SUMMER CAMP FOR WHITE KIDS, STANISLAUS, CALIFORNIA

From the Foothills Horizon Summer Camp Catalog:

PURPOSE
The purpose of Foothill Horizons Summer Camp is to provide children, grades 2 through 8, with fantastic camp experiences which allow them to explore their imaginations, gain independence, experience new friendships and have lots of fun just being a kid.

Imagination...

...is a powerful force in our program. Like Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, our camp staff is able to stimulate the Imaginations of our campers through amazing and enchanting adventures. Only at our camp can a child be transported into the pages of a book like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, recreate the fantastic attractions of Disneyland, or be catapulted into the midst of a close encounter with aliens from another world. Our themed sessions provide enriching, magical, unforgettable experiences which challenge and delight a child's imagination.
 

Fig. 1 - Whip Cream Fight

SUMMER CAMP FOR HISPANIC AND BLACK KIDS  FROM SOUTH CENTRAL L.A.

Personal testimony of campers at Angel Gate Academy:

"Yes Sergeant! From the time I got off the bus to Angel Gate Academy, I became kind of nervous. When I first saw First Sergeant Kenny at the orientation, he seemed to be very nice. But the first time we met at Angel Gate, he was seriously screaming. The second day I was ready. When we marched to breakfast, I made sure I kept up and stayed in step. So far I've done more than 150 pushups......" - Forest Batson Angel Gate Acadamy

"My first day at Angel gate Academy was scary. It was so scary because the staff members started to yell and scream as soon as everyone stepped off the bus. Then you start to exercise. They first made us run in place. Then we gathered our suitcases or bags and then we had to continue to run in place. They also told us not to smile. They said that if we were smiling then we must have gas because babies smile when they have gas. " - By Isabel Ambriz

Fig. 2 - A hot southern California afternoon at camp.

THE NEWS: JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS FORCED TO GO TO NATIONAL
GUARD BOOT CAMP BECAUSE THEY ARE LATINO

LOS ANGELES, California, USA, October 20, 1998 (U.S. Congressional
Press Release) - Hundreds of 11 to 13 year old students living in working class
neighborhoods of Los Angeles are being targeted for a program which
requires students to attend a military-style boot camp at Camp San Luis
Obispo called Angel Gate Academy when they would ordinarily be on
vacation. Under the program, anyone with brown skin has been classified
as an "at risk youth" and their parents, many who are immigrants from
countries with military and police terrorism against civilians, are being
told that attendance is "mandatory" even though the program was
officially described as "voluntary" by its sponsor, U.S. Congressman
Julian Dixon (Democrat-South L.A.). To blunt criticism, the program is
being sold as remedial math and science classes. None of the
participants was sentenced to the boot camp by a judge and none have
broken any law as with a boot camp in Arizona where negligence recently
killed some of the young prisoners who were California residents.
However, they are being compelled to participate in military-style
regimentation, drill and behavioral conditioning exercises which are
designed to discourage individuality and encourage them to enlist in the
military when they get older. During this four-week "emersion" program,
students are watched and told what to do 24-hours per day in a manner
resembling military recruits or prisoners, even though they are highly
impressionable and emotionally immature pre-teenagers, most of whom
have never been away from their families before. The presumption of the
program is that Latino pre-teenagers will become "juvenile delinquents"
if they don't receive military-style indoctrination.

The boot camp is funded by $4.2 Million from the Defense Department
budget and is administered by California National Guard troops who are
neither qualified teachers nor given any background screening to protect
the children from the possibility of abuse or neglect.
 

Criminalizing Youth

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