MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION FOR BILINGUAL EDUCATION

MONOGRAPH # 1

SOUTHEAST ASIAN PARENT EMPOWERMENT: T he Challenge of Changing Demographics in Lowell,

by Peter N ien ,chu Kiang

1990 The Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education

PREFACE Officers and Executive Board 1989-90

With the publication of Southeast Asian Parent President David Groesbeck Empowerment: T he Challenge of Changing Demographics in Lowel l, Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Associa tion for Vice-President (West) Olga Amaral Bilingual Education has initiated the first in a series of yearly monographs on issues related to linguistic minority Vice-President (East) Antonio Barbosa education. MABE decided to establish the monograph series in order to stimulate research on these issues and to Treasurer Arlene Dannenberg increase the expertise of educators who provide services to the growing numbers of students from linguistic minority Secretary Gilman Hebert communities. MABE chose to publish Peter Kiang's research from a number of excellent manuscripts submitted because it Past President Diana Lam tells an inspiring story with lessons which will be increasingly significant for educators to bear in mind as the Members-at-Large Rosario Alvarez demographics of our student population continue to change Joaquim Ferro so dramatically. Karen Law Alan Rom One lesson that we can learn from the battle over Virginia Vogel Zanger schooling in Lowell, documented here, is a reminder of the Catherine Walsh vital role played by parents in securing educational equity for their children. The voices of Southeast Asian and Hispanic parents which arc recorded in this monograph a re The Executive Board of the Massachusetts Association for eloquent testimony to the intelligence and dedication of Bilingual Education wishes to acknowledge its appreciation parents of bilingual students. This monograph presents a for the work of the members of the Monograph Committee: clear account of parents functioning collectively as part of Maria Estela Carrion, Jose Figueiredo, and Virginia Vogel the solution to the educational difficulties faced by their Zanger. children. This advocacy role is one wh ich other immigrant parents and communities have often played before. Indeed, the court rulings and legislation which currently protect the educational rights of linguistic minority children -- to which many teachers a nd administrators owe their jobs -- have ADDITIONAL COPIES been achieved in response to struggles waged by parents fighting for their children's future.

Additiona l copies of this manuscript may be ordered by There are other lessons, too, to be learned from this sending a check for $2.00 made out to MABE. Send to: case study of Lowell. One is the ability of parents and communities to transcend the barriers of language, culture, MABE Monographs and very different histories in order to unite in the 10 Myrtle Street interests of their children. While Southeast Asian and Jama ica Plain, MA 02130 Hispanic disputes often make headlines in local newspapers, rarely have the instances of u nity, such as this one, been publicized. Another lesson raised by this case is that S ou theast As ia n Parent Em powerment: educational issues must be viewed in a wider political context. The monograph clearly illustrates how the dramatic T h e Challenge of Cha nging Demographics demographic shifts in t he city of Lowell triggered serious political conflicts, but that the battles were fought in the in Lowell, Massachusetts arena of education. The English Only referendum, which was intended to eliminate the native language component of bilingual education in t he city's schools, was a response to by Peter Nien-chu Kia ng the growing possibility of political empowerment of the Asian and Hispanic communities. As professional educators, e 1990 we naturally tend to look at t he services provided to linguistic minority students in essentially educational terms. This monograph suggests that such a narrow view is naive Introduction at best. It is usefu l to remember the intensely poli tical terms in which the broader society views the education of Lowell, Massachusetts, a c ity famous in U.S. immigrant our linguistic mi nority students. a nd labor histor y, is i n the midst of a dynamic and inevi table, yet at times violen t and bitter process of The lessons which we can d raw from the Lowell case transforma~ i on as it confronts the challenge of changing are particularly significant because of the demograph ic demograph1cs. Like other cities such as Monterey Park 1 changes occurring throughout the nation. Lowell's political California which have undergone dramatic demographi~ and educational conflicts erupted as the ethnic and racial ch~ n ge during the 1970s and 1980s, the rapid growth of makeup of the city u nderwent rapid and drastic demographic As1an and Latino communities in Lowell has tested each of change, according to this research. U.S. schools are the c ity's. institutions including the hospitals, police, courts, undergoing significant demographic change. According to and espec1ally the public school system. Rapid demographic current estimates, in just ten years, one out of three change is also redefining the popular conception of who is studen ts in public schools will be a child of color. an "American". At the same time, a climate of anti­ Forward-thin king educators have begun to consider t he immigrant resentment has developed in Lowell as reflected educational ramifications of these changes. T h is monograph in incidents of racial violence a nd the advocacy of "English­ suggests the necessity that we prepare ourselves to consider Only" policies by individuals and groups within the city. the political implications as well. . This prel.iminary report analyzes the process of change taktng p lace tn Lowell through the issue of public school Virginia Vogel Zanger education and the emerging role of Southeast Asian parents MABE Monograph Committee w ho, !n coalition with Latino parents, are demanding educatwnal access a nd equity for their children. The Lowell case~s~ u dy . ill.ustrates how commu nity organ1z1ng and coah tJOn-butldmg a round a specif ic issue have led to the demand for political representation and empowerment as the means to resolve the challenge of changing demographics facing the city.

2 3 A Brief History of Lowell In the 1970's, however, a combination of factors, including the emergence of new industries fueled by high The town of Lowell was established in 1826 in the technology research a t Massachusetts-based universities and context of America's industrial revolution. Seeking to the political muscle of the Massachusetts congressional expand their economic base, -based gentry purchased delegation -- which included Speaker of the House "Tip" land alongside the Merrimack River a nd built a chain of O'Neil and Sen. Edward Kennedy as well as Sen. Paul textile mills with an elabora te canal-lock system that Tsongas who was born a nd raised in Lowell -- led to a powered looms with energy generated by the river's current. turn-around in the state's economic condition. A As Lowell emerged as the country's textile center teenage combination of federal dollars and corporate investment girls were recruited from the area's surrounding farms to revi talized Lowell's economy, enabling the ciity to move from work in the mills. Pa id at ha lf the male wage, yet earning 13.8% unemployment in 1978 to 7% in 1982 to less than 3% more than they would from farmwork, the mill girls lived in in 1987. The run-down mill factories were rehabilitated. dormitory-style housing constructed next to the factories. The c ity's vacant industrial land area dropped from 100 Harsh working a nd living conditions, however, led to some acres in 1978 to zero in 1987.3 of the country's f irst examples of labor organizing -­ including mill gi rl strikes in 1834 a nd 1836, formation of the Centra l to the economic revitalization of Lowell was Lowell Female Labor Reform Association in 1844 and a the decision of An Wang, a Chinese immigrant and Chairman petttwn to the Massachusetts Legislature for a 10-hour of , Inc., to relocate the company to workday in 1845.2 Lowell in 1976. Wang purchased cheap industrial land, and with the added incentive of $5 million in federal grants, As successive waves of European immigrants entered built new electronics assembly plants a nd corporate office the country throughout the 1800's and ea rl y 1900's, cheap towers. The timing of the move coincided with Wang's immigrant labor entered the booming textile industry and take-off as a company. Corporate sales rose from $97 replaced the mill girls in Lowell. The mill girls' dormitories mill ion in 1977 to $2.88 billion i n 1986. As the largest evolved into overcrowded te nement housing for successive employer in Lowell, Wang's payroll in 1986 accounted for waves of Irish, French Canadian, Greek, Polish, a nd $114 mill ion. Furthermore, the company purchased $25 Portuguese new immigrants. As the textile industry reached million worth of goods from local vendors and paid more its height in the 1890's, Lowell became widely recognized as than $3 million in local taxes• -- infusing the city with a a city built by immigrants. Labor organizing also continued strong economic base.6 in the c ity as the Yiddish-speaking Lowell Workingmen's Circle for med i n 1900 and Greek immigrants led a city-wide By the mid- 1980's, Lowell was cited as the "model city" strike in 1903 which set the stage for the well-known Bread of the "Massachusetts Miracle" a city whose legacy and Roses strike of 1912 in the neighboring mill town of included leading America's industrial revolution, becoming Lawrence. home to successive waves of ethnic immigrant groups, and overcoming i nd ustria l decline to reemerge as a leading But by the 1920's, the textile industry in Lowell center of the country's technological revolution. entered a long period of depression and economic decline. By 1945, eight of the city's eleven big mills had c losed and unemployment skyrocketed. Foreshadowing the decline of many midwestern industrial cities during the 1970s, Lowell and other textile mill towns in the a rea all but died during this period.

4 5 self-reinforcing process that took on a life of its own Demographic Change and New Waves of Immigrants through formal and informal networks of Cambodians throughout the country. Wherever there are Cambodians in the U.S., they have heard of Lowell. People in Lowell talk about it being an ethnic c ity, but they only embrace that and endorse that as As the numbers of Latinos a nd Southeast Asians long as they are white. expanded rapidly during the 1980's, the city found itself unprepared to address the multiple issues of housing, -- June Gonsalves bilingual services, culture shock, and civil rights confronting Lowell Human Rights Commission new immigrants. Furthermore, Lowell's economic Planning Committee6 rejuvenation had failed to refurbish the cit y's 19th Century housing stock and public school facilities, particularly i n ne ighborhoods such as the Acre w here la rge numbers of Beginning in the late 1950's as part of large-scale Latinos and Southeast Asians had settled. Schooling a nd Puerto Rican migrations throughout t he Northeast industrial educational issues thus emerged as primary concerns for states, a small number of Puerto Ricans settled in Lowell. Lowell's new immigrant communities. In the late 1960's, a large group of Puerto Rican workers based at garment f actories in New Jersey were transferred to Lowell. Through the 1970's, Puerto Ricans and growing numbers of Dominicans developed a stable Latino communit y. Access and Equity in the Schools By 1987, the La tino community had reached 15,000 or 15% of the c ity. I n neighboring Lawrence, Massachusetts, the Latino community swelled to 30% of the city's population-- They d on't want our minority children m1xiDg with reflecting significant demographic changes throughout the their white children ... they are not thinking of the Merrimack Valley a rea. education of a ll kids, only of their kids. We want to make sure our kids get equal opportunity. The most dramatic growth in Lowell, however, has resulted from Southeast Asian refugee resettlement and Alex Huertas, (PUEDO) secondary migration. In 1980, less than 100 Southeast Parents United in Education and Asians lived in Lowell. Only a decade later, there are the Development of Others7 approximately 3,000 Lao, l ,000 Vietnamese, and close to 25,000 Cambodians. Lowell has become home to the la rgest Cambodian community on the East Coast and boasts the Lowell has the sixth largest Hispanic student second largest per capita concentration of Southeast Asians population and second largest number of Asian students in in the after Long Beach, California. Massachusetts. In 1975, only 4% of Lowell's school children The majority of Southeast Asians in Lowell are were minorities. By 1987, however, minorities made up 40% secondary migrants -- having moved there from other states of the school-age population -- half of them being limited­ in the U.S. rather than coming directly from refugee camps English proficient. As Southeast Asians continued to in Southeast Asia. Many settled in Lowell because of the migrate to Lowell throughou t 1987, as many as 35-50 new city's well-publicized economic health and availability of Southeast Asian students a rr ived and enrolled in school each jobs. Others came because family members or friends were week. Strains on the public school system quickly reached already established there. Still others came, simply because crisis proportions. they heard that Cambodians were living in Lowell -- a

6 7 In response to the influx, the Lowell School Committee established makeshift classrooms in non-school facilities such For the next eighteen months from May 1987 through as the Lowell Boys Club and Lowell YMCA. This process November 1988, Latino and Southeast Asian parents led effectively segregated 170 Southeast Asian and Latino efforts to demand equal access and equity for their children elementary age school children in buildings which lacked in the Lowell public schools. With organizing and technical library and cafeteria facilities as well as principals and assistance from Multicultural Education Training and supervisory staff on site. Overcrowded makeshift classrooms Advocacy (META) Inc., and a statewide bilingual parents accommodated students who ranged from grades one to six. network, Parents United in Education and the Development Partitions separated bilingual classes in Spanish, Lao, and of Others (P UEDO), the parents convened joint meetings i n Khmer. Special compensatory education classes were held in four languages between the Hispanic Parents Advisory hallways where it was quieter. Spaces within existing school Committee (HPAC), the Cambodian Mutual Assistance buildings such as the basement boiler room and an Association of Greater Lowell and the Laotian Association of auditorium storage area of the Robinson School were also Greater Lowell to develop tactics and strategy. Eventually, converted into classrooms. A Lao bilingual class in the a coalition of those organizations established the Minority Daley School was even conducted in a converted bath room Association for Mutual Assistance, affectionately known as which still had a toilet stall in it. MAMA.

After three months of segregation in separate, unequal The parents employed a range of tactics which included facilities, minority school children and their parents began grass-roots canvassing and petition drives combined with to take action. The Latino parents had already seen the outreach to churches and other groups such as Big educational system take its toll on their children. While the Brothers/Big Sisters in Lowell. When t he Lowell School Latino high school population had doubled from 200 to 400 Committee f ailed to act, the parents organized press between 1982 and 1987, the number of those who conferences and mass community meetings with state successfully graduated had d ropped from 76 to 55. education officials to press their case forward. Eventually, Southeast Asian students had fared no better. Over half of the parents and students filed a lawsuit in federal district the Lao students who entered Lowell High School in 1986-87 court against the Lowell School Committee and the City of had dropped out by the end of the year. For the Southeast Lowell on the basis of unconstitutional segregation of the Asian parents who had sacrificed and endured unspeakable Lowell Public Schools and denial of equal educational hardships in order to provide their children with a chance opportunities to students of limited English proficiency in for education and a better future, the conditions facing violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the their children in school had become i ntolerable. Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974.9

In the p rocess, the parents developed a comprehensive Parents Organizing 33-point program of educational reform directed not only at d esegregation and upgrading of facilities, but which also When they say 'Americans', they don't mean us-­ targeted iss ues of personnel hiring and training, curriculum look at our eyes and our skin. We are minorities, reform, d rop-out prevention, special education program but we have rights too. We need to support each development, and parent involvement. Furthermore, they other. demanded compensation and remediation for educational Somman ee Bounphasaysonh harms incurred by linguistic minority students placed in Laotian Association of inappropriate classroom settings between J984 and 1987.10 Greater Lowells On November 9, J988, after eighteen months of organizing and negotiations, the parents won their demands in an

8 9 historic out-of-court settlement approved in a 6-1 vote by Kouloheras took the offensive from his posltton as a Sc hool the Lowell School Committee.11 The settlement represented Committee member, however, public attention toward Latinos an unqualified victory for the Latino and Southeast Asian and Southeast Asians shifted from neglect and resent ment to parents and children in Lowell, a nd set a precedent for accusation and attack. educational reform in the interests of linguistic minority students everywhere. In June 1987, under p ressure from the parents and threatened with f unding cuts by the state, the Lowell School Committee adopted a desegregation plan which Kouloheras English-Only Exclusion and Violence and other white residents vehemently opposed because it required mandatory busing to integrate several predominantly-white schools. T he desegregation plan became English is our mother tongue and it's the language the focal point for candidates' campaigns d uring the fall that's going to be used at our meetings. This is an 1987 School Committee and City Cou ncil elections. Fueled English-Only School Committee in an English-Only by Kouloheras' racist, English-Only rhetoric, anti-Latino and America. a nti-Asian sentiment escalated throughout the summer.

George D. Kouloheras On September 15th, one week after school re-opened Lowell School Committee12 amidst widespread bitterness and confusion over t he busing pla n, an I !-year old white stud ent accosted Vandy Phorng, a 13-year old Cam bodian bilingual student w hile Vandy a nd his brothers were walking along the canal near their home. The success of the parents had not come without a After making racial comments about Vandy's background, the price, however. Through the course of advocating for their white youth punched Vandy in the face, dragged him down a children's educational rights, the Latino and Southeast Asian flight of stairs to the canal and pushed Vandy into the communities confronted a reality of d isenfranchisement water. Vandy was carried away by the strong current, and within the city's political institu tions a nd a climate of anti­ later drowned. T he father of the white boy charged with immigrant resentment and racial intolera nce. killing Vandy Phorng was a former boxing champion a nd, like Kouloheras, a n outspoken advocate for the E nglish­ At a School Committee meeting on May 6, 1987 when Only movement i n Lowell. 15 100 Latino, Lao, and Cambodian parents first came to voice their concerns about their children being segregated in Vandy Phor ng's tragic death in Lowell was ironic yet unequal facilities, they requested t hat the meeting be predictable. Like the killings of five Southeast Asian translated to allow them to participate. School Committee child ren at the Cleveland Elementary School i n Stock ton, member George Kouloheras responded that t his is an California16, the tragedy of Vandy's mu rder was cruelly English-Only meeting, a nd went on to castigate the Latino ironic because Southeast Asian refugees have escaped so parents as "those bastards who speak Spanish".13 much war and death in their home countries. The children l are their hopes for the future -- they a re not supposed to While anti-minority a nd ant1-1mmigrant incidents, die f rom war and violence here. Yet, given the challenge of including racial harassment, tire slashings, broken windows, J Lowell's changing demographics and the climate of an ti­ job and housing discri mination were not uncommon in the minority, anti-immigrant sentiment promoted by English­ city, little attention had been paid to minority concerns Only ad vocates and ideologues who include some of the amidst the Dukakis campaign's national promotion of Lowell cit y's most influential political leaders and elected as the model city of the "Massachusetts Miracle".14 Once representatives, racial violence as exemplified by the killing

10 I I of Vandy Phorng was predictable and, perhaps more against the city slowly made progress. Finally, in a importantly, preventable. tremendous victory in November 1988, the Lowell School Committee accepted most of the parents' demands for reform and agreed to an out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit. Political R epresentation and Political Power During that period, Alex Huertas, the most visible leader of the parents, decided the time had come f or a minority to We need to protect the civil liberties of the run for office in Lowell. majority .. .let them take t he minorities and do what they want w ith them. Education and Empowerment George Kouloheras Lowell School Committee The lack of Latino a nd Asian representation has on election night, 1987 made our struggle harder. In next year's elections, we need to promote our own candidates.

The death of Vandy Phorng gave little pause to the Alex Huertas anti-immigrant campaign of Kouloheras and others who rode PUED019 its bandwagon to victory in the October 1987 primaries a nd November city elections. In t he Sc hool Committee election, Kouloheras was the top vote-getter while his protege, Lowell is a city of 100,000 residents, but only 40,000 Kathryn Stoklosa, came in second. Sean Sullivan, a first­ voters. The overwhelming majority of Southeast Asians and time candidate w hose campa ign focused exclusively in Latinos are not registered, and many are not citizens. opposition to "forced busing" was also elected, while George Numerically, however, they account for roughly 45% of the O'Hare, a longtime incumbent who supported the busing plan city's population, and are continuing to grow. Successful was defeated. The struggle surrounding the schools a lso candidates in Lowell elections typically receive less than affected the City Council race as Tarsy Poulios, a vehement 10,000 votes. George Kouloheras, the top vote-getter in the opponent of the desegregation plan, received the third 1987 School Committee race, for example, received only highest vote total because, according to a former Lowell 8,400 votes. Although not a factor in the most recent City Manager, "he got every hate vote out t here".17 election, the political potential of both the Latino a nd Cambodian vote seems exceptional in this context. For the Southeast Asian and Latino parents, the election reinforced what they had begun to recognize -- in It is useful to remember that in 1854, when the city's spite of their significant and growing numbers, they had no population was nearly one-third foreign-born, the mayor was political representation or even influence within the city's elected based on a "Know-Nothing" anti-Irish, anti-immigrant institutions. The only Hispanic in City Hall, for example, as platform. Later waves of European newcomers continued to many community leaders were quick to point out, was a face resentment, exclusion, and exploitation characteristic of gardener.18 the immigrant experience in New England.

In the months following the city elections, the parents Yet, eventually each group achieved some measure of continued to p ress their case forward -- united around their representation and political power. As early as 1874, with common interests and their vision of educational reform. nearly 40% of the population being immigrants, Samuel P. The working relationships they had developed within MAMA Marin became the first French-Canadian to win elected continued off and on for the next year as their lawsuit office in Lowell. Under his leadership, the ethnic "Little

12 13 Canada" community grew and thrived. By the 1950's, most Furthermore, for immigrant and refugee parents who of Lowell's ethnic groups, including the English, Irish, have sacrificed their own lives and dreams in order to give Greeks, and Poles had succeeded in electing their "favorite their children opportunities for security and social mobility, sons" to the Mayor's Office and had won basic political the schools often represent their single most important representation within the city. investment in this country.

Will the newest immigrant groups of Latinos and As cities undergo shifts in their ethnic and racial Southeast Asians follow this same historical pattern of make-up, the schools quickly emerge as one major arena, European ethnics' structural assimilation into the social, a nd often as the initial battleground, where contradictory economic, a nd political mainstream of Lowell? Time will agendas unfold based on conflicting relations and responses tell. One might argue, however, that the current state of to the demographic changes.21 disenfranchisement for Latinos a nd Asians reflects their status as urban racial minorities as much as it docs their Anti-immigrant sentiment, racial harassment, and being new immigrants. In sharp contrast to the European English-Only advocacy characterize one set of responses to immigrant experience, the status of Latinos and Asians as the challenge of changing demographics currently facing racial minorities presents a basic structural barrier which many American cities. These reactions, framed by struggles restricts not only their own but their succeeding over turf and the interests of a shifting electorate, lead to generations' full participation in society. Recognition of divisiveness and segregation as in the case of the Lowell their own minority group membership, in fact, may be Public Schools. Typically, this leads to violence and tragedy essential if they are to strengthen their organizations, like the killing of I 1-year old Vandy Phorng. develop leadership, promote consciousness, and build coalitions within and between the Southeast Asian and An alternative set of responses, however, recognizes Latino communities which can lead toward empowerment. that when a city's population changes, the city's institutions must also change in order to reflect the needs and interests of its people. An example of this basic demand for access Schools, Southeast Asians, and the Future of Lowell and equity has been crafted by Latino and Southeast Asian parents seeking educational reform in Lowell. Typically, The Puerto Ricans.. .it's so easy for them to get up however, this approach meets resistance, if not overt and yell, "WE WANT THIS!" For us, we hide our hostility, and leads directly to the demand for political faces and whisper to ourselves, "we want this" ... representation and political power as exemplified in the But give us a couple more years, we're still initiation of Alex Huertas' campaign for City Council. learning. Sommanee Bounphasaysonh Alex Huertas withdrew from the City Council race in Laotian Association of Spring 1989 due to family responsibilities. By taking that Greater Lowell2o initial step in declaring that minorities should run for political office, however, Huertas and Lowell's Latino parents made their intentions and aspirations clear. Schools have historically served as sites of struggle by Although it is difficult to know whether or not the Lao and mi norities a nd immigrants for access, equity, and democratic Ca mbodian parents would have felt sufficiently inspired to reforms. Such landmarks in U.S. legal history as the Lau mobilize their commu nities and partic ipate actively in the case and Brown vs. Board of Education testify to the elections if Alex Huertas had stayed in the 1989 City significa nce of the fight for educational rights. Council race, it is, nevertheless, clear that empowerment is on the agenda of Southeast Asian and Latino parents in

14 15 Lowell. While the Latino pa rents have clearly set the tone for the movement thus far, the Southeast Asian parents are REFERENCES learning quickly through the process. A Cambodian community act1v1st, Sambath Chey Fennell, in fact, considered running for school committee in 1989, and will I. See Charles Choy Wang, "Monterey Park: A Community in likely run in 1991 -- perhaps becoming the first Cambodian Transition" in Gail M. Nomura, et a l, (eds) Frontiers of American elected official in the country. Asian American Studies, Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 1989, 113-126. The city's political dynamics, however, are fluid and volatile. With the Massachusetts economy facing recession 2. Kevin Cullen, "Lowell: the dark side of the boom", The and companies like Wang Laboratories, the foundation of Boston Globe, October 25, 1987. Lowell's economic infrastructure, having laid off more than 6,000 employees in 1989, social conditions are becoming more 3. Cullen, 1987. pola rized. In November 1989, Lowell's electorate voted on a non-binding referendum introduced by George Kouloheras to 4. John Wilke, "Wang had key role in Lowell's economic declare English the offic ial language of the city. The revival", The Boston Globe, November 9, 1987. English-Only referendum passed by a wide 72% to 28% margin with I 4,575 votes for and 5,679 votes against.22 5. T hroughout 1988-89, however, Wang Laboratories has While more research is needed to a nalyze the meaning as faced severe economic d ifficulties, leading to lay-offs of well as the consequences of the English-Only referendum thousands of employees, d rops in q uarterly earnings and vote, the message to minority and immigrant residents, for stock prices, and resignations of many managers, including the ti me being, seems clea r and chilling. An Wang's son, Frederick. The socio-economic impact of Wa ng's difficulties on the city of Lowell needs further As a case study illustrating the challenge of changing study. demographics, the story of Lowell is unresolved. The three­ to-one referendum vote for English-Only in Lowell 6. Quoted in Doris Sue Wong, "Lowell is seen not undoubtedly reflects popula r opposition to those demographic fulfilling its promise for Asians, Hispanics", The Boston changes, but, in many ways, it is too late. The city's ~. November 3, 1987. transformation is already in progress. In time, Cambodians, who represent the largest minority group in the city with a 7. Alex Huertas, personal interview, June 11, 1987. population approaching 25% of the total, will have an especially critical role to play in determining the future of 8. Sommanee Bounphasaysonh, personal interview, June J l, Lowell. The Latino and Southeast Asian parents' successful 1987. eighteen-month struggle for access a nd equity in the Lowell Public Sc hools represents the first step in an ongoing 9. Hispanic Parents Advisory Council, et a l, Complaint, process of organizing and coalition-building that may U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, Civil eventually lead not only to the defeat of the city's anti­ Action No. 87-1968 K. immigrant, English Only forces but to the election of Cambodian a nd Latino candidates to city offjce and to the 10. META Inc., letter to Lowell School Committee, May 21, eventual empowerment of the Southeast and Latino 1987. communities. Perhaps then, Lowell will rightfully be considered a "model city" in a "Massachusetts miracle".

16 17 11. The settlement was approved by the court in February 18. Doris Sue Wong, "Lowell is seen not fulf illing its 1989, and did not include monetary compensation for promise for many Asians, Hispanics", The Boston Globe, educational harms, a lthough $80,000 in attorneys' fees and November 3, 1987. costs of $5,000 were awarded eventually in November 1989. 19. Alex Huertas, personal interview, June II, 1987. 12. George Kouloheras, quoted from Lowell School Committee meeting, June 3, 1987. 20. Sommanee Bounphasaysonh, personal interview, June 11, 1987. 13. Diego Ribadeneira, "School panelist in Lowell is accused of racism", The Boston Globe, May 8, 1987. 21. See, for example, New Voices: Immigrant Students in U.S. Public Schools, Boston: National Coalition of 14. Doris Sue Wong, "Lowell is seen not fulfilling Advocates for Students, 1988 or Ca milo Perez-Bustillo a nd promise for many Asians, Hispanics", The Boston Globe, Javier Colon-Morera, "What Happens When English Only Comes November 3, 1987. to T own?: A Comparative Study of Four Cities in California and Massachusetts, 1984-1989", unpublished 15. See Doris Sue Wong, "Day of fishing ends in violent paper, 1989. death for Lowell boy", The Boston Globe, September 23, 1987 and L. Kim Tan, "Family demands justice in teen's 22. Jules Crittendon, "English referendum passes nearly 3 slaying", The Boston Hera ld, September 23, 1987 a nd L. to 1", Lowell Sun, November 8, 1989. Kim Tan, "Police def end arrest of boy", The Boston Herald, September 24, 1987.

16. On J anua r y 17, 1989, Patrick Purdy fired over 100 shots from an automatic assault rifle into the Cleveland Elementary School yard -- killing five Cambodian and Vietnamese children. Witnesses observed that Purdy had aimed specifically at Southeast Asian children before firing. An investigation by California state Attorney General John Van de Kamp, concluded in an October 1989 report that, "Purdy attacked Southeast Asian immigrants out of a festering sense of racial resentment and hatred". The report also noted that Purdy, according to his half­ brother, often confronted people speaking a foreign language and told them to speak English in America (see Asian Week, October 13, 1989).

17. see Andrew J. Dabilis, "Lowell desegregation opponents fare well in school, council races", The Boston Globe, October 7, 1987 and election coverage in The Lowell Sun, November 4, 1987.

18 19 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter N. Kiang teaches Asian American Studies in the Sociology Department and American Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and serves as a Research Coordinator with the Wi lliam Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences where he di rects the Joiner Center's Southeast Asian Oral History Project. He has also taught Asian American Studies at Yale and , a nd is the elected East Coast representative of the Nationa l Association for Asian American Studies.

During his tenure as Program Director of the Asian American Resource Workshop in Boston Chinatown, Kiang was recognized by Boston Magazine as being a key influence in forging a new political identity for the Asian American community.

CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS

MABE welcomes submissions for t he 1991 Monograph competition. Manuscripts w ill be judged by the following criteria: significance of the topic to the education of li nguistic minority students in Massachusetts; quality of scholarship; relevance to practitioners; and readability. The deadline for submissions is December I, 1990. Fou r copies of each manuscript should be mailed to:

MABE Monographs I 0 Myrtle Street Jama ica Plain, MA 02130 MABE MONOGRAPHS 10 Myrtle Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130