LULAC Gets Their Man

For decades, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has been working to protect the rights of Latin Americans. Given the fact that Hispanics have long been a minority in this nation, it is understandable that an organization like LULAC would work hard to ensure Hispanics received proper representation in business and government

However, LULAC's tactics related to the hiring of the new HISD superintendent are clearly hypocritical. As noted in a previous USANow post, Mary Ramos, deputy Director of LULAC stated: "I want it to be a Hispanic so we can cure the dropout problem. If it's not a Hispanic there will be a tremendous outcry". Why does Ms. Ramos feel that an African America, Asian, or Anglo would be unfit to cure the dropout problem? Why is Ms. Ramos threatening outcries if LULAC doesn't get their way? Because HISD is now majority Hispanic, so LULAC apparently believes that the majority should rule. It is curious that LULAC has fought to ensure minority rights for decades, but now uses majority-rule line of thinking to push for a Hispanic Superintendent.

With the hiring of Abe Saavedra as interim Superintendent, LULAC has achieved their goal. But according to today's Chronicle article, Ms. Ramos is not pleased with the selection of Mr. Saavedra due to his legal troubles in Corpus Christi. Perhaps in the future she would better represent the Hispanic community (and all communities, for that matter) by fighting to ensure HISD chooses the next Superintendent based on professional qualifications, regardless of that person's race, color, or religion.

To be fair to Mr. Saavedra, LULAC's Deputy Director from Corpus Christi believes Saavedra is the right man for the job. Said Mary Helen Salazar yesterday regarding Mr. Saavedra's legal woes, "He was done wrong in Corpus Christi because he's Hispanic". I suppose it is this type of victim mentality that earns one a Deputy Director spot in LULAC.

On a side note, Mr. Saavedra arrived in Houston yesterday stating that he wants HISD to be "as inclusive as it can be". Then, speaking in Spanish, he thanked Houstons' Hispanic community for bringing him to Houston. Mr. Saavedra, over 40% of your students and well over 50% of Houstonians don't speak Spanish. Let's hope this first day on the job is not indicative of your ability to be "inclusive".