December 13, 1994
Other than a handful of Mission High School students on a field trip to SF State, very few students attended the first in a series of Proposition 187 "teach-ins" last Thursday in the new Humanities Building Auditorium.
The series, planned to occur weekly during the upcoming spring semester, will provide up-to-date information about the status of and activity surrounding Proposition 187 and a forum to discuss resulting issues, said moderator Jim Syfers, co-director of global peace studies at SF State.
The first to speak was Ann Fagan Ginger, co-director of global peace studies, a member of the National Lawyers Guild and several other legal associations.
"It is disgusting," she said of Proposition 187. "I say that as a parent, a lawyer, a human being and someone interested in health care and education. It violates the concept of education in the United States and California."
According to Ginger, Proposition 187 violates three international laws: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment -- the latter two will enter into force for the United States on Jan. 21, 1995.
"So you are not only good people for being here today," she said, "but you are actually carrying out your legal responsibilities as citizens."
People in general, "don't like to leave home," he said, crediting poor economies and such U.S. foreign policy as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for the influx of Latino immigrants.
"(Propositi) 187 and a military border will not stop these desperate people. (Proposition) 187 will not keep illegal immigrants out," he said. "When it fails, the people will think, 'we simply need more.'
"These repressive apparatus are expensive. It's paid for by the tax payers who in turn lose dollars that could go to other state facilities such as the universities."
Ana Laya, a civil rights attorney representing the California Latino Civil Rights Network, spoke of activism within the Latino community to combat Proposition 187.
The network formed last February to assail immigrant bashing, she said, but has increased its efforts since the passing of Proposition 187, with weekly regional committee meetings all over the state.
"We're doing a lot of organizing of people who don't necessarily network together, but should," Laya said. The network plans to organize a community in a long-term way, she said, by helping and encouraging those eligible to attain citizenship and to vote.
Laya also urged listeners to boycott R.J. Reynolds and Nabisco products, which produce Camel cigarettes and Ortega canned goods aimed at the Latino community and also donate large sums of money to the Republican Party, a strong advocate of Proposition 187.
La Raza Professor Carlos Cordova informed the audience about the political and economical situation of Salvadoran immigrants.
"If all of the Salvadorans went back, the economy there would collapse," he said. "We feel that the U.S. is responsible for the reason why Salvadorans are here in the first place."
"We won't really be together on the campus until next semester," Social Work Professor Tim Sampson said. Many faculty plan to ask SF State President Robert A. Corrigan to resist Proposition 187 and announce what he personally might be willing to do and assure the safety of those faculty or staff that do take action, he said.
Sampson asked participants to announce in their classes that the next conference is scheduled for all-day on Jan. 20, 1995 in Humanities room 133.
"It was very encouraging," anthropology junior Melissa Cardenas, a recent immigrant from the Philippines, said of the teach-in. "The mainstream media doesn't give much hope about combating 187."