High School

Members of AVID at Garden Grove High School

Members of Alpha Leo at Garden Grove High School

Members of California Scholarship Federation at Garden Grove High School

Members of Latinos Unidos at Garden Grove High School

Members of Latinos Unidos at La Quinta High School

Members of Latinos Unidos at Santiago High School

Members of Latinos Unidos at Bolsa Grande High School

Members of Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica at Bolsa Grande High School

Members of African American Culture at Pacifica High School

Members of Culinary Club at Pacifica High School

Members of VSA at Pacifica High School

Members of DnD at Pacifica High School

Members of Drama Club at Pacifica High School

Members of ASB at Los Amigos High School

Members of ASB at Rancho Alamitos High School

Members of GSA at La Quinta High School

Members of Bolsa Grande Alumni

Members of La Quinta Alumni

Members of Rancho Alamitos Alumni

Orange County School Districts

Residents of Garden Grove

Garden Grove for Change

Viet Rainbow of Orange County