Trump-Inspired Hate Seeps into Santa Barbara Schools
Thursday, December 15, 2016
by Keith Hamm
Printed in the Santa Barbara Independent
“A school should be a place of learning, not fear,” said Eder Gaona-Macedo, executive director of Future Leaders of America, who arrived in the states from Mexico without legal documents before gaining citizenship and an advanced degree from Columbia University. He and the other public speakers and dozens in the audience urged the board to approve a resolution declaring the district a safe zone for all walks of student life and to uphold federal law guaranteeing a free K-12 public education to all children, including those brought to the country without legal status.
That approval was a foregone conclusion, but it received a standing ovation nonetheless as the board voted its unanimous support. The document, which was spearheaded by outgoing boardmember Monique Limón — elected in November to a State Assembly seat — minces few words, setting the stage with “Sadly, the highly charged negative discourse taking place at the national level is being felt locally in our schools,” before specifying that students who “identify as LGBTQ, female, disabled, Muslim, or as a person of color” see the results of the presidential election through a very different lens and will be protected as equally as any other students. Lastly, the resolution states that the district “will keep immigration authorities off our campuses to the fullest extent provided by law.”