Today’s Agenda

Affirmative action was originally intended to overcome historical disadvantages and to promote the inclusion of diversity in the workplace and in our schools. Today, many Asian-Americans are grappling over whether they should be included in affirmative-action programs. And some in society at large say that they should not be included, because Asian-Amerians are perceived in some quarters as being on a par with whites economically and educationally. In Platform, Asian-Americans of different ethnic groups discuss the issue as part of Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

But there is no consensus. Steve Jun, a junior at Saddleback College in Orange County, says, “It seems like discrimination in an opposite way. (Affirmative action) hurts those who are smart and earned their way into college by their grades while some people come in without earning it.” Oaksook Kim, director of the Korea Program in International Studies and Overseas Program at UCLA, however, believes that hiring policies haven’t changed much. “Asian Pacific Americans are still being excluded, being prejudiced against, eliminated from the work force,” she says.

Schools are often named for people considered to be role models for children. But a “bandido”? The decision of the Santa Clarita school board to name the new high school in Agua Dulce after Tiburcio Vasquez, traditionally treated by historians as nothing more than a 19th-Century horse thief and stagecoach robber, has sparked an uproar. Many Chicanos and Latinos see him not as a murderous thug, but as an avenger who resisted the Yankee invasion of California. The controversy has touched a chord as these groups reach out to reclaim a part of their history that they believe has been repressed for more than 100 years. In Dispute looks at both sides of the controversy.

And in Youth Opinion, two seniors from Beverly Hills High School tell us that Prom Night is not all fun. Although they may not have to worry as much about the expense as kids from poorer communities, getting ready for this “rite of passage” can take its toll. In fact, a decision over who rides with whom turned into a week of insults and betrayal for Drew Zimmerman, leaving close friends on non-speaking terms.

John Krizek of Van Nuys Gripes that Drew’s generation “has grown up awash in the idea that anything one does to defy authority or strike back at real or perceived enemies is not only OK, it’s romantic and admirable.” And he points the finger at Hollywood. “Yes, there have always been death and violence in popular entertainment, Krizek says. “In Shakespeare, everybody dies. But skilled storytellers do not have to dwell on gore.”

Decrying censorship, Krizek says that society must constrain an entertainment industry that is incapable of restraining itself.