[Sosfbay-discuss] naacp youth speakout

[Jim Doyle]

*From:* Amaka Uzoh [mailto:amakuzoh at yahoo.com]
*Sent:* Friday, February 16, 2007 5:04 PM
*To:* pattiecortese at aol.com; gail.mohr at bankofamerica.com; 
dave at davecortese.com
*Subject:* You are invited to the NAACP Youth Council's February Speakout!

Hello,

My name is Amaka Uzoh, and I'm senior at St. Francis High School in 
Mountain View and the current president of San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP 
Youth Council. I am writing to you on behalf of our Youth Council to 
invite you and your colleagues to our February 2007 Speakout: History 
Lessons. If you are not familiar with NAACP's "Speakouts," they are 
basically open forums designed not only to encourage discussion about
relevant issues that are plaguing our society on all levels but also 
strategizing
to repair problems. In essence, they allow students, parents, and other 
community members to voice their opinions, and exercise their personal 
power, by collaborating with local elected officials and those in 
positions of leadership towards a solution. Speakouts are a unique way 
for us to express our novel ideas, and positively impact our environment 
as young people.

**1:00 PM****, Saturday February 24 **

** Iguana Taqueria**

**330 South Third Street****, **

**San Jose**** ****CA**** ****95112**** **

**(S 3rd and ****San Carlos****)**

This month, we're tackling the issue of the poor and declining academic 
performance of African American and Latino students in our Santa Clara 
County, and the Bay Area as a whole. Of course, this has been a common 
topic of discussion for years, but very seldom do you see such a 
discussion amongst the students themselves. We chose to address this 
issue now because as students, we feel that the situation is dire and 
worsening.

The issue is not that the kids are incapable of performing well in 
school, its just that many of them don't even attend their classes 
regularly. How can they gain from their education if they don't even 
have value for it? There are already more Black males in our prison 
system than in this country's entire university system and we can't 
afford for the trend to worsen. That's why we have put our great minds 
together, put a twist on the issue, and come up with a solution.

In the spirit of Black History Month and the upcoming Cesar Chavez 
commemoration next March, we are sponsoring the February Speakout to 
create awareness amongst parents, students, the County Office of 
Education and our State government not only about the issue, but about 
our solution--which is for schools to start offering elective ethnic 
minority African American History, Latino American History, and Asian 
American History to supplement the traditional history courses already 
offered.

Last year, concerned African American parents in a San Jose school 
district conducted a study to see just how bad the situation truly was. 
The results were shocking, and disturbing. In that district, about 64% 
of the Black students were failing at least 1 class with a D or an F. 
Within the individual schools, some of the results were ridiculous with 
over 70% of the students failing. The statistics amongst Latino students 
aren't very different and their drop out rates are just as astonishing.

I know it may be hard to believe, but many African American kids don’t 
even about Ruby Bridges or James Meredith, two kids who risked their 
lives and were victimized just because they had the dreams of receiving 
quality educations. They don't know that Bull Connor used fire hoses 
that packed enough power to strip bark off of trees, and set police dogs 
on unsuspecting children who were peacefully demonstrating in 
Birmingham, Alabama. They're unaware of all the harassment, shootings, 
intimidation, and "disappearings," that affected the Hispanic farm 
workers that tried to speak out about being sprayed with harmful 
pesticides in the fields. We sincerely believe that if the students were 
aware of the strife, struggle, tragedies, and steadfastness, that paved 
their way, they would be more appreciative and realize that their 
educations are an expensive luxury that should not be taken for granted. 
The histories of ethnic minorities, especially in California, have been 
filled with pain of course, but are also prodigious, rich, beautiful, 
and were instrumental in the development of California. These are 
lessons that should not be overlooked. Our state already has a 
reputation of being the innovative role model in our country when it 
comes to social reform, join us by being part of the process that will 
bring another one to the list. Please support this speakout by attending 
and spreading the word. The event will take place on **Saturday, 
February 24 at **** 1 PM**** at Iguana Taqueria--****330 South Third 
Street****, ****San Jose**** ****CA**** ****95112**** at the corner of 
3rd and ****San Carlos****. **If you have any questions, the youth 
council can be contacted by email youth at sanjosenaacp.org 
<mailto:--youth at sanjosenaacp.org>, or by phone (408) 295-3394.

I look forward to seeing you next weekend!

Truly,

Amaka Uzoh

President


"Don't look at it as a problem. Rather, view it as a time-sensitive 
opportunity for creativity..."