Principal Donna Tripi (above) apologized on Monday for sending the email last month The La Jolla Elementary School principal apologize...
The La Jolla Elementary School principal apologized this week for an email to parents that she says unintentionally perpetuated stereotypes about black people.
The school will hold a forum on Monday at 6 p.m. regarding the matter and how to “support all families” at the school, according to Principal Donna Tripi.
Last month, Tripi warned parents in an email about a man who had allegedly stared at and followed a parent’s daughter at a local Starbucks. Tripi described the man in her email as “an African American male about 30 years old, about 6’1”-6’2”, dressed in all black and a hooded sweatshirt.”
The email went on to give parents security tips “to keep your children safe,” including calling the police “if you see something that doesn’t feel right.”
“We’re all hoping it was an isolated incident,” the email concluded, “but reminders are always helpful.”
This week, Tripi sent another email to parents apologizing for her description of the man, which was so vague that it wouldn’t help anybody in identifying the man, but included details that aligned with stereotypes about black people.
“My email was a mistake. While it is critical to keep our school family safe, the way I communicated didn't provide enough specifics to identify the individual, but could easily lead to unnecessary and harmful reactions against other members of our community,” Tripi wrote. “African American males continue to face discrimination in our society every day. The thought that I unintentionally contributed to that climate with a vague email is something for which I owe our community an apology.”
Tripi defended the parent’s fears about the black man, saying she’s “confident the concern they described was not imagined” and that the parent was reasonable in believing that the man was following her daughter.
That was a problem for André Branch, president of the San Diego Branch of the NAACP, who took just as much issue with Tripi’s second email as the first one.
“This apology is as disturbing as the original email,” Branch said. “She repeats the description of the man, mentioning his race, but not that of the parents or the children. This repetition reinforces the idea that the parents and their children have something to fear from African-American men.”
Branch said he believes it was the man’s African-American identity that generated the fears reflected by the parents and principal.
“They have no more to fear from African-American males than they do from white males in hoodies or white males in suits and ties,” Branch said. “If their concern had nothing to do with this man’s race, it would not have been mentioned.”
Tripi did not respond to requests for comment.
Out of 535 students enrolled at La Jolla Elementary last fall, five were black, state data show. The school didn’t employ any black teachers last school year, according to state data. Out of 31 teachers, 28 were white.
Monday’s school community forum will be facilitated by Omar Passons, a black attorney and community leader who recently ran unsuccessfully for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Passons said he reached out to school district officials after he saw Tripi’s first email posted on social media.
“I am an African-American man who’s a little bit shorter than 6’1”, but I’ve been in workout clothes and a hoodie in La Jolla after working out,” Passons said. “The description that was included in the email was just really, really general.
“It’s humiliating to be in that position where you look at somebody and see fear in their eyes for no reason,” Passons added.
However, Passons said he is satisfied with how the school has addressed the issue so far.
“Their response was what I would hope it would be,” Passons said.
Amie Zamudio, a white 40-year La Jolla resident and activist with San Diego’s Racial Justice Coalition and Showing Up for Racial Justice, said she thinks Monday’s community forum will be a chance to have a teaching moment and “call people in rather than call people out.”
“You don’t realize if you’re a white person in a white community what’s happening with racism,” said Zamudio, who said she helped initially bring attention to Tripi’s emails on social media. “We are really hoping this will segue past a one-hour meeting, and let’s have a real discussion about our bias.”
Starbucks was in the news nationally for an incident of racial bias in April, when two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks while they were sitting and waiting for an acquaintance. The incident drew national outrage and attention to how racial biases can influence people’s perceptions of safety. Starbucks also changed it policies about patron restroom use.
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