Support for West County Students & School Community

It was brought to our attention at AAPIC through our contacts at Sonoma County JACL thatWest County High School (formerly Analy High School) in Sebastopol has recently encountered several incidents of racism and white supremacy. At about the same time, students at the school did some research as part of their Ethnic Studies curriculum into the history of two plaques installed on the school campus-on the ground at the front entrance to the school building and the gym, dedicated on two different dates in 1935 and 1954.

The Plaques

The wordings of both plaques were:

THIS BUILDING DEDICATED TO

TRUTH ~ LIBERTY ~ TOLERATION~BY THE

NATIVE SONS OF THE GOLDEN WEST

The students discovered that NSGW (Native Sons of the Golden West)was highly intolerant of immigrant groups, unlike the motto on the plaque implies.

KatieAnn Nguyen, a student at the school, wrote an article at the school’s student newspaper dated March 14, 2022 titled “An Overview of the Plaques Donated by the Native Sons of the Golden West; What they represent, why they should be removed, and how they hurt our community”.

A request was made to the School Board at its meeting on April 13 to remove these two plaques. A decision was made to investigate the cost and legal issues related to the plaques’ removal, and bring it back to the May 4 meeting for action consideration. This issue has gained increased attention from the Board and district staff who seemed to be pressured to take the plaques more seriously.

In the meantime, student KatieAnn and a fellow student were called in for a meeting with Interim School Superintendent Eric Hoppes related to their complaints. The meeting did not gowell. KatieAnn then wrote another article recounting the meeting in the school newspaper “The Red Flags of Our Meeting with the Superintendent Eric Hoppes”.This eventually led to the resignation of Mr. Hoppes as reported in an April 19 Press Democrat article “West County interim superintendent resigns amid racist ‘promposal’ backlash”

Letter of Support

At the AAPIC monthly meeting on April 19, those present discussed about how to respond to the issue, in particular, to support the students, both being People of Color, who felt very distressed by the chain of events involving racism and racial insensitivity

The mission of AAPIC is to celebrate culture, empower community, and promote positive change for the AAPI community in the North Bay. We feel that it is our responsibility to provide support to the students, and to encourage respectful dialog for inclusion of AAPI individuals in the area.

Eventually, we drafted and adopted a Letter of Support addressed to the students and the school community. This letter was sent by email on April 26 and also hand-delivered to the school for the two students involved, the school principal, campus supervisor, ethnic studies teacher, and members of the School Board

School Board Meeting

Some of our members have indicated their intention to attend the WCHS School Board meeting which is open to the public, on Wed, May 4, at 6 pm in the school cafeteria