UCLA’s Tyrone Howard addresses board members on ways to avoid racism and stereotypes.

Racism and stereotypes continue to plague LA Unified, and it’s up to leaders to change that, according to a UCLA professor who is holding seminars at some schools.

Tyrone C. Howard, associate dean for equity and inclusion at UCLA’s graduate school of education and information studies, spoke to the Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Equity Committee on Tuesday about how he is helping principals and teachers understand how to identify underlying racism and avoid enforcing stereotypes on their students. He said that initiating this difficult dialogue is among the steps needed to help persistently low-performing students, particularly African-American and poor children.

“Bias is real and discrimination is rampant,” Howard told the committee, made up of four school board members, administrators and representatives of some of the major school unions. “People don’t want to talk about race because it is not the politically correct thing to do. If we don’t talk about race, then we ignore one aspect of who they are as young people.”

He added, “Even teachers of color have biases against students of color. Lots of students feel like they have two strikes against them when they walk into a classroom because they are black or brown and poor and the teacher feels they can’t succeed.”

Every administrator and school board member will receive a copy of Howard’s book “Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America’s Classrooms,” and some schools will get personal training by Howard, said Chief Academic Officer Frances Gipson.

“We have a bold mission, and Tyrone Howard is an esteemed educator,” Gipson said, noting that some of his philosophies about understanding racial complexity “will intimidate some educators.”

Howard held a two-hour session last week with teachers at Cleveland High School in Reseda to discuss stereotypes and where those ideas come from in people’s lives. “It is going through a process of recognizing implicit bias and how we are all affected by it in one shape or form,” Howard said.

He suggested that requiring ethnic studies classes and emphasizing early literacy are also important steps to helping black and Latino students.

Frances Gipson

“We are one of the most racially diverse cities in the world, and we have the momentum and will and need to start having those conversations,” Howard said.

Howard, who grew up in poverty in Compton, said he would not have succeeded unless teachers put aside racial biases and saw his potential.

Howard said the district is moving in the right direction. He pointed out that 42 percent of students are now making a C or better in the A-G classes, twice what it was a decade ago. But he also noted African-American and Latino students make up more than 60 percent of California’s population but less than 25 percent of the UC system. And under-represented minority groups have not experienced substantial increases in college-going rates.

“We have to tell the narratives and promote things that are moving in the right direction on an ongoing basis,” he said. “We have to be frank and honest that African-American students lag seriously behind others and that it continues to happen. We also have to dismantle the belief that poor kids cannot succeed.”

School board President Steve Zimmer praised Howard for his books and as well as for his seminars at Cleveland High. Zimmer recalled a mentor explaining how a school with 98 percent Latino and African-American enrollment and with 90 percent minority teachers can still be considered a “white supremacist school,” and that changed his mindset about “deep and intentional deficit mindset and how pervasive it is.”

Zimmer asked for suggestions of what they could do, saying, “We don’t legislate hearts and minds, but we do set the direction.”

From Tyrone Howard’s presentation.

Howard said, “The issues about race are the big pink elephant in the room.” He said that educators need to understand the trauma that some students face outside the classroom.

“There is an impact of poverty, bullying, displacement, and many do not have the psychological support services they need,” Howard said. “Leadership is key here.” He said some principals don’t know how to deal with the issue with certain teachers.

Howard also said that support workers such as secretaries, nurses and janitors must all be on board to understand racism. “If we could cultivate that approach into the entire school culture there’s a lot of promise in the communities, but there are a lot who have written them off and that has to stop.”

Howard added, “The political craziness that’s going on doesn’t help. But I want to believe that most folks want to see what’s right for our children.”

Board member Richard Vladovic, who chairs the committee, said, “This has been really invigorating and good food for thought. We will move on it.”

Movie poster of ‘The Birth of a Nation.”

As the Confederate flag came down from the South Carolina State Capitol today, LAUSD teacher Jose Lara continued to drum up support for a petition to change the name of the David Wark Griffith Middle School because the director’s film “The Birth of a Nation” is racist, according to Lara.

“I have been extremely pleased with the way the word has gotten out, people are really angry,” Lara told the LA School Report. He hit the goal of 200 signatures in less than two days and now is shooting for 500 petition signers. “The school board knows about it by now.”

The next step, Lara said, is to take the petition to District 2 board member  Mónica García, who represents the east Los Angeles school. For a change to occur, a majority of the seven board members would have to approve a resolution. As of today, Garcia has said nothing publicly about the situation nor did her office return messages, seeking comment. Further, none of the public officials or state legislators who have the school in their district responded to requests for comment.

Lara said he was thrilled about a bill being proposed at the state level that would ban state and local properties after Confederate leaders. Two schools named after Robert E. Lee would have their names changed within two years.

“That doesn’t affect D.W. Griffith school, which is named after a racist,” Lara said.

Griffith’s 1915 Civil War epic, which was based on a book called “The Clansman,” was protested as racist at the time of its release.

“It’s 2015, and children shouldn’t to a school named after someone who spread this racist propaganda,” Lara said. “It’s a place for education. To have a name like this on a school in this community is a contradiction.”

Reyna Hernandez wrote on the petition site: “The children, families and community at Griffith Middle school desire a school to be proud of. A school free of racism.”

Former student Rita Diaz signed the petition even though she now lives in Wentzville, Mo. She wrote, “We have known about the racist director since we attended this school, however we never had a voice. This is the opportunity to correct their mistakes and give our students something worthy to represent and be a part of.”

Many of the school alumni who are signing the petition thought the school was named after Col. Griffith Jenkins Griffith, for whom L.A.’s largest park and observatory are named. That Griffith, although a philanthropist to the city, wasn’t a very nice guy and had a reputation of a raging alcoholic. He was convicted of shooting his wife in the eye.

“It doesn’t take much research to find out about D.W. Griffith,” said Lara, “and as a teacher I have a hard time seeing this as a school that honors this man.”

D.W. Griffith also directed a film about prejudice called “Intolerance” a year later in part as response to the negative criticism of “The Birth of Nation” and how it glorified the Ku Klux Klan.

The school was named in 1939, while Griffith was still alive. He died in 1948. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6535 Hollywood Blvd. In 1999, the Director’s Guild stripped him of his Lifetime Achievement Award, and Griffith has been commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.

At the time the school took his name, the neighborhood in East Los Angeles was predominantly Jewish and Asian. Some of the Buddhist temples from the era still stand. Now, the neighborhood is predominantly Latino, and the school population is 98 percent Hispanic.

Where do the name changes stop? Communities around the country are now debating whether schools named after such people as Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president, should have their names changed because their namesakes owned slaves. (There is a Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles.)

“I haven’t yet weighed in on the Jefferson school yet, we have to take it on a case by case basis,” said Lara. “It depends on the diversity and sensitivity of the community.”

A scene from “The Birth of a Nation”

A petition inspired by UTLA social justice activist Jose Lara is calling for the immediate removal of the name D.W. Griffith from an East Los Angeles middle school because his 1915 film, “The Birth of a Nation,” celebrated the Ku Klux Klan.

The demand follows nationwide calls for the removal of Confederate flags from public spaces in the aftermath of the June 17 shootings of nine people in a Charleston, S.C. church by a suspect who said he was motivated by racism.

“After a Klansman murdered nine people in South Carolina, this should be a no brainer,” Marian Sunde wrote when she signed the petition. “Don’t stall, study the question, worry about backlash, just do the obvious, correct thing.”

David Wark Griffith Middle School, at 4765 E. 4th St., has 1,400 students 6th through 8th grade. One percent of the students are white, one percent are black, and 98 percent are Hispanic. It is in Mónica García‘s District 2. The school opened in 1939.

Lara was recently named the 2015 Social Justice Activist of the Year by the National Education Association (NEA). He said the idea for a petition came after he read an NPR story about Griffith’s film, which made Klansmen look like heroes.

The three-hour film starts with the scroll: “This is an historical presentation of the Civil War and Reconstruction Period, and is not meant to reflect on any race or people of today.” The film was originally called “The Clansman” and is based on a book that glorified the KKK.

Some of the black characters were played by white men in black face, and the film ends with Klansmen riding in to save the South from black rule during Reconstruction.

At the time of its release, it was considered racist propaganda and there were widespread protests. The KKK used the film as a recruiting tool. Dick Lehr, author of “The Birth of a Nation: How a Legendary Filmmaker and a Crusading Editor Reignited America’s Civil War,” writes, “[Griffith] portrayed the emancipated slaves as heathens, as unworthy of being free, as uncivilized, as primarily concerned with passing laws so they could marry white women and prey on them.”

“Our kids should not go attend a school named after someone who glorified the KKK,” wrote Leopoldo Urias who signed the petition.

Gabriel Cabrera added, “It is absurd that we have come this far with civil rights and we still have to attend a school that is named after someone responsible for mass killings of minority communities.”

A history teacher from Downey, Silvio Vidal, wrote, “As a history teacher, the rise of the KKK is part of the content I’m required to teach. How can a school bear the name of a man who made a racist movie glorifying the KKK?”

A few former students who signed the petition said they knew nothing of the significance of Griffith’s name. Brenda Mejia said, “I attended this middle school and was unaware of the history behind David Wark Griffith up until now and do not support his film.”

Marcela Chagoya, of Monterey Park, wrote, “I am signing this petition because it’s crucial that our future leaders, the children of today, learn that the past is meant to be learned from and used as a stepping stone to CHANGE the present and future of our society. The past is not meant to be perpetuated or idolized, especially when it promotes discrimination and hate based on ethnic differences!”

Lara said he planned to present the petition to the school board after he collected more than 200 signatures. He almost reached that goal in less than 24 hours.

“Please help us gain more traction and educate the public on the truth about D.W. Griffith and his film ‘Birth of Nation,’” Lara wrote. “You might as well have a confederate flag flying outside of the school!”