MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION FOR BILINGUAL EDUCATION MONOGRAPH # 1 SOUTHEAST ASIAN PARENT EMPOWERMENT: T he Challenge of Changing Demographics in Lowell, Massachusetts 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, Boston-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 Wang Laboratories, 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.