Seipp follows up on aspects of Walkout that the movie — which is about a 1968 walkout by Hispanic students protesting L.A. education policies — somehow leaves out, especially the legacy of “bilingual education” that seems to have on balance been a disaster for Hispanic students. Here’s an excerpt, though the whole piece is much worth reading:
As it happens, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the state’s anti-bilingual backlash, which began when Skid Row activist and Episcopal priest Alice Callaghan organized about 100 Spanish-speaking parents who wanted their Ninth Street Elementary children to learn English in class.
In the film, spunky 17-year-old heroine Paula Crisostomo, now an administrator at Occidental College, has a friend and fellow protester named Vickie, who (at the end we learn) grew up to be Victoria Castro, L.A. school board member from 1993 to 1997 and board president in 1998. The film doesn’t mention that after Castro refused to help those frustrated Ninth Street parents, they staged a walkout of their own, an incident that inspired Ron Unz to back Prop. 227 two years later….