Learning to leave bad blood behind

Educators who work with refugees have a number of challenges in teaching students how to go to school, sit in a classroom, use school bathrooms and speak English.

But teachers at schools like Mountain View Elementary are also teaching refugee children to respect each other despite being up against a centuries-old cultural rift.

About four years ago a wave of Somali refugees arrived in Utah. Within the past two years a number of Somali Bantu refugees have also come to Salt Lake City.

However, in Somalia Bantus have historically been treated as slaves by Somalis, and that has created some separation in Salt Lake communities and schools, said Mountain View Principal John Erlacher.

"Bantus were literally slaves in Somalia ... were illiterate and weren't allowed to go to school," Erlacher said. "There is often really bad blood between them."

Erlacher said that last year he enlisted a Somali to translate for Bantu parents. "Those Bantu parents were ready to walk because they just don't trust each other," he said.

They quickly hired a Bantu translator.

"In Somalia the Somali people saw (Bantus) as slaves, and some (Bantus) think they are going to continue to do so here even though we try to explain to them that that is not going to happen," said Julia Martinez, coordinator of alternative language services, who works with refugee students.

"I think it's that whole 'kick the dog' routine," Erlacher said.

Refugees come to the United States poor and oppressed, but once they get established, another group comes over that is historically below them and can be taken advantage of, he said.

Erlacher said the Bantu students tend to play separately but will sometimes get in fights on the playground with Somalis. That doesn't happen too often, but Martinez said the majority of any conflicts could most likely be traced back to the parents.

"I'll tell you something about kids — they don't know anything about (prejudice), it's mostly the parents — as children are naive and innocent and they don't care what color of skin they are or where they come from," Martinez said.

Erlacher said it's all about educating students that everyone is equal and valued.

"You can pretty well tell the kids that there is no kind of discrimination based on anything in the classrooms," Erlacher.

And Martinez said with everything they need to learn and their love of learning, students often help and support each other, something that has helped drown out any prejudices they might have.

According to Ernie Nix, principal of Glendale Middle School on the west side of Salt Lake, Bantu and Somali refugee students who have gone onto the middle schools appear to have left behind any historical conflicts.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com