Funeral held for boy whose death sparked riots
* ' _L ... .1- ^
? By BETH HARPA2
l AMMOoimtod Press Writer
NEW YORK CAP) ? Tha
small whit# coffin holding the body
of a 7-year-old boy who was
struck by a car tn Brooklyn waa
hoisted above the heads of pall
bearers as hundreds chanted, "No
justice, no peace."
The outpouring of emotion
Monday outside St. Anthony's
Baptist Church in Crown Heights
tor the death of Gavin Cato led to
an impromptu live-mile march to
Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Hundreds of people who
joined it had been among more
than 1,000 mourners inside and
outside the church who listened to
a series of speakers vow that the
young life would not be forgotten.
"He speaks from his grave to
all of us," the Rev. A! Sharpton
said, promising to put the child's
name at the top of the list of
blacks he believed had been mis
treated by a system that cuddles
whites. V
In this instance, blacks in the
Crown Heights section say the
system failed Gavin after he and
his 7-year-old cousin were hit Aug^
1 9 when a car driven by an ultra
Orthodox Lubavitcher Jew
careened onto a sidewalk. The
-cousin, Angela Cato, was serious
ly injured and listed in stable con
dition Monday.
Many black Crown Heights
residents were 'furious that the
driver was not arrested. They
accused police and city agencies
of giving preferential treatment to
Jews. The accident caused long
simmering tensions between
blacks and Jews in Brooklyn to
erupt.
A Lubavitcher who was not
involved in the accident* Yankel
Rosenbaum, was stabbed to
death in the immediate aftermath
of the accident. On Monday a
Brooklyn grand jury indicted Lem
rick Nelson, 16, who is black, in
the homicide, according to Nel
son's lawyer, Arthur Lewis Jr.
In the days that followed the
accident* stores were looted, a
mob burned an Israeli flag in front
of the Hasidic group's headquar
ters and angry residents threw
So what? some ask
tains a math arid a verbal section,
which are evaluated on a score of
200-800. A perfect score is 1 ,6Q0.
NOW THE BAD NEWS
While the increase in test
scores is welcome news, the dis
crepancy between scores of
whites and blacks is still signifi
cantly disproportionate. White
-students' average-scores remain -
about 200 points higher than that
for whites. Similar figures hold
true for the national averages.
Conversations with Walter
Marshall, chairman of the NAACP
education committee, and other
local black leaders reveal specific
reasons for the disappointing dis
crepancy.
? Cultural biases in the test
The SAT, CAT (California Achieve
ment Test) and IQ tests all have
built-in cultural" biases. For
instance: a question on the CAT
agk$*What a crib is; to a child liv
fhg in the ghetto, a crib could be a
House. Another question asks
.what jam is; to a black child, jam
could be a dance.
? Low- level classes Many
black students do not take high
level academic courses, or do not
take them as early as white stu
dents.
? Low expectations Since
integration, the expectation has
. persisted that black students will
not succeed or perform as well; as
many people, tend to live up to
what4s expected^them, *?
? Insufficient parental sup
port Too few black parents active
ly support their child's academic
achievement, and fewer publicly
fight for issues concerning educa
tional achievement of black stu
dents.
? Poor test-taking skills Many
black students approach the test
as something based on knowl
edge rather than based on skills. ?
Even so, not everyone agrees
that SAJ scores are terribly impor
? tant.,-.* *v ?&
"The SAT is not as significant
an indicator of knowledge as it is
made out to be, ^argues Marshall,
Continued from page A1
State and local criteria blamed
"We know something is
wrong," concedes Dr. - Fred
Adams, associate superintendent
of programs for city/county
schools. "But we may have our
hands tied to some degree, due to
state requirements." ,
, Gifted programs in elemen
tary schools serve students in
grades 3-8 and are primarily fund
ed by the state. Eligibility is heavi
ly weighted on standardized test
scores. Historically, minority stu
dents don't score as high as
whites do on standardized test
scores, and minority groups
across the nation have questioned
the use of standardized tests,
. claiming that they penalize minori
ty students.. ? . ; ' ? T
While the state will fund gift- ?
ed programs for four percent of
students, Adams say.s Forsyth.
County serves 11-12 percent of
the student population with gifted
programs; "We will serve about
three times the kids we get paid
for," saya Adams, "and for those
kids, we must adhere to strict
guidelines from the state."
A P classes are taken in high
school and consist of college level
? work. Students receive college
credits for AP classes. "Our
minority students do extremely
well in the AP program," says
Adams. A teacher recommenda
tion admits a student into AP
classes.
In grades 3-8, gifted students;
. attend a half-day (usually morn
ing) of AG classes, and have
afternoon classes with other kids.
This schedule, called multi-group
ing, ensures that AG students are
in classes with other students part
of the day. . -
One percent of children in the
Highly Gifted (HG) program are
black. "It's a small number, and
we are concerned about that,"
said Dr. Adams. "We know there
are more kids out there that can
do the program." .
;? Eligibility for Highly Gifted
(HG) classes is determined by
locally established criteria, which
now requires an IQ of 140.
Schools with HG programs are
Kimberly Park and Brunson ele
mentaries, Wiley and Cook middle
schools. This is the fifth year for
the HG program. "Even though
the IQ standard, is high, the other
criteria are more flexible," contin
ued Dr.. Adams, "and we could
place kids in there that we think
really can do the work."
Counter-productive
social pressures
Not only is it hard for black
students to get into gifted pro
grams, but they also may be faced
with a number of social forces that
run counter to educational*
achievement. Black students, and^
black males as^e^rally, are often^
.expected to 4$?el on the football
field or the basketball court ? but
not in the classroom.
As a result, they tend to shy
away from acadernics ? even in
subject areas they enjoy,
AG Task Force offers hope
One parent of a gifted student
noted that many parents are con
cerned about the perceived elitism
of the gifted program, and are
looking forward to the Task Force ?
addressing that problem. .
The AG Task Force, headed
by Emily Simeon and composed
of 65 members, includes teachers,
parents, and membecs of the busi
ness community. In the next few
months, the Task Force will split
up into subcommittees, including
one for minority issues. The AG
Task Force will also determine
what happens to highly gifted stu- .
dents in ninth grade and up, since,
the HG program has not been
implemented for high school yet.
Dr. Carlinda Purcell, who was
responsible for the AG Task Force
last year, is now in charge of sup
port services for at-risk students
including drop-outs and students
with drug and alcohol problems.
rocksand bottles at police.
1 hear the word 'peace.' They_
don't want peace. They want
quiet," Sharpton said at the funer
al. "If they want peace, look at the
arrangements in Crown Heights
and make it equal.**
Sharpton had accompanied
the boy's parents, Ingrid Wolcott
and Carmel Cato, when they
entered the church. The mother's
wails filled the church for about 10
minutes when the service began,
as vyomen tried to comfort her.
At the funeral, Mayor David
Dinkins was among the speakers
expressing hope that both sides
would work to "increase the
peace."
At City Hall later, Dinkins
announced immediate technical
and economic assistance to busi
nesses damaged in last week's
violence*. "There is no greater
tragedy resulting from last week's
angry disturbances than the
deaths," Dinkins said. "But there
are other victims: the stores that
were looted and vandalized ....
We will help Crown Heights mer
chants and, by extensiorv, the
entire community."
\ Pinkina. j?hoJias been Jn _
Crown Heights every day since
Tuesday, said tensions had
calmed somewhat but added. "I
recognize we are by no means out
of the woods."
At the funeral, speakers
expressed sympathy for the Cato
family and appealed for an end to
the violence, the arrest of the car's
driver and better conditions for
blacks in the neighborhood.
Activist lawyer Colin Moore
said he hoped that, "out of the
actions of the tragedy wili^ome
the" promise of a better life for
thousands of African youth." >
By the time the funeral was
over, about 2,000 people had
gathered.
The police presence was
heavy, both at the church and sev
eral blocks away, at the site of the -
accident. Activist Sonny Carson
got into a shoving match with
some officers as he left the
church. There were no arrests.
Carson then climbed on a car
and led the crowd in a chant of
"Remember Gavin Cato!" ^
Continued from page A1
noting that only a few states use
the test to extent that North Car
olina does.
"The major issue is that edu
cation is in trouble, but SAT
scores are not an indication that
schools are not successful. If we
concentrated on test-taking skills
and tested only the top students,
the scores would improve. SATs
^n^bemgr blown out ot proportion
to take the public's mind off other
issues in education.*
Sue Carson, program manag
er for community services for
city/county schools, points out that
North Carolina tests a higher num
ber of students (57 percent) than
almost every other state. Iowa stu
dents had an average score of
1,093, yet only five percent of its
high SthooTsenlors took the SAI. ~
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