Incidents of Racism at UC Berkeley: Testimony of Dmitri Garcia
Thank you Erika, thank you Helen, for your courage to be up here and to make your voice heard. Because apparently, it’s not being heard in the classrooms, where I too would raise my hand and I wasn't called on. Why?
“Like a steam locomotive, I knew I was on the right track. I believed I was on the right track.” That’s how I opened my personal statement to Cal. I took that train right into the History Department and I brought that train to a screeching halt. Why.
I transferred here from a junior college in San Diego. The population of Latino students at that school is well over 90%. Only 13% transferred to a four-year university. I believed I was taking that right track coming here to study history, to solve problems, to address problems, to make my voice heard, to challenge my fellow students, to be challenged in turn.
Yet, when I would raise my hand, when hot topics would be raised in class, topics of race, topics of immigration, I wasn't called on. They would call other people, and I would say, “Well, at least someone is being heard.” I didn't make a fuss about it, I didn't want to be labeled a problem student; I didn't want to approach the teacher and say, “Look, why aren't you calling me?”
No, because I was learning; I was paying attention; I was taking notes; I was reading the material. Yet I knew why I wasn't called on when it came time for the exam.
The first question was, “Explain the significance of the 1790 law.” Only free white persons can become citizens. This is a history class, an American Cultures class. I responded the significance is in the seeds of racism where this law was being predicated upon the opposition to black; the opposition to indigenous; where the possibility to become a citizen was open to whites. This is in 1790. This is history. This is a fact.
My grade came back: F. Why? At this point I quit asking myself why. These were the doubts that would be summoned in me. I, too, came in with a high GPA. I was qualified to be here. I was accepted into this University based on my qualifications, based on my taking courses in history. And yet, here I was getting an F.
I had to defend my paper. I went to the GSI, the grad student who read my paper, and I put my case before him. What he told me was that I focused on the wrong issue. “It wasn't about race,” he said, “this was about indentured servitude” and how, if you came and you were not free, and you were indentured, you could not become a citizen.
I made my case, I cited sources, and he just laughed and said “This is my area of expertise. This is the one topic in history I know most about. And if you take it to the professor, he’ll say the same thing.”
I brought that train to a screeching halt. I dropped that class because I knew I would keep going to class and keep feeling like, “Am I the only one who wants to challenge this?” What else are they going to say? Why am I going to subject myself to this version of history?
Folks, I changed my entire major. I didn't want to be in that environment. And at that time, I just thought, “Oh, it’s just a teaching style, it’s just a crappy professor here at Cal.” That was my rationale. I switched my major to Ethnic Studies, studying essentially the same thing: history. But this is where I felt I could raise the questions. I could challenge my fellow students. I could be in that environment where I could create my voice out, where I could bring my voice to be heard by my fellow students.
I’m not going to be derailed, I’m not going to allow my peers, my fellow students, to be derailed. That’s why I’m here tonight. That’s why we’re all here tonight. We will not be derailed. Thank you.