We Get Letters: Ramirez is Not The Problem

Mayor Gordo,

We are some of the “parents of the children who attend San Rafael Elementary School” to whom you directed your August 18, 2022 statement. Your statement is inaccurate, misguided, and unbelievably tone deaf. We are extremely disappointed by what we perceive as your use of the statement to score political points, rather than to address or even acknowledge the real problem that many San Rafael parents are concerned with.

Spoiler alert: it’s not Principal Ramirez.

Your statement contends that a resident called the Pasadena Police Department on Sunday August 14, 2022 “believing a possible crime was in progress at the neighborhood elementary school.” The alleged crime in progress? Someone with a backpack climbing a school fence.

Your suggestion that our community should view a suspected misdemeanor trespass “in the context of what has happened recently in schools across the country”—which we take to be an allusion to school shootings—is as outrageous as it is offensive and reveals a deep and inappropriate bias towards law enforcement overreaction.

To be clear, we are grateful for the service of our law enforcement officers and presume that the officers responded to the report of a potential trespass offense at San Rafael in good faith. But any reasonable suspicion of trespass evaporated when the officers encountered a uniformed school employee in possession of the school’s keys doing his job on school grounds.

Whatever the officers’ true motivations were, their decision to handcuff a uniformed school employee who did not meet the description of the person the police were looking for is consistent with a history of racial profiling and discrimination that many in our community have experienced directly.

What you apparently view as appropriate “caution” strikes some of us as prejudice.

Your statement says that it is “our collective responsibility to act professionally and work together to resolve issues” and that community leaders should “set an example for the students and young persons in our community.” But in the next breath, you state that you “have a difficult time accepting [Principal Ramirez’s] apology.” What kind of example does that set for our kids and community? In what professional setting does holding grudges help people work together to resolve issues? What’s worse, you purported to reject Principal Ramirez’s apology “on behalf of my constituents.” That is not your prerogative. We teach our children forgiveness.

We know that unconscious bias and racial profiling are real. We support Principal Ramirez. We accept his apology. And we are appalled at the way you have used the power of your office to attack a dedicated, passionate, and innovative educator in service of your own ambition.

It is the height of hypocrisy for you to decry “divisive statements,” since that is exactly what your statement is designed to be. Your statement attempts to stoke anger and divisiveness by falsely accusing Principal Ramirez of being racist and “denigrating” people based on skin color, by rejecting his heartfelt apology, and by suggesting that San Rafael Elementary School may be negatively “shap[ing] the minds and views of our children.”

In short, your statement is the opposite of “work[ing] diligently to build trust and communication between our police, the school district and our community.” Your politicization of the issue and transparent attempt to distract the public from the real issues that concern us parents and members of the community have made the problem worse. You apparently gave no consideration to the impact that your actions would have on the students and staff of San Rafael as we begin a new school year.

But your statement did get one thing right. We agree that education is the key to stomping out systemic racism, which is why it is so important to have administrators and teachers like Principal Ramirez who are willing to call out systemic racism when they see it.

The racial profiling that occurred at San Rafael is precisely the type of systemic racism that many of your constituents face every day. As San Rafael parents, the racial profiling and the fear that the school custodian faced and continues to live with is what makes us feel unsafe.

To distract from the fears and real dangers that community members face by attacking Principal Ramirez demonstrates either willful ignorance of the needs of many of your constituents or outright disregard for those needs in favor of pandering to the privileged political class.

Many San Rafael parents are committed to working with the school and its staff, neighborhood residents, and law enforcement to forge the best educational environment possible for our kids.

In fact, parents, teachers, and administrators shared their concerns and ideas for effecting positive change during a lengthy meeting with Principal Ramirez the day after the incident. It’s a shame you made no effort to hear from us before injecting yourself into this story.

We will not tolerate any further attacks on our school or on Principal Ramirez.

You should apologize to him; we are confident he will accept it. If you are not prepared to do the right thing and acknowledge the issues your constituents of color are facing, we will use all our powers to help put someone in your office who will.

Robert and Sahar Uriarte

Altadena

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com