Campus Policing, Procedures Protested at District Office
Community members rally on Lenzen Avenue to support Derrick Sanderlin Resolution
By Jace Szarlacki
Community members rally on Lenzen Avenue to support Derrick Sanderlin Resolution
By Jace Szarlacki
Community activists, followed by a lengthy car caravan, flocked to the SJUSD District Office Thursday evening, demanding the removal of school resource officers and the implementation of the Derrick Sanderlin Resolution, a policy reallocating police funds towards restorative justice practitioners, or other mental or behavioral health professionals.
On Thursday, Dec. 10, members of the community participated in a live protest outside the main plaza of the SJUSD District Office. The event, held by the San Jose Unified Equity Coalition, began at 4 p.m., two hours before the SJUSD district board meeting. Social activists, including Derrick Sanderlin himself engaged with the community and spoke of the importance and safety the coalition’s proposed resolution would bring to SJUSD families. Sanderlin, a community activist who worked bilaterally with the SJPD and was injured by a police riot gun during the George Floyd protests this summer, acknowledged that in order to create an educational sphere in which everyone is involved, the source of change must stem from a community-led initiative. |
“The best way to work to keep our schools safe is to be working together with one another. With this resolution we’re hoping not to implement a specific plan right away, but to have a collective mindset around building a new way of community safety,” said Sanderlin.
One major component of the San Jose Equity Coalition’s mission is to end all relations with the San Jose Police Department and their officers. The group expressed the idea that cops cause more harm than good. Lili Valladares, another current activist, explained the solution to violence could be found in prevention, rather than needing police intervention.
“It’s really about getting down to the root of the problem. A lot of the people who cause harm are traumatized. People do harm because they are hurt in some way so they want to hurt another person, so it’s about really healing that harm that someone has felt,” Valladares said. “We have to refund programs such as mental health and restorative justice.”
Another progressive group which established during the height of the BLM protests this summer was the nonprofit: #DiversifyOurNarrative. Chapters of the nonprofit began to pop up throughout the U.S, one being here in San Jose. The team’s mission is to implement diverse and anti-racist texts into school curriculum.
Co-leader of the SJUSD chapter of #DiversifyOurNarrative and student at Leland High School, Mia Raimondi, 11, detailed the flaws the current school reading curriculum entails.
“SJUSD is an extremely diverse district, and speaking from experience, our curriculum is heavily white-washed and Eurocentric. Students need to learn about a wide range of experiences, including their own, their peers, and that of people completely different from them. This is essential in developing an inclusive and actively anti-racist student body and community,” said Raimondi.
Shalvi Kamble, a junior at Leland High School, who teamed up with Raimondi to lead the SJUSD chapter, described both her disappointment and optimism about future kids possibly receiving a new reading curriculum.
“Although I’m graduating in 2022 and leaving without ever having read something by someone of my own race or about my experience in school, I hope kids like me will have a better chance,” Shalvi noted. “The DON resolution will make SJUSD and our whole community a more inclusive, culturally-sensitive and anti-racist district.”
The SJUSD board has currently not voted on either of the presented resolutions. They are expected to make a decision come January or February of next year, but nothing is guaranteed.
Although the fight is not over, Valladares and Sanderlin are proud of the steps they and the San Jose Unified Equity Coalition have taken to generate change and equality within San Jose.
“This is not just a movement in San Jose, this is a national, and international movement. We are really taking the steps to dismantle white supremacy and anti-black violence everywhere.” said Valladares
“The work will definitely not stop here, it has to continue” said Sanderlin. “We have to build a new culture in which everyone is actively involved in the process of making a good educational space.”
One major component of the San Jose Equity Coalition’s mission is to end all relations with the San Jose Police Department and their officers. The group expressed the idea that cops cause more harm than good. Lili Valladares, another current activist, explained the solution to violence could be found in prevention, rather than needing police intervention.
“It’s really about getting down to the root of the problem. A lot of the people who cause harm are traumatized. People do harm because they are hurt in some way so they want to hurt another person, so it’s about really healing that harm that someone has felt,” Valladares said. “We have to refund programs such as mental health and restorative justice.”
Another progressive group which established during the height of the BLM protests this summer was the nonprofit: #DiversifyOurNarrative. Chapters of the nonprofit began to pop up throughout the U.S, one being here in San Jose. The team’s mission is to implement diverse and anti-racist texts into school curriculum.
Co-leader of the SJUSD chapter of #DiversifyOurNarrative and student at Leland High School, Mia Raimondi, 11, detailed the flaws the current school reading curriculum entails.
“SJUSD is an extremely diverse district, and speaking from experience, our curriculum is heavily white-washed and Eurocentric. Students need to learn about a wide range of experiences, including their own, their peers, and that of people completely different from them. This is essential in developing an inclusive and actively anti-racist student body and community,” said Raimondi.
Shalvi Kamble, a junior at Leland High School, who teamed up with Raimondi to lead the SJUSD chapter, described both her disappointment and optimism about future kids possibly receiving a new reading curriculum.
“Although I’m graduating in 2022 and leaving without ever having read something by someone of my own race or about my experience in school, I hope kids like me will have a better chance,” Shalvi noted. “The DON resolution will make SJUSD and our whole community a more inclusive, culturally-sensitive and anti-racist district.”
The SJUSD board has currently not voted on either of the presented resolutions. They are expected to make a decision come January or February of next year, but nothing is guaranteed.
Although the fight is not over, Valladares and Sanderlin are proud of the steps they and the San Jose Unified Equity Coalition have taken to generate change and equality within San Jose.
“This is not just a movement in San Jose, this is a national, and international movement. We are really taking the steps to dismantle white supremacy and anti-black violence everywhere.” said Valladares
“The work will definitely not stop here, it has to continue” said Sanderlin. “We have to build a new culture in which everyone is actively involved in the process of making a good educational space.”