Guest Perspective: Castaneda on Culture

Daniel Castaneda is a junior sharing his opinion on the culture and community at AHS, and how we can improve it.

In light of recent events, it is evident that there needs to be a major change in our school environment. I represent a different group of students, known as the “Students-who-happen-to-be-Latino.” It may seem odd that such a species of person exists at Alhambra, but nonetheless we do. We are a portion of our ethnic society in Alhambra and we are often overlooked because of this “achievement gap” between the Latino/Hispanic students and Asian students at this school.
However, intelligence and ambition canʼt be measured in numbers anymore. There is no more time for being petty and judging one another upon seeing the color of their skin. I have worked too hard establishing myself within this particular society of so-called “under achievers” only to be written off by someone who has never even met me.
Last year I was involved with this oddly named “radical” group of reformists known as UTOD (United Through Our Diversity). This was not the wisest choice on my behalf, seeing as I was dragged into the highly publicized battle of “Mexicans versus Asians.” It was then that I knew something had to be done, so I separated myself from this diverse coalition of students and chose to run again for Executive Director of Finance this past semester.
I was not surprised to see the same thing happen to me, except I was on my own this time. It angered me to hear that I was inexperienced and all around incapable of doing the job, for which I was running, from people who had never seen me before nor made the effort to at least fi nd out who I was. They didnʼt know that I had been working under the wing of a financial supervisor and branch manager in a little business known as Burke Engineering every Saturday for two years. In other words, I was not new to the fi nancial realm and I was not new to being trusted with money, but since this information wasnʼt written on my forehead, no one bothered to find out until now.
I have absolutely no problem with my opposing candidate, probably because I have never met him before. Aside from the occasional passing nod and smile and initial introductory handshake, I had no idea who he was and that was fine with me. What I do have a problem with is random people dismissing my hard work and calling me inadequate without checking my qualifications and educational background.
If you are wondering why there arenʼt as many Latinos involved in the school, it basically boils down to two reasons. First, there is a sense of hopelessness in the Latino students at this school because of the recurring “race war” that comes up during any hint of involvement in school politics and even clubs. The second reason is that if we were to join and have a role in our school, we will not be seen as students, but as tokens to school diversity. Some are not as thick-skinned as myself and canʼt take the amount of ridicule and whispers of stupidity and lack of adequacy from other students as I have done, so they choose to do what they do best: Maintain their reserve and sadly drift through the school. Through the overpowering opinions of other students, we have grown to assume that the best we can do outside of our schoolwork is to just let everyone else take the reins; but I can assure you that this will not last very long.
This school needs a new view on interaction, one that truly includes all of its willing students and offers rigor along with comfort. Not everything needs to become a battle between the races. If you want people to be involved and challenge your position in government or even join these great clubs on campus, everyone needs to step aside from this ignorance of ethnicity and judge people on character, not race. We are a community of ideas and the only way we can truly move forward is if we set aside this mentality of everything being a conflict between two populations of students.
I am proud to be a Moor and I refuse to accept the circumstances that we have placed upon ourselves. Letʼs go from being a school that has the label of a dominantly Asian ASB to a school that has a capable and hardworking body of students from all backgrounds, trying their best to make this campus as enjoyable as it can be. Letʼs go from looking down on any other ethnicity trying to join a reputable club, and extol the fact that they want to be involved.
And finally, letʼs throw out our differences and collaborate with one another in order to change Alhambra High for the greater good and future Moors. It is not too late to learn to accept this inevitable change and commend its arrival in order to create a better sense of community at this school. This will definitely not happen overnight, but every journey has to start somewhere.