STRIVING FOR SUCCESS TOGETHER LATINO AND BLACK STUDENTS GET DOSE OF MUTUAL RESPECT.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM

Staff Writer

RESEDA -- The lies almost killed him.

The lies about how to be a man by drinking vodka straight up. By doing dope and failing classes. And by hating anyone who was different.

The lies almost killed Richard Santana, a former street tough from Fresno who believed in the urban myths passed on to him by his friends.

But one teacher stepped up to tell him that he was important and could change.

It was that truth that helped Santana turn his life around, he told more than 1,000 Cleveland High School students Tuesday during an assembly titled "Black Brown Love."

That teacher's truth changed him, he said -- made him respect himself as well as others.

"This homeboy who was brought up to hate, caught up in drugs, with violence, this homeboy graduated with a master's degree from Harvard University," Santana said. "I wasn't supposed to be a Harvard graduate. I was supposed to be dead."

Santana's visit was sponsored by The Village Nation, a group of African-American students created about four years ago by three faculty members at Cleveland High School. The group's mission is to encourage African-American students on campus to achieve academic and social success.

Standardized test scores among students in the group have steadily increased over the past three years, organizers said.

The high school's population is predominantly Latino, while about 350 of the students are African-Americans. The two communities share many similarities, said Andre Chevalier, one of The Village Nation's founders.

"We suffer from the same problems, the same issues," he said. "We need to get together and uplift each other."

Reaching out to Latinos, the African-American group invited Santana to speak as a symbol of solidarity, said Fluke Fluker, another founder of The Village Nation.

"Our group is about helping to unite us and pay recognition and respect," Fluker said.

At a time when racial tensions among African-American and Latino gangs have grown, the program couldn't have been more timely, said Bob Marks, principal of Cleveland High School.

"In an era when you pick up the newspaper and you read about the violence, this program is a great outreach effort because it's about one group sponsoring an assembly for another group," Marks said.

Santana, who has a Harvard degree in adolescent psychology, runs a company called Homeboy Goes to Harvard.

He said he intends to encourage Latinos to respect their culture now and in the future.

For some students Tuesday, Santana's story about his youth had a familiar ring.

"I think he made an impact because people all around are always saying, 'You can't do this,' 'You can't go here or there because you're the wrong color, or you're poor,'" said Evelin Juarez, 16.

Santana, shaking hands with 17-year-old Carina Pena after the assembly, listened to her remark. "It's too late for me and my grades; I'm going to be 18," she said.

"There's always adult school. You have some time yet," he told her.

"He's inspiring Latinos to progress," said Mara Saldinas, 14. "He's saying if he can make it, then we can make it, too.

"He's saying that there can be change."

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Motivational speaker Richard Santana tells Cleveland High School students at a Tuesday assembly that he is living proof a one-time street tough can earn a master's degree from Harvard University.

(2) Cleveland High students Khadeejah Bashir, left, and Mariana Contreras listen intently to a motivational speech Tuesday.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer