Changes to Lowell’s admission process sparks attacks against school board members, magnifies racial division

By Colton Webster on December, 5 2020

Here’s what Alison Collins said in a El Tecolote article about the attacks on the school board as a result of its vote on changing Lowell High School enrollment:

“When we talk about affirmative action, anytime you talk about creating opportunities for Black and Latinx students, sometimes what happens is Asian-Americans are pitted against other people of color as a way to stall change,” Collins said in response to what may have motivated Tang to do this. “It’s kind of a tactic, and I’m not saying Andrew is even thinking of this tactic. It’s like when Black folks are anti-immigrant and they’re fearful that immigrants are coming to take away their jobs. Those are the ways that we get manipulated because we don’t understand our common history.”

Collins also referred to the 1994 lawsuit, Ho v. SFUSD, in which an Asian-American student was denied entry due to a policy that allowed only a certain percent of each race into the school to ensure a more diverse environment.

SFUSD lost the lawsuit and since then the board has been unable to use race as a determinant to entry.

On the topic of more diversity in schools, Collins said that “[when] we fight for access for everybody, the entire system gets better.”

“That’s why it’s unfortunate. This man is a graduate of Lincoln, and it tells me we didn’t do a good job of educating him,” Collins said.

Read more here.