Fighting prejudice with learning

HUMBERTO CASPA

Professor Juani Funez-Gonzalez doesn’t want to get credit for the

good behavior of the students at Orange Coast College.

That’s not unusual for someone whose personality traits have more

similarities to Nelson Mandela than to a drill sergeant. Still,

though, every semester about 200 students sign up for her classes and

get out with a favorable mind set.

From the beginning, Funez-Gonzalez walks in the classroom and

tells her students not to get offended for all the information

disclosed throughout the semester, warning that race issues is

discussed frankly.

To emphasize that some social injustice is deeply seated not only

in our personal lives but also in our social surroundings is part of

her job assignment.

That someone is, for instance, prejudiced or racist, may not be

his or her own fault at all. In the end, every one of us is product

of a biased system. It is up to us, as individuals, to identify what

those biases and contradictions are, become aware of them and make

the right choices afterward.

Funez-Gonzalez’s Ethnic Studies 100 doesn’t sound like an easy

class to teach. And it isn’t. Some students already come in with

preconceived notions that certain inequalities between races,

ethnicities or genders have natural rather than social foundations.

To top this, unfortunately, discrimination and other forms of

negative social behaviors have long been part of our interpersonal

relationships in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. They are

likely to become more prevalent as our cities, particularly Costa

Mesa, turn into more multiethnic and multicultural places.

In the past, we’ve heard a few high-ranking officials in Newport

Beach and Costa Mesa voicing scathing remarks against minority

groups. Also, some people are beginning to raise dangerous

stereotypes, blaming the growing Latino population for all social

ills.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the following comments before: “Those

illegal immigrants are ruining our city,” or “East Costa Mesa is

dirty because Mexicans live there,” or one that encompass all the

racist ingredients, “Latinos are lazy.”

Here is where Funez-Gonzalez comes into play. If you would like to

give her job a new title, it would be a social physician. In her

classroom, she cuts our social blunders from our brains through an

effective reasoning process.

“Our leaders in Sacramento do not want to face another Rodney King

aftermath,” she confessed.

She was referring to the social uproar unleashed by an unfair

trail in Los Angeles against an African-American man. The historic

verdict exonerated a few white policemen despite conspicuous evidence

showing a brutal assault against Rodney King. Every African-American

felt violated. Not only did they take out their anger on the court,

but also on the very essence of our political and economic system.

For the most part, school officials at Orange Coast College seem

to have in mind the implications of the Rodney King trial.

“Our community is becoming more ethnically diverse, and we need to

move on in that direction,” said Robert Dees, vice president of

instruction at OCC.

Furthermore, Funez-Gonzalez’s students know she is a tough-minded

professor. Ironically, she ended up in the United States for the same

reason she is here teaching at OCC: A dictatorial regime branded her

thoughts and political beliefs.

Like most young scholars in Chile, her native country,

Funez-Gonzalez and her husband opted to support -- though a socialist

regime -- the democratic government of Salvador Allende. Both,

husband and wife openly opposed the unfairness of Augusto Pinochet’s

government. This dictator ordered the assassination of Allende and

installed a process of authoritarian regimes in the region.

Many people like Funez-Gonzalez and her husband either faced

torture and death or fled to another country. It wasn’t a difficult

road for them to take. They put as much survival material they could

fill in a little backpack, and with a few dollars in their pockets,

they ran for safe ground to the American Embassy.

Later they ended up staying in San Diego at an asylum camp for a

few months. Right from the beginning, Funez-Gonzalez promised herself

to fight discrimination with every inch of her soul. She has been

doing that ever since she got here.

However, like most recently arrived immigrants, with no command of

English, she started out working in all kinds of odd jobs. With the

help of a few people, and once learning the language, she pursued a

college degree at UC Irvine. She earned a Ph.D. in Social Science at

UCI, and also taught for several years there before coming to Orange

Coast College.

Her contribution to our community through her teaching is

immeasurable. Some unidentified social psychopaths, who desperately

roam our urban coast heralding hateful news, have once sent

threatening letters to her for what she does at school.

She is not afraid of these people. A brutal dictator didn’t stop

her march to freedom. It is unlikely that a few vicious individuals

will put down her commitment to bring social awareness and a deep

methodical analysis in her class.

* HUMBERTO CASPA is a Costa Mesa resident and bilingual writer. He

can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].