Racial Tensions Not Major Problem for San Ramon, Students, School Officials Say

After a handful of fights last week in San Ramon, which officials say appear to have been triggered by an altercation April 13 at the city's skate park, school officials have taken steps to address the problem.

Today, California High School held a "town hall" type session to allow students to share their concerns, said Principal Mark Corti.

The session was not mandatory, but about 150 students took part in the lunch-time meeting in the school library, organizers said. History teacher Scott Corso said the goal was to discuss three questions: Are there racial issues at Cal High? Have you experienced any personally? What are some tools we can use to react without violence if someone says or does something offensive?

"At first they seemed very uncomfortable. They didn't know what to say," he said. "But we got a couple students to start talking and then everyone started to express how they felt."

Students acknowledged that the community can be "a little sheltered" and that sometimes people don't know the impact of what they say.

"A student got up and said, 'Words have power sometimes that we don't realize. We need to think before we talk,'" Corso said.

Others said, "Just because I look Mexican doesn't make me Mexican," and "Just because I'm white, you don't know everything about the way I am."

During the emotional session, some students shared stories about slurs or remarks that had upset them. But Corso added that the number of students who crammed into the library, "standing room only," was a sign that people want to know how to address these issues and show more respect. He described the multiracial group as a "true representation of our school."

Many students at the school said earlier this week that, for the most part, everyone gets along regardless of race. They pointed out that the violence started off campus and that, because of the rarity of the incident, there's a tendency to exaggerate the scale of the problem. 

"If you look in the right places, you'll find someone who's willing to say there's a problem, but I'm skeptical they (racial issues) represent a big threat here," said senior Michael Zhao, 17. "I think people are going to try to blow it out of proportion."

But a couple students, who are black and did not want to be named for fear of stigmatization, said, though everyone gets along, people could be more careful about the language they use.

Cal High had about 2,400 students in the 2008-2009 school year, according to California Department of Education. The school had 1,521 white students, or roughly 62 percent, 455 Asian students, 173 Hispanic students and 73 black students and 73 Filipino students. The rest included some American Indian or Alaska Natives, Pacific Islanders and students who marked multiple races or none at all.

The student discussion about race relations was prompted by a conflict last week. On April 13, according to witness reports, several white youth taunted a group of black girls in the San Ramon Skate Park. The taunts turned violent between two girls, one of whom was black, the other white. Witnesses said two young white men, who left before the fight, returned to the skate park hanging a noose from their car window and shouting, "White power.'

Two days later, there were at least three fights on the Cal High campus that, officials say, likely were triggered by the problems at the park. One 16-year-old girl, who attended Cal High until March, was taken to juvenile hall after hitting the principal and biting two school officials as they tried to remove her from a fight.

The girl, whose name has not been released because she is a minor, remains in juvenile hall because she already had been on probation for other reasons, said San Ramon Police Chief Scott Holder.

Principal Corti said there have already been "serious consequences" for people involved in last week's fights, and described discipline as "an ongoing process."

Because of the school's size, Holder said, fights are somewhat par for the course. He said last week's flare-up shouldn't make anyone think less of the school.

"You have a school that large, anywhere, I don't care what city it's in, you're gonna have kids that are gonna fight," he said."Things do happen here, but it's a very good safe city and a great place to live. The mere fact that it happened one time is a problem and we're going to get to the bottom of it."

As far as race relations, he said, they're pretty smooth considering the city's diversity.

"Our schools have many, many races. The demographics of our city is very broad. We don't have those issues," he said. "We did have it at the skate park, and that's a huge reason why, once we finish this investigation, we're going to take it as far as we possibly can with the allegations that remain."

Holder said, from the law enforcement standpoint, the school investigation is complete. The case that involved the 16-year-old who was taken to juvenile hall has been turned over to the district attorney's office. But police are still working to find out what happened at the skate park.

"If there is a hate crime here, we're going to take it all the way to the limit and seek prosecution for that," Holder said. The chief has worked in San Ramon since 1994 and said he couldn't remember the last hate crime in the city. "We deal with it very, very, very little."

According to FBI statistics, there was one race-related hate crime in San Ramon in 2008 and two in 2007. None were reported in 2006 or 2005.