San Francisco Unified School District
555 Franklin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
RE: SUPPORT FOR ETHNIC STUDIES AT SFUSD
Dear SFUSD Board of Education Commissioners and Superintendent Su,
We write to you today with an unwavering commitment to high quality and equitable education, and we urge you to maintain the current requirement of two semesters of ethnic studies in San Francisco Unified School District.
Founded in 1969, Chinese for Affirmative Action has long fought for education equity. Our historic and current work has focused largely on local advocacy within SFUSD and prioritized school desegregation, quality education for English learner students, and pathways that support culturally competent pedagogy and the acquisition of multiple languages. Earlier this year, we signed on to this coalition statement advising that the forthcoming statewide ethnic studies requirement1is not merely a mandate to be fulfilled but a powerful opportunity to reimagine education in a way that honors the lived experiences of all students and builds thoughtful, transformative learning environments.
SFUSD’s ethnic studies program has recently come under scrutiny, with some questioning its relevance in our classrooms. Specifically, there has been concern about an alleged ethnic studies assignment regarding social movements, which listed “the Red Guard.” It is unclear whether the assignment was referencing the Red Guard in the Chinese Cultural Revolution or the Red Guard Party, a Chinese-American youth organization formed in 1969 in San Francisco Chinatown and modeled after the Black Panther Party. Given that the ethnic studies assignment only included domestic social movements, “the Red Guard” may be referring to the latter, which could serve as an appropriate social movement to research.2
If, however, the assignment was referring to the Red Guards in the Cultural Revolution, we urge SFUSD to ensure that ethnic studies curricula be historically accurate and teachers adequately trained and supported. This can be an opportunity to correct a mistake and recommit to fact finding when developing ethnic studies lessons.
Ethnic studies must continue for the sake of our students, who deserve rigorous academic standards that stimulate them intellectually and prepare them for future success.
Emily Fung, CAA
A Stanford study found that San Francisco high school students who took ethnic studies courses had higher attendance rates, better GPAs, and earned more credits toward graduation. Similarly, a report by the National Education Association indicates well-designed ethnic studies programs increase cross-cultural understanding, foster student empowerment, and improve overall academic performance.
Ethnic studies is particularly important for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AA/PI) students. Growing up, many Asian American students and even more Pacific Islander students never see themselves in traditional history curricula. This invisibility perpetuates harmful stereotypes about AA/PIs. In contrast, ethnic studies includes the rich history of AA/PI activism in our home countries and in the United States, including over a century of civil rights advocacy3 and cross-racial solidarity4. Through ethnic studies, all students gain insight into the power of civic engagement and AA/PI students develop pride, dignity, and belonging.
Our moment is now. Ethnic studies will soon be a statewide requirement, and our community can choose to embrace this program with intention or allow missteps to halt our pursuit of progress. Going forward, we urge SFUSD to maintain two semesters of ethnic studies and commit to historical accuracy and teacher training. Thoughtful implementation, informed by research, will ensure our students are sufficiently prepared to succeed and lead in a multiracial democracy.
In solidarity,
Emily Fung, Education Equity Policy Manager
1In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 101, which made ethnic studies a graduation requirement.
2 For instance, the Red Guard Party’s ten point plan can help students learn about the dire conditions of Chinatown in the late 1960s and their root causes. Students can also analyze the Red Guard Party’s strategy of radical demands and youth organizing and debate whether these techniques were effective at achieving any social change.
3Including, but not limited to, Asian American litigation which secured landmark victories at the Supreme Court, such as: Wong Kim Ark v. United States (affirmed a broad interpretation of the Birthright Citizenship Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment and held that children born in the United States to noncitizen parents are citizens); Yick Wo v. Hopkins (held that racially discriminatory application of a racially neutral law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment); and Lau v. Nichols (held that SFUSD’s failure to provide English language instruction to monolingual Chinese students violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because failure to provide language access is national origin discrimination).
4Including, but not limited to: Frederick Douglass’s vocal opposition to racist policies that targeted Chinese and Japanese immigrants; farmworker organizing among Mexican and Filipino farmworkers; Black civil rights leaders speaking out against the occupation of the Philippines and Vietnam War; Ram Manohar Lohia, an Indian freedom fighter who went to jail fighting Jim Crow; Grace Lee Boggs and James Boggs who sought economic and racial justice in Detroit, MI; alliance of Vietnamese Americans and African Americans in New Orleans in the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina; Asian Americans and South Asians for Black Lives.
