S-R writer wins award for stories on race

Spokesman-Review reporter Kevin Graman was honored Friday by the League of Latin American Citizens for his reporting on racial issues within the school district in Brewster, Wash.

Graman is the first non-Latino journalist to receive the national organization’s Esparanza Award, and the first Northwest resident.

“Esparanza means hope, and his stories, by bringing voice to people who didn’t have a voice, offered hope,” said Maria Rodriguez-Salazar, LULAC’s national vice president for the Northwest region.

LULAC is the nation’s second-oldest civil rights group, and the oldest representing Latinos.

The organization’s nine Washington chapters today will hold their first state meeting in Brewster, where several Latino parents have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school district over alleged violations of their children’s civil rights. Among the attendees is Brent Wilkes, the group’s national executive director, who joined Rodriguez-Salazar in presenting the award during a newsroom ceremony.

Graman joined the newspaper in 1987 and was news editor for nine years. He chose to become a reporter in 2003.

Starting in February 2004, Graman reported on an incident in which 27 junior and senior high students, all Latino, were called into a special meeting by Brewster’s principal following a fight between two Latino students.

At the meeting, attended by Brewster police officers, the students were forced to sign a disciplinary “contract” that stated any violation of school rules would result in suspension or expulsion. No Anglo students were required to sign such a document.

In July 2004, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights entered into an agreement with the district to resolve allegations of civil rights violations made by three parents. After monitoring the school for more than a year, OCR dropped its case against the district last September.

In the civil rights suit, which is separate from the OCR action, a federal magistrate will conduct a settlement hearing next month between attorneys representing the parents, the school district, the school superintendent and the principal involved in the 2003 incident.

Spokesman-Review Editor Steven A. Smith said Graman’s work represents the journalistic value of shedding light on injustice.

“He took up a topic and a problem that had been ignored by a lot of folks,” Smith said.