Castle Square Wrestles
With Issues of Race and Culture

January 10, 1997)

The Learning Center at the Castle Square housing complex is busy today. Children sit at tables quietly working on their homework. The room resembles a classroom, with drawings and writings in Chinese and English attached to the wall. It's a controlled and peaceful learning environment where Castle Square children can learn after the formal school day.

Yet something seems amiss here: Castle Square is a multiracial housing complex but all of the adults and students participating in this after-school program are Asian.

Not far away, in a Castle Square community space at 480 Tremont St., several other after-school programs are also in progress. In Winn Management's computer learning center, teenagers sit at computers under the guidance of Leibiana Feliz. In another nearby room, teenagers watch a large-screen TV and prepare for a group discussion. In a third room, an older student is available to help children with their homework. But here too something seems awry: all of the students and adults participating in these programs today are either African American or Hispanic.

A Multicultural Tradition

While Castle Square, a 500 unit housing project in the South End, has always prided itself on its multicultural character and promotion of racial harmony, events in recent months have brought to the surface a number of underlying cultural conflicts over the operation of the complex's after-school programs for children. A group of largely African American and Hispanic tenants charge that Harry Kwan, co-president of the Castle Square Tenants Association (CSTO), has tried to segregate children in CSTO-funded programs by race and discriminated against non-Asian children. The group has also leveled similar charges of racial bias against Paul Lau, CSTO's executive director. Eight tenants - one of whom was Asian - recently wrote a letter outlining their charges. The group is also asking that Kwan be removed from his position as CSTO co-president.

A List of Complaints

"There have been complaints to Winn management from the children of Castle Square against Harry Kwan," the letter states. "They state incidents of mistreatment, prejudice, profanity and unfairness. They are complaints from Afro-American and Hispanic children. These are serious issues that were brought to Harry and Paul's attention with no resolution."

The letter goes on to complain that Kwan "chooses to separate children by racial background" and helps Chinese children in the Learning Center but offers no help to the non-Chinese in the complex's other after-school programs at 476 Tremont Street. They also charge that he encouraged Chinese and non-Chinese to sit apart at a membership meeting. Kwan's critics say the Tenant Management Committee has also had communication problems with Kwan, who tends to make decisions independently.

The letter also charges that Lau "has shown racial bias in dealing with staff and residents" and "has openly stated that Afro-American and Hispanic children do not want to learn." The letter also complains that Lau speaks Chinese "without consideration for non-Chinese staff." The letter notes that "the entire staff is able to speak English."

Both Kwan and Lau deny the charges, arguing that the recent conflicts at Castle Square have more to do with different approaches to learning and governing than to racial bias. Moreover, they argue that Chinese tenants have not complained in the past when African Americans controlled the CSTO board and created programs that largely ended up serving members of their own community. Kwan notes that Asians have historically been victims of discrimination in the US and have often not spoken out when others discriminated against them. "Nobody speaks loud in our Chinese community," he notes. "I want to speak loud."

Kwan believes that CSTO board politics is at the root of most of the problems and suggests that Winn Management Co. is partly to blame for the conflict. Stephanie Lewis, a regional vice-president for Winn, however, argues that management can't be blamed for problems within the tenants organization. "This has been an internal issue among two factions of the tenants group," she says.

Under an agreement reached several years ago, a CSTO subsidiary corporation is a co-general partner in Trebhershaw Limited partnership, which owns the complex. The managing general partner of Trebhershaw is Winn Development Co, whose subsidiary also manages Castle Square. CSTO is run by a nine-member board whose members serve two-year terms.

Asians Often Left Out

Lau, who was hired to attract more Asians to CSTO programs, points out that Asians never brought charges of racial bias against the organizers of past programs for leaving out Asians. He notes, for example, that few Asian teenagers participated in an earlier "Youth Enrichment: Drug Elimination and Awareness Program" for which CSTO had received a large grant. Pictures on the wall at 480 Tremont St. suggest that most participants in that program were black and Hispanic.

Any division that may exist between races at Castle Square is "a reflection of the macro-society," says Lau. "We are reflecting that trend. We are not creating it. We are just a mirror of the broader society." Castle Square's 1,300 residents are 55 percent Asian American, 27 percent African American, 13 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Caucasian. " What I don't want to see is the minority groups fighting with one another," he adds.

New Board Brought Changes

Lau believes that much of the current controversy developed after a new board was elected in 1995. Six of the nine members of the current board are Asian American, including two co-presidents and two vice-presidents. While the current board is heavily weighted toward Asians, a dominant player in the previous board was co-president Deborah Backus, an African American who has since moved out of Castle Square. The other co-president of the previous board was Ann Moy.

"This is the first time we have six Asians serving on the board," says Lau, who adds that the gender mix of the board has also changed. While females tended to dominate the previous board, males are in the majority now. Age is also a factor, he adds, explaining that current board members are aged 60 to 80, compared with previous board members who were between 30 and 45.

In the last election, Asians appear to have worked especially hard to gain control of the board. About 169 people (about one-third of the eligible voters) cast votes in the election, and the majority of them were Chinese. "They have been doing the door-to door organizing," said Lau, who adds that running in elections to gain political power is a natural part of the democratic process. Asians, he says, shouldn't be faulted for their efforts to elect their own candidates.

A Traditional Chinese Approach to Learning

Kwan, who had served on the previous CSTO board, developed his current after-school program after he was elected co-president. A teacher in Hong Kong for 20 years, Kwan uses traditional Chinese classroom techniques to reach children. It's a learning method that requires obedience and discipline from the children. Such a learning style may not be easily understood or appreciated by Americans accustomed to a less rigid, less-autocratic approach to education. Kwan, however, believes that "if there is no discipline there is no education," Lau explains.

Kwan's programs initially served both Asian and non-Asian children in the CSTO space at 480 Tremont St. Kwan, however, soon concluded that the space wasn't conducive to the kind of learning program he was trying to develop for the younger children. Teenagers were coming and going while the program was in session and there was a fair amount of cursing. There was, in short, an ongoing struggle over how the space should be used. When additional space became available at 476 Tremont St., Kwan moved the program over there.

While Kwan's program began with a mix of Asian and non-Asian children, the non-Asians gradually dropped out, largely because they believed the program was too strict. One board members says there were also complaints that Kwan favored Asian children. In October, about eight non-Asian children were still enrolled in the program, but they dropped out after the recent controversy developed. Kwan and Lau believe that the program is 100 percent Asian now because the adults pressured the non-Asian children to drop out.

Kwan argues that he is providing the kind of program that Chinese parents want for their children. Chinese parents are "serious about their kids' education," he says. "They don't like their kids fooling around and watching TV after school."

Kwan says Chinese children growing up in immigrant households need after-school help with their English in order to catch up with their non-immigrant peers. And while Kwan justified the Chinese language component of the program by saying that "Chinese parents want to keep their culture for their kids," he failed to explain what non-Chinese children should do during the Chinese lessons. It was unclear whether he thought they too should learn Chinese, study by themselves, or leave.

Kwan emphasizes that his program is widely advertised and open to everyone at Castle Square. Non-Asian parents, he argues, simply choose not to send their children to it. Lau contends that children and parents support programs they find interesting and worthwhile. While Chinese families want a disciplined program to learning, many African American and Hispanics may want a less-rigid approach.

"We cannot say good-by all of a sudden [ to our cultural values] because that is the way we were brought up," says Kwan.

Lau notes that Chinese make up more than half of Castle Square residents and shouldn't be blamed for trying to develop programs suitable to their population. "I think they have equal access to services and programs, " he says of Castle Square's African-American and Hispanic populations. "It's hard to break down the barriers, but we are aiming at getting there," he adds.

How Appropriate is a Chinese Program?

While Kwan sees nothing wrong with creating a distinctly Chinese program at Castle Square, his critics say that an educational program in a multicultural development should not be biased toward one group's culture. Long-time resident and current board member Neice Snow was one of the eight concerned residents who wrote the letter listing the complaints against Kwan and Lau.

" The program is skewed toward Asian Americans," says Snow, who is African American. "If you have a multicultural development and you want to serve the whole community, you have to serve every ethnic group." Snow charges that some black and Hispanic children complained they were not allowed to enter the room while Kwan's after-school program was in progress. Moreover, a program that is suitable for Chinese children may not be appropriate for non-Chinese students. Before Kwan became involved, the after-school program was more relaxed, offering a mixture of activities that included both study and games.

"He has turned it into a classroom setting," says Snow, who believes that "a lot of children started dropping out" because "it was very strict and serious" and had an obvious Chinese-language component. She says it was "not a friendly environment" for non-Chinese and argues that a more appropriate program for Castle Square would be one that could appeal to all children, regardless of their race or ethnic background.

Snow says Kwan has also been unwilling to compromise. "He just didn't want to work with anyone," she says. "He wanted to do everything himself."

While Snow says she understands that Kwan's approach to education is rooted in his background, she points out that "we at Castle Square have always been multicultural." Board members, she adds, "are elected by many different races of people." As the board's co-president, Kwan should be looking out for the interests of all groups, not just those of his own, she argues.

Snow contends that Kwan is "trying to work with the Chinese community," but is "not interested in working with other groups." She argues that he also wants to segregate children by race. She says he once refused to allow the Chinese children to take part in a pizza party with the non-Chinese children in the other study program. "Why separate the children?" she asks. "What we're saying is approach it in a different way."

Snow believes that the segregation of races is a problem in other programs as well. She points out that there are currently separate girl scout programs at Castle Square for blacks and Asians, while the complex's elderly program is skewed toward Asians.

In an effort to avoid similar conflicts in the future, Castle Square tenants recently voted to clarify CSTO's bylaws. They also voted to hire a mediator to help them resolve the dispute. "It's like we're stepping back instead of moving forward," she says. "But he (Kwan) doesn't see it that way." Snow says the races have always gotten along well at Castle Square and believes the kids continue to get along well. "It's not a problem with us living together ," she says. "It's the leader that is leading toward segregation."

Living Together At Castle Square

While Chinese, African Americans, and Hispanics have not had major difficulties living together over the years, relations among the groups has sometimes been a distant one, particularly among the adults, says one observer. "Chinese, they don't talk to black people," explains one Chinese parent, who preferred to remind anonymous. The woman says that cultural differences that influence behavior often come into conflict at Castle Square. African American and Hispanic youths, for example, tend to be bigger and more aggressive than Chinese youths, who tend to keep to themselves, she says. Chinese parents tend to keep their children inside at night and generally under their control. "Chinese people mostly are quiet," she says, adding that black kids sometimes use racial slurs against Chinese or make fun of them by imitating Chinese language.

At the same time, she says, it's important for people to respect each other and to try to be friendly with each other. She says she tries to say hello to her African American neighbors. The same resident recalls that when Kwan knocked on her door and asked her to vote for him, he emphasized that it was important for Asians to gain control of the board. She rejected his argument and decided not to vote for him, believing that Chinese and other racial or ethnic groups shouldn't be focused solely on the needs of their own group.

Other Points of View

"As a rule, in their heart, they (Chinese) think they (black) are different, but they don't hate them and they try to get along with them," says 80-year-old George Leung, CSTO co-president and a longtime Castle Square resident.

Thomas Ku, a high school student who volunteers at the Chinese after-school program, says the division at the Learning Center tends to work both ways. While Asians may seek to associate with members of their own group, "blacks do not want to be with Asians," he says. While Ku says he doesn't know if there has been a calculated effort to segregate racial groups at Castle Square or if it has just turned out that way, he believes that an integrated approach is the best one because America is a diverse society. Ku also believes that English should be the language used in Castle Square programs because Chinese is considered a "foreign" language by non-Chinese.

At the same time, Ku believes that the disagreement over the Learning Center programs shouldn't be viewed as a case of Chinese discriminating against non-Chinese. At Castle Square, he says, he has heard racial slurs from both blacks and Asians.

"I don't think that's race discrimination," he says. "They (black and Hispanic) just think the program isn't interesting." Blacks, he adds, like programs that include field trips and other kinds of learning experiences.

The Views of Non-Chinese

Hiraida Hiraldo, who attends the Castle Square computer program, says that people tend to stereotype each other without knowing each other well. If a black or Hispanic youth is "dressed with a hood or black jeans they might think you're going to do something," says the 13-year-old Castle Square resident. On the other hand, non Chinese stereotype Chinese youths as being quiet but smart.

Hiraldo suggests that the silence of Chinese youths is often interpreted as unfriendliness. "They don't talk to us," she says. "Some of them do, but they don't talk to us."

Hiraldo, however, also believes that people of different races basically get along with each at Castle Square. She says she was upset by recent newspaper articles suggesting that discrimination was a big problem at the housing complex. "It makes Castle Square look bad," she says.

"I think it would be better if everybody is in one group," adds Miguel Ferrer, 15, who also attends the computer program.

Diana Davis, an African American women who organized one of Castle Square's girl scout programs, said kids attend programs based on the needs of the children and the parents. She suggests that adults who start programs naturally tend to attract and recruit people from their own group.

Davis believes that many African American and Hispanic children do not want to attend a strict after-school program. "A lot of black and Hispanic kids don't want to buckle down after school," she says. "Kids go where they feel comfortable," says Davis, who adds that Chinese in the past never complained when blacks controlled the tenants organization. "Nobody complained when there were all blacks running it," she says.

Finding a Multicultural Approach

One Chinatown leader, who wished to remain anonymous, suggested that Kwan may be insensitive to the multicultural character of American life. In the past, Chinese could isolate themselves in Chinatown and develop their own rules of behavior. But times have changed and adjustments must be made, he suggested.

Another Chinese resident of Castle Square said that ethnocentric attitudes held by some Chinese may be contributing to the problem and that Chinese are sometimes insensitive to the concerns of other groups.

At the same time, some African Americans and Hispanics appear to stereotype Chinese, seeing them as different from themselves.

Snow suggested that the existence of such stereotypes and misunderstandings on all sides is the reason why racial groups at Castle Square shouldn't be segregated. "You've got to work on those sensitive issues, she says. "Don't ignore it and run from it. Open up to it."