Reply to A Response to Rita Montoya calling Community Members Racist

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here is a thoughtful response to Rita Montoya's comment caught on a hot mic at the March 26th BOE meeting:

https://moderatelymoco.com/when-disagreement-becomes-racism/[/quote]

I'm not following this argument that relocating Wootton "breaks up" the community. There was a boundary study that impacted a lot of high schools. The only school being taken out of Wootton is Cold Spring and I think they are fine with that.[/quote]

I think it’s because they fear that Crown will be overcrowded and sooner or later they will be broken apart. Eg Parkway families become the new edge property and first one to be pushed out if and when Crown is overcrowded.

But also I think the authors point was even if you disagree with this premise, it’s not appropriate to call anyone who disagrees with you racist.

We are weaponizing racism so much to the point where it’s beginning to lack meaning. [/quote]

I agree. I think it is important to be specific when calling out racism, and Montoya didn't do that when she made the hot mic comment. It makes a mockery of anti-racism to use it in this snarky and catty fashion. Unfortunately that is quite common in the anti-racist movement.[/quote]

For all those ppl saying she was saying this in reference to the regional program and not boundary study, is this the best defense of Rita you can think of? Is it ever appropriate to call everyone who disagrees with you on a policy as racist? Is board member Julie Yang also racist then?

Rita’s regional programming speech was dripping in Anti-Asian hate. Rita Montoya hates Asians kids and Asian parents. We knew this before she let her mask slip. [/quote]

I didn't hear any hateful language in Rita's regional programming speech. I thought it was dumb because she conflated the DCC and NEC with magnet programs that aren't part of the consortia. Describing the racial makeup of the magnet programs is not hateful or racist.[/quote]

Per Rita, those who oppose regional programming whatever their reason (perhaps they want to preserve DCC and NEC), are all racist.

As a parent of color who is a huge fan of DCC, this is offensive on its face.

So to all the people who are saying o no Rita’s comment wasn’t about boundary program, it was about regional program—that’s not a defense babes. The most basic point of the article is elected officials shouldn’t call disagreement as racism. Thats not a controversial or hot take.

Try having a honest conversation with people rather than dismiss them as racist. [/quote]

I agree it is stupid and distasteful to call everyone who opposed you racist, but it is not hateful towards Asians.[/quote]

So racism doesn't equate to hate for you. OK.[/quote]
Calling people racist isn't racism[/quote]

"But indiscriminately labeling a room full of engaged parents, many of them Asian American, as racist is, at best, ironic; at worst, the very kind of conduct you claim to oppose."
[/quote]

What Rita said was racist - she was generally characterizing the opponents of the BOE's vote as racist. Rita put this out there and she has to own her words. It's too bad that she has never apologized for her hot mic comment.[/quote]

Nope, not racism, that is absurd (by this standard I could call everyone who calls Rita Montoya (a Latina) racist, a racist - we can go on an on forever like this)[/quote]

Nope, it's racist to make a generalized pejorative characterization about specific community members because they opposed the BOE vote, calling them racist. What Montoya said was racist.[/quote]

Except she didn’t do that - she didn’t call anyone racist. She said “there’s the racism” pointing to Yang’s support for a decision that she feels props up institutional racism.

I know this is DCUM and it’s not exactly friendly territory for nuance but there is a significant difference between calling someone racist and pointing to something as racism.

A little exercise, taking race out of it since we’re obviously all confused about what racism is. Let’s imagine a man and a woman work together and do the same job. They have nothing but respect for each other and they get along well, but the man makes more than the woman. The man isn’t being sexist, even though he’s benefiting from institutionalized sexism. Now let’s say the company decides they need to address this inequity and they decide to do so by paying everyone in the same role the same salary, right in the middle of what the two of them make. The man is incensed that he’s going to take a pay cut and fights to stop the change. He is STILL not being sexist - he’s not saying his colleague shouldn’t make more - but by fighting to protect his own interests, he is fighting to perpetuate that institutionalized sexism, without ever saying a sexist word himself.

There are parents at Wootton who have been blatantly racist throughout this process. Most parents, even those fighting tooth and nail to prevent the move have not been - they really have been motivated by concerns about their neighborhood, or long bus rides, or even property values. They are not racist. But they have been ignoring, as this author does, the institutionalized racism that their self-interested arguments perpetuate.

Not saying Montoya’s comments were perfect - a hot mic moment at the end of a board  isn’t the best place for nuance either - but Wootton parents demanding things from board members without making any attempt to actually understand those members is part of why their advocacy failed so spectacularly. [/quote]

How does being against the boundary proposal uphold institutionalized racism? Brown Station literally called option H “hyper segregation”[/quote]

Huge thank you to all those tireless Wootton advocates fighting to protect the best interests of Brown Station…amazing how they were able to find the time to marshal their considerable resources on another schools behalf while also building bridges to the “lower income” communities of Fields Road and Rosemont. Unless that’s…not even a little bit what happened…?[/quote]

Way to completely side step and avoid the question. Is it because you realize you don’t have an answer?[/quote]

That is my answer. Wootton families don’t care about Brown Station or the boundary study as a whole. They care about Wootton and keeping the population of Wootton as it is right now. That perpetuates institutional racism. Whether Brown Station families got screwed by the boundary study or not (I agree they did) simply isn’t relevant to the Wootton crew’s actions. [/quote]

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