The Case Against David Smith

Because the local Latino leadership is slow, old and out of touch I'll do my best to report the groundswell among the many Mexicans/Chicanos against the President of the KC School Board who was recently found guilty of wrongly firing an employee because she disagreed with his bigoted hiring practices. In the next few days expect some reaction from Latino leaders if they can break themselves away from their token jobs and mange to form a declarative sentence.

Here is the scuttlebutt (no homo) regarding local Latino opposition to Smith:

• The KC School District has an abysmal record in terms of educating Latino kids. Latinos drop out at obscene rates and for years there has been no effort made to curb or even address the problem. While Black people can still pursue careers in sports and rap music without much education, Latinos failing to earn a degree can only look forward to working at Kentucky Fried Chicken with their Grandma (abuela).
  


• Probably due to hiring practices enforced by Smith, the KC School District has few Latino teachers, administrators or staff. Seriously, when there aren't even many Mexican janitors around you know there has to be some serious discrimination being perpetrated.


• Mexicans are now taking control of this country's prisons so it's only logical that we must now exert some control over the public schools since they're pretty much the same thing.


• In this current battle over crumbs, the Kansas City Star completely neglects the Latino perspective regarding this issue and does not even bother to mention the fact that there are several pissed off Hispanics who believe that these allegations of bigotry need to be addressed by the KC School District official. Sadly, the only coverage the Star could muster was a story full of rabid defense from Smith's cronies. Of course this begs the question: "If Smith was a white guy and did the same things to Blacks . . ." but that question isn't very pertinent since the prospect of a white people in the KC School District of their own volition is laughable.


• Finally, Smith needs to resign, apologize or at least make sure that Taco Tuesday is offered for KCMO kids. The Latino population in KCMO Schools (nearly all Mexican) is growing while everybody else has given up on the district. Since the population is growing (because they don't know how to use birth control) their issues need to be addressed.
  

If local Latino leaders can manage to get this issue out of committee than it will probably be much more entertaining than Trinidad vs. De La Hoya but probably with a similar outcome.