What Lowell’s diversity problem says about the S.F. school district
Regarding “Racial makeup of Lowell’s incoming class could reignite debate over diversity” (Bay Area, SFChronicle.com, April 28): Increasing access and opportunities for Black and brown students at Lowell High School is not a zero-sum game for other students, as this article portrays.
Lowell High School’s reversion to “merit-based” admissions is a blatant cop-out from addressing the racial inequities rampant in San Francisco’s public school system. We don’t live in a utopian world where anti-Blackness and racism don’t exist — Black and brown students in San Francisco still disproportionately attend underfunded public schools and are denied the resources they deserve.
We cannot address issues of racial inequity without recognizing race in our solution. We need policies like affirmative action that adequately address and act on generations of race-based harm and oppression in San Francisco.
If we actually address the funding discrepancies for Black and brown students in the public school system, all schools could be like Lowell. The rising tide lifts us all.
Photographer: Felix Uribe/The Chronicle
What Lowell’s diversity problem says about the S.F. school district
By Olivia McHaney | SF Chroncicle| May 2nd 2024