Mr. C'de Baca states that the Washington, D.C., trip is a G/T activity. This is false. It has absolutely nothing to do with the G/T program and I pointed that out to Mr. C'de Baca last year. The only two requirements for the D.C. trip are that the student know how to behave and that she come up with the money to go. The faculty sponsor even helps the students with fundraising. They have opportunities that I never even dreamed of when I was a kid.
An accurate point made in the article is the high mobility of some target populations. For an enrichment science class I am teaching this summer I obtained the names and latest phone numbers of 27 students in the bilingual program. When I called the homes to speak to the parents, 13 phones were disconnected. That is one half!
I don't know what we can do to satisfy the bean counters like C'de Baca. We could put a gun to kids' heads and tell them they have to sign up for special trips and programs, or else. Or perhaps he would just like to pull a Wilma Webb and cancel all enrichment activities for everyone.
Michael Johnson, Science Department
Hamilton Middle School
The Rights Stuff
Regarding Eric Dexheimer's "Last Rights" in the June 15 issue:
"No one knows who the Minority Coalition is in the community [Colorado Springs] and nobody cares." With that statement, Vince D'Acchioli, the fundamentalist Human Relations commissioner who believes one shouldn't dialogue with someone he disagrees with, defined what "his" Colorado Springs is all about. One could easily delete the word Coalition and say, "No one knows who the minorities are in this community and nobody cares," and get more directly to the point.
The issues surrounding the HRC were brought about by a failing of the City Council led by a mayor who boldly declares that there is no discrimination in Colorado Springs. When a City Council appoints people to a Commission who make no secret of their opposition to it and who are unwilling to dialogue with people with whom they disagree and when it disempowers and eliminates the administrative support for said commission, it is obviously the council's intent to destroy that commission's effectiveness so that it can be eliminated.
Colorado Springs is controlled by the radical right. Nowhere in the state of Colorado is there more of a need for an empowered, working Human Relations Commission. City Council is the Majority Council of Colorado Springs. Minorities have no voice in Colorado Springs. The suspension of the HRC, as ineffective as it was, left those in Colorado Springs who are different from the dominant majority with no hope of having an effective voice in the near future.
Rita Ague, Executive Board Member
The Colorado Springs Minority Coalition
