La Voz de Aztlan, October 20 1969
Item
Title
La Voz de Aztlan, October 20 1969
Creator
Associated Students of Fresno State
Relation
La Voz de Aztlan (Daily Collegian, California State University, Fresno)
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
10/20/1969
Format
PDF
Identifier
SCUA_lvda_00003
extracted text
LXXV /26
By Ricardo Duran
Dr. Frederic Ness, president
of Fresno State College, quit
October 7th. Why did he quit?
He had already resigned, but his
resignation doesn't become effective for two more months.
President Ness felt he was not
able to continue even for that
length of time. It is obvious that
P resident Ness was under too
much pressure. Pressure from
the students who demanded the
rights of Marvin X, pressure
from the faculty, pressure from
the Chancellor's office, and who
knows how much pressure from
President Ness' own conscience.
So, unable to face the students
anymore, or even look his faculty
i n the eye, Dr. Frederic Ness
walked off his job.
In order to fully understand
some of the motivation for Dr.
Ness' action, and to determine
what the net effect of his action
will be, let us review some of
the events that have taken place
at Fresno State the past few
days. For it's in these events,
in his remarks, the reasons he
gave , and the outright lies that
he told that we can find the reasons for the building up of the
pressures that led to his quitting.
On Thursday, October 2nd, Dr.
Frederic Ness, President of
Fresno State College called a
conference for the press, radio
and television media. At this
time he issued a prepared statement to the effect that he had
fired one of the professors who
is currently teaching three
courses on the Fresno StateCollege campus for the Black Studies
program. Dr. Ness then went on
to list the reasons for his decision.
The students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department here
at Fresno State, after numerous
meetings with Dr. Ness have
found his rhetoric insincere, his
statements often outright lies,
and his general qualifications for
hiring and firing people of minority groups to be totally inadequate.
we know, as will be shown
here, that not only has he lied
to our faces but has released
misleading information to the
mass media.
To begin with, let us examine
in detail Dr. Frederic Ness'
"reasonsn as he gave them tothe
mass media:
1. •. • . the candidate under
consideration did not meet the
usually expected qualifications."
2. •misrepresentations in the
candidate's employment application, dated August 11, 1969. n
3. "Further investigation disclosed that he is under indictment on felony charges in the
u.s. District court, San Francisco."
4. •, . • his renunciation of
U.s. citizenship .•. "
5, •The record of his teaching
experience was unclear •.. "
6. •. • . that his academic
qualificatior.<. for membership in
the Fresno State College faculty
were minimal,"
All of these •reasons" were
submitted to the official legal
counsel for all State Colleges,
the Chancellor's Office and the
decision by this legal ~uthorlty
(President Ness' own legal counsel also) is that none ofthe above
six reasons constitute any legal
basis whatsoever for firing or
not hiring Marvin X or anyone
else.
To begin with, five of the six
charges are vague and unclear.
Only NoA 4 is a specific charge,
and this charge , as with Nos. 2
and 3 are basically the same issue, which is: Marvin X's refusal
of induction into the Viet Nam
draft on religious principles.
The other charges, Nos. 1, 5
and 6, are so vague as to render
them almost inadequate for discussion. In fact, Nos. 1 and 6 are
actually the same charge but
camouflaged in different words.
First the charge that Marvin X
"did not meet the usually expected qualifications n.
We students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department were
not looking for instructors with
"the usually expected qualifica. tions ". Those instructors are the
main reason for educationalfailure generally and the basic reason for the educational alienation
of minority groups from the educational experience . It has been
these instructors with the •usually expected qualifications" which
have brought the minorities to
the present level of educational
attainment - a miserable nothing! It is these same instructors
that have made the general curriculum for all students so meaningless today, let alone have any
relevancy to the culturally different, economically deprived,
and totally oppressed minorities.
We do not want the same old
garbage that passes for •educators." We want what's relevant
today for us.
No. 2-The charge that Marvin
X is guilty of • misrepre ·entations" in his application is an
outright lie by President Ness.
The vague charge without specifics alludes to the s.c.1 form
which asks prospective employees if they have ever been
"convicted" of any charges other
than traffic citations. M uvin answered •No"--it is true he
is presently under Federal Indictment (#3) for his refusal
to be dratted, but he has not been
convicted.
Charge #3 is the only concrete
charge, #3 is related to #2 and
$4. Marvin X is under indictment for his stand on VietNam.
Muslims do not believe in the
war in Viet Nam and their religious convictions, like those of
the Mormons and Quakers (both
white groups) currently employed
on the Fresno State Faculty,
will not allow him to aid any
agressive war without losing his
moral integrity and breakinghis
religious conviction. This charge
is an encroachment on a man's
right to religious belief and no
bas ls for hiring or f1 ring because
it involves a man's religious
conviction. Marvin X, to emphasize his religious convict-
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1969
ions, and to dramatize his attitude
towards this country's
policles in Viet Nam has publicly
renounced his citizenship. This
is
charge #4.
That's his
right!
Charge #5, that Marvin's
•teaching record is unclear•
is about as unclear as the charge
itself. Supposedly in reference to
past employment it has yet to
be made public what Dr. Ness
is implying.
The last and f i n al charge,
"that his academic qualifications for membership in the
F'resno State
College were
11inimal" is o! course the same
!harge as #1 in different words.
3ut while the words are differmt the charge is just as meaningless.
Let us look at Marvin X's qualifications. What are they? Mar vin X has been a teacher, a
poet . a playwright, editor, ac tor , director and numerous other
things. His books of poetry
and proverbs and his dramas are
his main contribution to the literature of the Black movem e ntin
this country. He has studied under Le Roi Jones, the foremost Black poet today (Mr.
Jones wrote a superlative reference for Marvin X in endorsing his hiring here at Fresno
State). He has written and directed plays in co-operation with
Le Roi Jones. Marvin X has
edited Black Poetry Anthologies.
He has been guest editor for
"Black Theatre", nationally recognized as •the" organ for drama
in the Black Community. He has
even written valid critiques on1
Le Roi Jones' works. He has
taught at innumerable theater
work shops, admittedly outside
the traditional educational structure, but this experience seems
to be completely overlooked or
disregarded as immaterial by
Dr. Ness.
I could go on about Marvin X's
qualifications, but it is obvious
that it is not Marvin X's qualifications which are in question,
his qualifications are sound. It
was
really President Ness's
qualifications which should have
been questioned. Why did Dr.
Ness think that he could judge
what is good for minorities? What
makes Dr. Ness such an authority on what we minorities should
or should not have? Nothing! Nothing but the same old white
man's paternalistic philosophy
that he and only he knows what's
good for us.
It is this assumption, welfare
colonialism in an educational bag,
which has brought us minorities
to the oppressed position we are
in today. We must determine
what we know is relevant for
us. We must be able to have
self-determination and departmental autonomy in hiring and
firing as all departments should,
whether they are the English,
Spanish, or any other department.
We can no longer let inconsiderate white puppet administrators lie to our faces and
run things for us.
President Ness states at the
end of paragraph one of Page 2
in his statement that he went
along with the recommendation
by Dean Burtner, the Dean of
Arts and Sciences, Later President Ness reversed himself and
at this date has changed his
endorsement of Marvin X's recommendation.
Why? Why did
President Ness first endorse
Marvin X's recommendation then
change his mind? Pressure? Reactionary pressure from people
who have threatened him in regard t9 his future job in Washington? President Frederic Ness
has stated in paragraph two
that Dean Burtner •at his own
initiative, withdrew his recommendation in writing•. This ls a
llet Dean Burtner has never
shaken in his strong recommendation that Marvin X should
be hired.
In fact he publicly
re-stated his endorsement for
hiring at the Friday Oct. 3rd
Press Conference for TV-Radio
and press; he also stated that
he had Jn fact never. Withdrawn
the recommendation. Why does
Dr. Ness lie?
Why the lies? Are the pressures from outside so great that
they threaten President Ness 's
future employment? Has this been
the reason for President Ness'
puppet like performance? And
perhaps the reason behind
his evasive answers to simple
questions and his vague trumped
up charges?
It is obvious that President
Ness was a victim-a victim of
outside forces from Los Angeles, through the person of Chancellor Dumke and from Sacramento - the Reagan administration .
rr Chancellor Dumke is to rule
judicially ln this instance, he
should consult his own legal
department who have ruled that
there is no legal basis for not
hiring Marvin X.
These outside agitators are
missusing the power entrusted
to them by the public, to destroy
the only fresh approach to
minority higher
education in
Fresno. Can education be that
dangerous? For there is a good
possibility that 1f this program
at Fresno State is successful
it could serve as a model for
the rest of the state college
system. This is something
the Reagan administration would
sorely hate to see.
It is evident that Dr. Ness was
being pressured by the Chancellor's office. He was pressured
to the extent that he reversed
his stand from that of re com mending Marvin X to that of having to fight for his dismissal.
But Dr. Ness lacked the fortitude to stick to his own original
conviction and then even to face
the music for his reversal.
So Dr. Ness has left us - even
left town!
Another instance of lying or
withholding information has been
the President's meetings with
concerned faculty and students.
As an example, Pres. Ness held
a meeting on Oct. 2nd--the date
of his scheduled press conference, with students and faculty at which time the concern
was whether he was indeed going to flre Marvin X. Although
his scheduled press conference
was less than an hour away he
refused to tell the students and
faculty of his decision and went
so far as to tell them •I don't
know" when they asked him where
he would hold hls conference.
The students, not able to believe
that the President of Fresno State
College did not know where he
had scheduled his own mass
media conference , asked him
again. Again Dr. Ness replied
"I don't know!• Faculty member Davis then asked why he did
not know and the President replied that when the arrangements
were made he was out of the office. Prof. Davis then asked him
if he could then find out for us.
The President then replied that
he could but would not. When asked
why he shouted to us, •Because
it's none of your business".
This and other instances of
insincerity have made the faculty and students of the Ethnic
Studies Department adamant in
our stand for departmental autonomy and self determination
For the record, Dr. Ness originally scheduled his conference for the Little Arena Theater on campus, then in an effort
to exclude all Ethnic Studies
personnel from attending, secretly changed it to Room #187 at the
Ramada Inn. But we were able
to find out this information and
the President again changed the
locale, making sure that none of
the concerned parties would be
able to attend.
Why? Why is the Ethnic Studies Program being harassed.
(Why did Campus Police cause
undue harassment to a Chicano
history Class on September 23rd)
and why are we not allowed to
determine our own needs? The
charges by the President are
obviousy misleading and unjustifiable. The only decision
we as minorities can come to is
the same old reason, Racism.
Marvin X's Blackness is the
issue.
"It is not a
question of
militancy,
.
but of
. ,,
survival.
Unfading Arrogance i Ya Basta Con Los .. •
In The New World Educational Inadequacies!
By Pedro Gonzalez, Jr.
In 1492 small groups of scientitlcally inclined persons felt
satisfied they had been in every
corner of the world. Columbus
didn't want to ftnd a new world.
He just wanted to ft.nd a new route
te India an~ load up his vessel
with silks and spices.
Suddenly, in front of him, was
a new stretch of land. He thought
he was close to his goal, the Indies, so he called these people
"Indians".
Then tales of a New World
brought amazement to the Old
World of golden men and silver
cities.
The Spanish recovered •devolada" from their amazement.
Even though the New World had
unfamiliar things, one familiar
thing it did have was •oro".
The rest was unimportant. The
people already occupying the New
World were looked upon as temporary owners, and claim jumpers, to be disregarded as possible
possessors of land. Then there
was a great deal of discussion
about the natives "alma•. Many
of the so-called theologically inclined persons surmized that the
by Cynthia Ramirez
The educational system in CalIndians had no souls and therefore, were not "humano•. Can a ifornia leaves much to be desired. The purpose of public
beast possess land and wealth?
schools ts to educate the entire
"No!" shouted the gold seekers.
Then European arrogance reach- public and not a select few who
happen to be Anglo-Saxon or any
ed its height by claiming posrace tor that matter.
session of land already occuMinority students do not wish
pied by sedentary and civilized
to be given so-called •favors•
people.
for no reason at all. They
What right in the world did
desire, like the Anglos, to be
these people have to cast judgegiven an equal opportunity to proment over the most civilized
gress at the same rate as other
people of the world. To say they
students in their age or academic
were beasts and couldn't pobracket. These students canssess land.
not be ignored or refused the
They couldn't even answer
privilege of an excellent educatheir own questions of how they
received the i r knowledge and d tion, when in fact, it is rightfully theirs. In spite of this,
arts. The reason for th 1,200
the entire educational system
dialects they spoke? Such quescaters to the upper middle class
tions were never answered obAnglos and almost refuses to
viously, no one could be as' culrecognize the needs or minority
tured as the egotistical people
groups.
of the Old World. •These stupid
Many anglos who profess to be
natives, who were conquered,
adhering to or helping minority
could not possibly have evolved
students feel that minority groups
to such high culture by themare receiving equal educationselves." Some neighbor had to
al opportunities; when in fact,
be responsible for these splendid
minority students are being
courts, temples and other marvelous works or art. Such was .placed into a system foreign to
their way of life. Young mithe basis or the haughty European
nority students are handicapped
reasoning (disease) which still
almost as soon as they enter
manitests itself today.
school. For example, many Mex•VIVA LA RAZA"
ican-American children speak
little or no English upon entering school, yet they are still
placed into competition with their
Anglo pee rs who have, on the most
part, spoken English all their
lives. These Mexican-Americans
have as strong· desires and capacities to achieve and become responsible cltizens as any other
students. It ' ts almost impossible
for these children to achieve
in an allen atmosphere in which
instructors have no desire to take
time out to help them ln any way.
Minority children who fall into glos who ao uv~ wish to take the
this category are often forced time, on the most part, to unto repeat a grade again for lack derstand the true functions of
of understanding. When a student these special programs.
is kept back, the fear of failure
The social atmosphere of tooften inhibits his capacity to day's
educational institutions
succeed and thus he regresses could also be improved. Inmore and more and finally has forming Anglo students of Mexno desire whatsoever to be in an lean-American or Afro-Amerieducational institution of any kind. can cultures would improve stuHe then becomes one of the sta- dent relationships much more.
tisttcian's so-called •drop-outs" There is almost no need to edufrom school and also from so- cate the minority races on Anciety.
glo culture slnce they have had
Failure
breeds rebellion, to cope with it all their lives.
therefore riots and violence are Along with the knowledge and
often the outcome. Failure also reco~nitlon of minority culture
breeds continual failure which would come an understanding
increases in importance and sig- and acceptance of these groups
nificance as time goes on. This by all. Ignorance or misunderfailure caused by lack of edu- standing concerning minority
cation often promotes early mar- values etc. often leads to a misriage the end result being more conceived idea of an entire race
unsatisfactorily educated child- in general and does not allow
ren with whom society must con- for individuality. An understandtend sooner or later. It would ing between Anglos and minority
be so much easier to supply suf- groups would promote a lastficient
instructional aids to ing friendship among all stuthese children than to have to dents, which in turn would erecope with them in penal insti- ate an atmosphere congenial to
tutions or welfare agencies where better education. If a student
twice as much money is being does not enjoy attending an inspent.
stitution of education it will
Money, which seems to be the be that much harder for him to
point in question, should be allo- concentrate on the work at hand.
cated to improve educational opIf the control of the educaportunlties in early primary
tional systemsinCalifornladonot
institutions and not solely for become aware of our school's
those students who happen to
plight, educating our youth will
pull through high school despite
not be as effective as it could
their handicaps. Take, for inbe. One can be sure, however,
stance, the E. O. P. program at
that a change is bound to come
Fresno State. This ls an exin time. The youth of today is
ceptional program for lowbecoming more and more aware
income students considering the
of the inequality of most insti!act that it would be unfeasible
tutions in America nd will
for many of these students to
strive to make this world a better
attend an institute of higher learnplace for all concerned. The Aning 1! it wasn't for the money alglo cannot survive without the
located, and yet even though this
"Brown" or "Black" and vicets a beginning, it has been under
versa. If we do not find a betgreat dispute, again by the Anter way of educating our youth,
what wlll be the fate of tomorrows
children?
How Much longer In Vietnam t
By Charley Rueda
Chicanas Unite To
Form Las Adelitas
"Adelitas" is the nameofanew
organization on campus. It ts
composed of Fresno State. College women, of which the ~jority are Chicanas.
•Adema" ls the name of -the
revolutionary song sung by the
revolutionaries during the Mexican Revolution. The name • AdeUta • slgnitles the fighting woman
of the revolution, the "soldadera •, who was a great help to
the revolutionary c au s e • She,
"Adellta", was a nurse soldier
and cook.
'
'
The organization has threepurp0ses, 1) to project, promote
and develop the role of the woman 1n the field of education·
2) to work in conjunction wtth-o~
people in determining our destiny; and 3) to ofter our services
to community and campus organizations.
Our first project 1s a Hallow-
een Party for underprivileged
children.
On October 25, members of
• A~ell.ta-s.!._are going to attend a
.conference in Los Angeles.
·n is° 'tieing . sponsored by the
Councll·-otM ext can-American
Women. 'I'he conference ls designed to increase our knowledge
of Mexlcan-Arriertcan people and
out culture, the program will be
in thrEHit parts: Education, Economics and Politics.
The officers of • Adelitas" are
Linda Padilla, President; Sus~
Medina, Vlce.-President; Frances
Pere~ Secretary, Victoria Chacon, Treasurer; -nor a Zuniga,
. Historian; and Jb)se Gonzalez,
PubUclty·Chsl-rman.
Anyone interested in g¢ng may
contact any of the- officers at
Baker Hall 119. Dues are- 50
cents a semester.
Victoria Chacon
It comes with a conscious sense
ot shock that I realize another
year in Viet Nam is coming to a
close. How many years has it
been now? Four? Five? It's been
an eternity for thousands of men,
young men, like you.
Young men who left home for
war with the conviction that
we were in the right. At least,
that's what the U.S. Senate and
the President told them. Do you
remember which President that
was?
It seems that our great and
powerful Navy had been attacked
by the enemy, or so it was
thought. Later, much later, the
possibility of a mistake became
public knowledge, but by then the
bombs were falling and we had
become a Nation committed.
The world cries out for salvation and America bleeds.
War is very destructive. It's
frightening, it's funny, it's sad,
dirty; wet., hot, and uncomfortable. It isn't very patriotic.
The girls are missing, no
oFass bands, no _
nag waving,
just you and the war.
There isn't a more exposed
feeling than crossing a rice paddy
on a -clear, quiet morning. The
mud grabbing at your boots, sweat
running down your bodf, and the
oppressive heat. It's very easy
to die in a war.
Have you lost a brother? A
husband? A friend? How many
future doctors, lawyers, teachers, and students has the nation
lost? Does anyone really care, or
is a committment more important? There aren't enough John
Waynes to win the war.
Today, there isn't a politician in the United States that
can possibly justify the wa:r any
longer. When that's admitted,
maybe we can really be ..big",
swallow our pride and m1stakes
and come home.
Winston Churchill's famous
V-symbol, of years past, stands
not for victory, but for Peace.
Truth and
Not Fallacy
By Manuel Pickett
All through the twelve years
of
early education I as a
Chicano have been taught that
my forefathers were nothing
but a band of bandits robbing
and raping women throughout
the country. That our women
were shameful women, we.men
with no values or moral aspects.
It has stereotyped the Chicano as
being interior and has left us with
an inferior pain, which has a
continuous effect, the inferiority
complex.
All these fallacies are a lot
of Bullshit. But yet we are conditioned to believe them! A few
years ago a program was started which had to do with a true
identity of the Chicano. In this
program, headed under ethnic
studies, the true concept of the
Chicano is r eve a 1 e d • •Truth-and not Fallacy" was the basis
of this program. Here we
learned that our forefathers
were not bandits, but every day
people. Some were fighting
against an unjust government.
Our women were not •cheap•
but religious and brave. From
childhood they were taught to follow the men wherever they went,
even to battle, and not leading
· the men like in this Anglo society.
With these programs the Chicano found a little spark of light
within the structure, something
we could relate to without the
. fear of being cheated.
Chicana
By Jesus de la Mancha
Mujer, con sangre
De todo el mundo.
Mas guapa no hay,
Chula, bonita, maravilla del Sol.
No man anywhere can
Deny the lure of the universal
Woman.
Sensual, tender, compassionate,
Violently humble.
Tu sonrisa, tus pensamientos,
Y palabras por labios
de tentacion
Nos dicen de la
Intel legencia que quieres
esconder.
A face that has enslaved men
Since I ave made the first rose
blush
Continues to mystify and
captivate,
Through natural brown radiance.
Machos, hijos de Mal inche,
Tienen nomas una debi I idad,
La angel quc viene del ol,
i hicana!
I have no money
I travel the countryside
And you reply Communist
as you nail me to the cross •.•
Jose Rendon
The Daily Collegian
Publhhed five days
a week except holi•·
days and examln•·
tion periods by the
Fresno State Colle&e
Anoclation. Mail subscriptions S8 a
■ eme ■ter, $JS a year. Editorial of•
flce, Bualneas 235, telephone 487•
2170. Business office, Coll•&• Union
316, telephone 487-2266.
MAJORITY
Leaves arc dying in the darkness
Trees are rotting
And the fat man laughs
The I iving are dead
corpses ar walking
His world is a vacuum
And New York is lonely
Hearts are bursting
Spewing blood which is thirsty
It smears itself on:
Cars, color T.V .'sand clothes
Machines are walking
Thinking, eating, dying
His birth is an abortion
His life a miscarriage
He loves only his urine
His salvation is assured
He paid ten dollars
He is like a bird without wings
A pie without filling
In essence he has no soul
And yet!
He vomits I iberty, equality
and justice for al I
God let him die
that he may I ive
Jorge Leos
I am the revolutionary
my skin is brown
my beard and the hair
that hangs over my shoulders
are black
and preach things that
are not seen here
I speak of love -for
mankind and brotherhood
I say that I ife is precious
and not to be destroyed
I tel I you to feed
those that hunger
and' to c I othe the
naked
I L ENT
MOUNTAI-N
I journey up the graceful slope
my attitude
one of a conqueror
to the very top
of her majestic crown
Fighting
for every foothold
till I'm short of breath
and sweaty
For her majesty is not easily
conquered
1-tttttttttft
But I am ruthless
in the war I wage
and you snap
under my boot
as I destroy the s i I ence
of your sanctuary
Your subjects defending you
take my foot
and I stumble
palcing your rich brown soul
against my face
I feel the warmth and beauty
of your untamed self
as I ponder over your freedom
Now I am envious of you
and I hate you
for owning what can never be
mine
So I enslave you
with concrete
and pretend
that your spirit is broken
Jose Rendon
y
._
Latin Slurs Bring; Call For
Judge's Removal,
As printed in the LOS ANGELES
TIMES, October 2, 1969
By Ruben Salazar
Los Angeles Times staff Writer
SAN JOSE-Demands mounted
here Wednesday (October 1) for
the resignation of a Superior
Court judge who made anti-Mexican remarks from the bench and
said •Maybe Hitler was right
about destroying the animals in
our society."
A court transcript shows that
Judge Gerald S. Chargin in sentencing a 17-year-old MexicanAmerican boy for incest said:
• ••• Mexican people after 13
years of age, think it is perfectly
all right to go out and act like
an animal . • . we ought to send
you out of the country - send you
back to Mexico. You belong in
prison for the rest of your life
for doing things of this kind. You
ought to commit suicide ••. "
The judge then went on to say
that •Maybe Hitler was right. The
animals in our society probably
ought to be destroyed because
they have no right to live among
human beings •.• "
Wednesday about 200 members
of Mexican-American organizations and civil right groups picketed the Superior Court building
in downtown San Jose. This city
of 450,000 people has the largest
Spanish surname population in
urban Northern California.
A meeting between community
representatives an d presiding
judge Joseph Kelly was unproductive, according to Paul Sanchez, chairman of the graduate
school of Social Work at San
Jose State College.
•Judge Kelly informed about
30 leaders oftheMexican-American communlty that he could do
nothing," Sanchez said.
•He rtghtlully informed us that
he has no jurisdiction in getting
Judge Chargin off the bench.
However, what shocked us is that
Judge Kelly was not sufficiently
morally shocked by Judge Chargin's behavior to support us even
philosophically. "
Sanchez said that the community is in a very volatile mood and
that •anything could happen."
Chargin, 65, member of an old
San Jose family of ranchers told
newsmen that • juvenile c ~ u rt
proceedings are private !or the
protection of the minor and the
family involved.
•only those persons directly
concerned are a 11 ow e d to be
present. For this reason it is
difficult to comment as fully and
freely as otherwise might be the
case."
people, animals and Hitler, the
Excerpts from the transcript
boy's attorney, Fred Lucero, Inwhich showed what Chargin said
terrupted.
were distributed by the California
•Your honor, I don't think I
Rural Legal Assistance and the
can sit here and listen to that
Community Service Organizasort of thing."
tion, a Mexican-Americangroup.
The judge answered, •You're
The names of the juveniles ingoing to have to listen to it bevolved were not disclosed in the
cause I consider this a very vulexcerpts dlstributed.
gar rotten human being."
The Mexican-American boy
Later, Lucero said, •what apwas charged with incest with his
palls me is that the court is say15-year-old sister, who is menIng that Hitler was right in genotally retarded. The boy claims
cide."
he is innocent and that he pleaded
To that the judge answered:
guilty only because attorneys ad"What are we going to do with
vised him to do so so that the
mad dogs in our society? Either
case would not go to trial.
we have to kill them or send
The boy was arrested after the
them to an institution or place
County W elf are Department
them out of the hands of good
learned about the girl's pregpeople because that's the theory
nancy.
-one theory ofpunisnment is that
Chargin placed the boy on probation. ·
they get to the position that they
want to act like mad dogs, then
Speaking about the remarks
we have to separate them from
that he made in court, Chargin
society."
told newsmen that the distribution
In his statement to the press
of the excerpts was •not only a
Chargin said that the reason he
disservice to the youth and family
made those statements was that
involved but may involve a viola"it is an accepted fact that these
tion of the law."
lectures (in court) are stated in
The California Rural Legal
harsh terms to impress upon the
Assistance said no law has been
minds of the youth the seriousviolated because the names of
ness of the situation in which
the minors were notdivulged.
they !ind themselves.
The group confirmed that it
•sometimes, the words of the
has complained to the State Julecture are purposely accentudicial Qualifications Commisated and exagerated. However it
sion which has been asked to reis to the ultimate dispositio; of
move Chargin Crom the hench.
this case that one must look.
The judge told newsmen that
•1n this case the youth was re"I am compelled to set the recturned to his grandmother, as a
ord straight in this regard. The
ward of the court under supercase involved the admitted unvision of the Juvenile Probation
natural crime of incest between
Department, which followed the
a 17-year-old hoy and his 15recommendation of the Juvenile
year-old sister, who is now pregProbation Department.
nant. Without revealing more of
•surnce it to say, much harshthe facts, it was a situation which
er alternative d~spositions were
was so revolting it offended my
available to me."
sense of m oral i t y and conscien e."
The U.S. Comm1ssion on Civil
Rights said that it would investiChargin said that he is not
gate the matter.
prejudiced a g a i II st any thnic
group.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Mex•r am pleased to say that my ican-American community inSan
eutire adult life. both in the law Jose said they wer having trouble keeping militants from taking
and on th Superior Court bench
has been an effort and a strivin~ drasti steps.
for Justice for all.
Pinnon said the Mexic n•The most recent example of A merican community would be
thi is my nomination of the only satisfied only with the removal
Mexican-American indi v1dual of Chargin from the bench. He
presently serving on the County said that although it is true that
Grand Jury."
Judge Kelly cannot remove CharAl Pi nnon, head of the San Jose gin, he does have the authority
Community Service Organiza- to transfer him from the juvenile
tion, told newsmen that Chargin's court.
"But Judge Kelly is not willing
remarks were "racist bigoted
biased and defamator/ to all in~ to do even that," Pinnon said. "It
dividuals of Mexican ancestry and seems to us that Judge Kelly has
we cannot in good conscience, a moral responsibility here as
far as the Mexican-American
remain silent •. ! "
According to the court tran- community is concerned to at
script, right after Chargin made least side with us philosophihis remarks about the Mexican cally. We cannot have this sort
of man (Chargin) on the bench.•
1
:,~"',r"'-.. ' //st,.
a-.
The·Judge Who
Invoked Hitler
(This is a reprint from an Oct.
10 Fresno Bee Editorial, written
by C. K. Mc Clatchy, executive
editor)
CLOSEST SCRUTINY - The
Honorable Gerald S. Chargln, a
judge of the Superior Court in
San Jose, recently made the astonishing statement Adolf Hitler
possibly was on the right track
when he organized a program of
genocide.
Now there are a lot of kooks
and nuts running around loose
expressing some pretty wild
ideas. Most of them are harmless and should be ignored. After
all, tree speech should be available to everyone, even a blithering idiot, as long as he does
not shout "fire• in a crowded
theater.
But Judge Chargin is something different than the village
screwball preaching his nonsense
to his wife or a trapped neighbor.
The judge is a public
servant whose function is to
render
even-handed justice.
The judge expressed his outrageous belief while he was
sitting on the bench. It was
made on company time, so to
speak, and therefore deserves the
closest scrutiny of the public.
It occurred when Chargin was
presiding at a juvenile hearing
involving a 17-year-old boy accused of having incestuous relations with his Hi-year-old
retarded sister. The youth, an
American of Mexican descent,
maintained his innocence.
He
said he pleaded guilty only on
advice of counsel.•
DIATRIBE -- Judge Chargin
then launched into a diatribe
which was at once disgraceful
and irrational. He said the boy
should be sent •back to Mexico•
and then attacked all people of
Mexican descent.
•You are lower than animals
and haven't the right to live in
organized
society- -just miserable, rotten people." He added: •Maybe Hitler was right.
The animals
in our society
probably ought to be destroyed
because they have no right to
live among human beings."
Not content with associating
himself with the barbarous racial practices of Hitler, the judge
levelled a series of personally insulting comments.
He told this 17-year-old boy
he •ought to commit suicide."
Suicide is a crime against hu-
manity, yet Judge Chargin gives
this advice while speaking as a
judge.
In an entirely gratuitous remark about the sister of the boy,
the judge said she probably will
have a half a dozen children
and three or four marriages before she is 18. What right does
he have to so speculate and so
insult
this
unfortunate retarded child? Where is· compassion in such mouthings of a
Jurist?
SLUR - There is something
particularly degrading and unfair
about
attacks on individuals tied to racial slurs.
A man can disprove or deny the
unfair
charge he is a thief,
a wife-beater
or just plain
dumb, but it is almost impossible
for an individual to counter
the insinuations heaped upon
an entire race.
Even more to the point, racial
slurs are inaccurate. Generally
they are based on prejudiced
lack of understanding. Judge
Chargin in his comments has
cast aspersions on a whole category of people - in this case
those Americans who happen to
be of Mexican descent. The fact
his insinuations
are so outrageous they reveal their own
bigoted falseness does not change
the need for a review of Judge
Chargin's fitness to sit on the
bench in judgement of his fellow
men.
He dares to do this to a people
for whom California reserves
special affection. For the Mexican and Spanish heritage, in this
far West state, is predated
only by the Indian, and much of
that heritage is common, now, in
the California culture. Rotten
people? Look to the grand architecture brought to the California
landscape, to the gentle influence of the Mexican in the songs
recalled from
California's
founding years. to the spleHdid
record of citizenship found in
those communities wherever
the American of Mexican descent
gathes. Chargin's was an almost unbelievable insult.
Judge Chargin has made it
clear he lacks the compassion
and the understanding to sit in a
seat of judgment. If he wants to
be. a bigot, that is his business--so long as he does it on
his time. But when he uses his
position as a judge to spew nonsense of this dark nature it ls
time for him to leave the bench-·
gracefully in retirement or disgracefully through recall.
By Ricardo Duran
Dr. Frederic Ness, president
of Fresno State College, quit
October 7th. Why did he quit?
He had already resigned, but his
resignation doesn't become effective for two more months.
President Ness felt he was not
able to continue even for that
length of time. It is obvious that
P resident Ness was under too
much pressure. Pressure from
the students who demanded the
rights of Marvin X, pressure
from the faculty, pressure from
the Chancellor's office, and who
knows how much pressure from
President Ness' own conscience.
So, unable to face the students
anymore, or even look his faculty
i n the eye, Dr. Frederic Ness
walked off his job.
In order to fully understand
some of the motivation for Dr.
Ness' action, and to determine
what the net effect of his action
will be, let us review some of
the events that have taken place
at Fresno State the past few
days. For it's in these events,
in his remarks, the reasons he
gave , and the outright lies that
he told that we can find the reasons for the building up of the
pressures that led to his quitting.
On Thursday, October 2nd, Dr.
Frederic Ness, President of
Fresno State College called a
conference for the press, radio
and television media. At this
time he issued a prepared statement to the effect that he had
fired one of the professors who
is currently teaching three
courses on the Fresno StateCollege campus for the Black Studies
program. Dr. Ness then went on
to list the reasons for his decision.
The students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department here
at Fresno State, after numerous
meetings with Dr. Ness have
found his rhetoric insincere, his
statements often outright lies,
and his general qualifications for
hiring and firing people of minority groups to be totally inadequate.
we know, as will be shown
here, that not only has he lied
to our faces but has released
misleading information to the
mass media.
To begin with, let us examine
in detail Dr. Frederic Ness'
"reasonsn as he gave them tothe
mass media:
1. •. • . the candidate under
consideration did not meet the
usually expected qualifications."
2. •misrepresentations in the
candidate's employment application, dated August 11, 1969. n
3. "Further investigation disclosed that he is under indictment on felony charges in the
u.s. District court, San Francisco."
4. •, . • his renunciation of
U.s. citizenship .•. "
5, •The record of his teaching
experience was unclear •.. "
6. •. • . that his academic
qualificatior.<. for membership in
the Fresno State College faculty
were minimal,"
All of these •reasons" were
submitted to the official legal
counsel for all State Colleges,
the Chancellor's Office and the
decision by this legal ~uthorlty
(President Ness' own legal counsel also) is that none ofthe above
six reasons constitute any legal
basis whatsoever for firing or
not hiring Marvin X or anyone
else.
To begin with, five of the six
charges are vague and unclear.
Only NoA 4 is a specific charge,
and this charge , as with Nos. 2
and 3 are basically the same issue, which is: Marvin X's refusal
of induction into the Viet Nam
draft on religious principles.
The other charges, Nos. 1, 5
and 6, are so vague as to render
them almost inadequate for discussion. In fact, Nos. 1 and 6 are
actually the same charge but
camouflaged in different words.
First the charge that Marvin X
"did not meet the usually expected qualifications n.
We students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department were
not looking for instructors with
"the usually expected qualifica. tions ". Those instructors are the
main reason for educationalfailure generally and the basic reason for the educational alienation
of minority groups from the educational experience . It has been
these instructors with the •usually expected qualifications" which
have brought the minorities to
the present level of educational
attainment - a miserable nothing! It is these same instructors
that have made the general curriculum for all students so meaningless today, let alone have any
relevancy to the culturally different, economically deprived,
and totally oppressed minorities.
We do not want the same old
garbage that passes for •educators." We want what's relevant
today for us.
No. 2-The charge that Marvin
X is guilty of • misrepre ·entations" in his application is an
outright lie by President Ness.
The vague charge without specifics alludes to the s.c.1 form
which asks prospective employees if they have ever been
"convicted" of any charges other
than traffic citations. M uvin answered •No"--it is true he
is presently under Federal Indictment (#3) for his refusal
to be dratted, but he has not been
convicted.
Charge #3 is the only concrete
charge, #3 is related to #2 and
$4. Marvin X is under indictment for his stand on VietNam.
Muslims do not believe in the
war in Viet Nam and their religious convictions, like those of
the Mormons and Quakers (both
white groups) currently employed
on the Fresno State Faculty,
will not allow him to aid any
agressive war without losing his
moral integrity and breakinghis
religious conviction. This charge
is an encroachment on a man's
right to religious belief and no
bas ls for hiring or f1 ring because
it involves a man's religious
conviction. Marvin X, to emphasize his religious convict-
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1969
ions, and to dramatize his attitude
towards this country's
policles in Viet Nam has publicly
renounced his citizenship. This
is
charge #4.
That's his
right!
Charge #5, that Marvin's
•teaching record is unclear•
is about as unclear as the charge
itself. Supposedly in reference to
past employment it has yet to
be made public what Dr. Ness
is implying.
The last and f i n al charge,
"that his academic qualifications for membership in the
F'resno State
College were
11inimal" is o! course the same
!harge as #1 in different words.
3ut while the words are differmt the charge is just as meaningless.
Let us look at Marvin X's qualifications. What are they? Mar vin X has been a teacher, a
poet . a playwright, editor, ac tor , director and numerous other
things. His books of poetry
and proverbs and his dramas are
his main contribution to the literature of the Black movem e ntin
this country. He has studied under Le Roi Jones, the foremost Black poet today (Mr.
Jones wrote a superlative reference for Marvin X in endorsing his hiring here at Fresno
State). He has written and directed plays in co-operation with
Le Roi Jones. Marvin X has
edited Black Poetry Anthologies.
He has been guest editor for
"Black Theatre", nationally recognized as •the" organ for drama
in the Black Community. He has
even written valid critiques on1
Le Roi Jones' works. He has
taught at innumerable theater
work shops, admittedly outside
the traditional educational structure, but this experience seems
to be completely overlooked or
disregarded as immaterial by
Dr. Ness.
I could go on about Marvin X's
qualifications, but it is obvious
that it is not Marvin X's qualifications which are in question,
his qualifications are sound. It
was
really President Ness's
qualifications which should have
been questioned. Why did Dr.
Ness think that he could judge
what is good for minorities? What
makes Dr. Ness such an authority on what we minorities should
or should not have? Nothing! Nothing but the same old white
man's paternalistic philosophy
that he and only he knows what's
good for us.
It is this assumption, welfare
colonialism in an educational bag,
which has brought us minorities
to the oppressed position we are
in today. We must determine
what we know is relevant for
us. We must be able to have
self-determination and departmental autonomy in hiring and
firing as all departments should,
whether they are the English,
Spanish, or any other department.
We can no longer let inconsiderate white puppet administrators lie to our faces and
run things for us.
President Ness states at the
end of paragraph one of Page 2
in his statement that he went
along with the recommendation
by Dean Burtner, the Dean of
Arts and Sciences, Later President Ness reversed himself and
at this date has changed his
endorsement of Marvin X's recommendation.
Why? Why did
President Ness first endorse
Marvin X's recommendation then
change his mind? Pressure? Reactionary pressure from people
who have threatened him in regard t9 his future job in Washington? President Frederic Ness
has stated in paragraph two
that Dean Burtner •at his own
initiative, withdrew his recommendation in writing•. This ls a
llet Dean Burtner has never
shaken in his strong recommendation that Marvin X should
be hired.
In fact he publicly
re-stated his endorsement for
hiring at the Friday Oct. 3rd
Press Conference for TV-Radio
and press; he also stated that
he had Jn fact never. Withdrawn
the recommendation. Why does
Dr. Ness lie?
Why the lies? Are the pressures from outside so great that
they threaten President Ness 's
future employment? Has this been
the reason for President Ness'
puppet like performance? And
perhaps the reason behind
his evasive answers to simple
questions and his vague trumped
up charges?
It is obvious that President
Ness was a victim-a victim of
outside forces from Los Angeles, through the person of Chancellor Dumke and from Sacramento - the Reagan administration .
rr Chancellor Dumke is to rule
judicially ln this instance, he
should consult his own legal
department who have ruled that
there is no legal basis for not
hiring Marvin X.
These outside agitators are
missusing the power entrusted
to them by the public, to destroy
the only fresh approach to
minority higher
education in
Fresno. Can education be that
dangerous? For there is a good
possibility that 1f this program
at Fresno State is successful
it could serve as a model for
the rest of the state college
system. This is something
the Reagan administration would
sorely hate to see.
It is evident that Dr. Ness was
being pressured by the Chancellor's office. He was pressured
to the extent that he reversed
his stand from that of re com mending Marvin X to that of having to fight for his dismissal.
But Dr. Ness lacked the fortitude to stick to his own original
conviction and then even to face
the music for his reversal.
So Dr. Ness has left us - even
left town!
Another instance of lying or
withholding information has been
the President's meetings with
concerned faculty and students.
As an example, Pres. Ness held
a meeting on Oct. 2nd--the date
of his scheduled press conference, with students and faculty at which time the concern
was whether he was indeed going to flre Marvin X. Although
his scheduled press conference
was less than an hour away he
refused to tell the students and
faculty of his decision and went
so far as to tell them •I don't
know" when they asked him where
he would hold hls conference.
The students, not able to believe
that the President of Fresno State
College did not know where he
had scheduled his own mass
media conference , asked him
again. Again Dr. Ness replied
"I don't know!• Faculty member Davis then asked why he did
not know and the President replied that when the arrangements
were made he was out of the office. Prof. Davis then asked him
if he could then find out for us.
The President then replied that
he could but would not. When asked
why he shouted to us, •Because
it's none of your business".
This and other instances of
insincerity have made the faculty and students of the Ethnic
Studies Department adamant in
our stand for departmental autonomy and self determination
For the record, Dr. Ness originally scheduled his conference for the Little Arena Theater on campus, then in an effort
to exclude all Ethnic Studies
personnel from attending, secretly changed it to Room #187 at the
Ramada Inn. But we were able
to find out this information and
the President again changed the
locale, making sure that none of
the concerned parties would be
able to attend.
Why? Why is the Ethnic Studies Program being harassed.
(Why did Campus Police cause
undue harassment to a Chicano
history Class on September 23rd)
and why are we not allowed to
determine our own needs? The
charges by the President are
obviousy misleading and unjustifiable. The only decision
we as minorities can come to is
the same old reason, Racism.
Marvin X's Blackness is the
issue.
"It is not a
question of
militancy,
.
but of
. ,,
survival.
Unfading Arrogance i Ya Basta Con Los .. •
In The New World Educational Inadequacies!
By Pedro Gonzalez, Jr.
In 1492 small groups of scientitlcally inclined persons felt
satisfied they had been in every
corner of the world. Columbus
didn't want to ftnd a new world.
He just wanted to ft.nd a new route
te India an~ load up his vessel
with silks and spices.
Suddenly, in front of him, was
a new stretch of land. He thought
he was close to his goal, the Indies, so he called these people
"Indians".
Then tales of a New World
brought amazement to the Old
World of golden men and silver
cities.
The Spanish recovered •devolada" from their amazement.
Even though the New World had
unfamiliar things, one familiar
thing it did have was •oro".
The rest was unimportant. The
people already occupying the New
World were looked upon as temporary owners, and claim jumpers, to be disregarded as possible
possessors of land. Then there
was a great deal of discussion
about the natives "alma•. Many
of the so-called theologically inclined persons surmized that the
by Cynthia Ramirez
The educational system in CalIndians had no souls and therefore, were not "humano•. Can a ifornia leaves much to be desired. The purpose of public
beast possess land and wealth?
schools ts to educate the entire
"No!" shouted the gold seekers.
Then European arrogance reach- public and not a select few who
happen to be Anglo-Saxon or any
ed its height by claiming posrace tor that matter.
session of land already occuMinority students do not wish
pied by sedentary and civilized
to be given so-called •favors•
people.
for no reason at all. They
What right in the world did
desire, like the Anglos, to be
these people have to cast judgegiven an equal opportunity to proment over the most civilized
gress at the same rate as other
people of the world. To say they
students in their age or academic
were beasts and couldn't pobracket. These students canssess land.
not be ignored or refused the
They couldn't even answer
privilege of an excellent educatheir own questions of how they
received the i r knowledge and d tion, when in fact, it is rightfully theirs. In spite of this,
arts. The reason for th 1,200
the entire educational system
dialects they spoke? Such quescaters to the upper middle class
tions were never answered obAnglos and almost refuses to
viously, no one could be as' culrecognize the needs or minority
tured as the egotistical people
groups.
of the Old World. •These stupid
Many anglos who profess to be
natives, who were conquered,
adhering to or helping minority
could not possibly have evolved
students feel that minority groups
to such high culture by themare receiving equal educationselves." Some neighbor had to
al opportunities; when in fact,
be responsible for these splendid
minority students are being
courts, temples and other marvelous works or art. Such was .placed into a system foreign to
their way of life. Young mithe basis or the haughty European
nority students are handicapped
reasoning (disease) which still
almost as soon as they enter
manitests itself today.
school. For example, many Mex•VIVA LA RAZA"
ican-American children speak
little or no English upon entering school, yet they are still
placed into competition with their
Anglo pee rs who have, on the most
part, spoken English all their
lives. These Mexican-Americans
have as strong· desires and capacities to achieve and become responsible cltizens as any other
students. It ' ts almost impossible
for these children to achieve
in an allen atmosphere in which
instructors have no desire to take
time out to help them ln any way.
Minority children who fall into glos who ao uv~ wish to take the
this category are often forced time, on the most part, to unto repeat a grade again for lack derstand the true functions of
of understanding. When a student these special programs.
is kept back, the fear of failure
The social atmosphere of tooften inhibits his capacity to day's
educational institutions
succeed and thus he regresses could also be improved. Inmore and more and finally has forming Anglo students of Mexno desire whatsoever to be in an lean-American or Afro-Amerieducational institution of any kind. can cultures would improve stuHe then becomes one of the sta- dent relationships much more.
tisttcian's so-called •drop-outs" There is almost no need to edufrom school and also from so- cate the minority races on Anciety.
glo culture slnce they have had
Failure
breeds rebellion, to cope with it all their lives.
therefore riots and violence are Along with the knowledge and
often the outcome. Failure also reco~nitlon of minority culture
breeds continual failure which would come an understanding
increases in importance and sig- and acceptance of these groups
nificance as time goes on. This by all. Ignorance or misunderfailure caused by lack of edu- standing concerning minority
cation often promotes early mar- values etc. often leads to a misriage the end result being more conceived idea of an entire race
unsatisfactorily educated child- in general and does not allow
ren with whom society must con- for individuality. An understandtend sooner or later. It would ing between Anglos and minority
be so much easier to supply suf- groups would promote a lastficient
instructional aids to ing friendship among all stuthese children than to have to dents, which in turn would erecope with them in penal insti- ate an atmosphere congenial to
tutions or welfare agencies where better education. If a student
twice as much money is being does not enjoy attending an inspent.
stitution of education it will
Money, which seems to be the be that much harder for him to
point in question, should be allo- concentrate on the work at hand.
cated to improve educational opIf the control of the educaportunlties in early primary
tional systemsinCalifornladonot
institutions and not solely for become aware of our school's
those students who happen to
plight, educating our youth will
pull through high school despite
not be as effective as it could
their handicaps. Take, for inbe. One can be sure, however,
stance, the E. O. P. program at
that a change is bound to come
Fresno State. This ls an exin time. The youth of today is
ceptional program for lowbecoming more and more aware
income students considering the
of the inequality of most insti!act that it would be unfeasible
tutions in America nd will
for many of these students to
strive to make this world a better
attend an institute of higher learnplace for all concerned. The Aning 1! it wasn't for the money alglo cannot survive without the
located, and yet even though this
"Brown" or "Black" and vicets a beginning, it has been under
versa. If we do not find a betgreat dispute, again by the Anter way of educating our youth,
what wlll be the fate of tomorrows
children?
How Much longer In Vietnam t
By Charley Rueda
Chicanas Unite To
Form Las Adelitas
"Adelitas" is the nameofanew
organization on campus. It ts
composed of Fresno State. College women, of which the ~jority are Chicanas.
•Adema" ls the name of -the
revolutionary song sung by the
revolutionaries during the Mexican Revolution. The name • AdeUta • slgnitles the fighting woman
of the revolution, the "soldadera •, who was a great help to
the revolutionary c au s e • She,
"Adellta", was a nurse soldier
and cook.
'
'
The organization has threepurp0ses, 1) to project, promote
and develop the role of the woman 1n the field of education·
2) to work in conjunction wtth-o~
people in determining our destiny; and 3) to ofter our services
to community and campus organizations.
Our first project 1s a Hallow-
een Party for underprivileged
children.
On October 25, members of
• A~ell.ta-s.!._are going to attend a
.conference in Los Angeles.
·n is° 'tieing . sponsored by the
Councll·-otM ext can-American
Women. 'I'he conference ls designed to increase our knowledge
of Mexlcan-Arriertcan people and
out culture, the program will be
in thrEHit parts: Education, Economics and Politics.
The officers of • Adelitas" are
Linda Padilla, President; Sus~
Medina, Vlce.-President; Frances
Pere~ Secretary, Victoria Chacon, Treasurer; -nor a Zuniga,
. Historian; and Jb)se Gonzalez,
PubUclty·Chsl-rman.
Anyone interested in g¢ng may
contact any of the- officers at
Baker Hall 119. Dues are- 50
cents a semester.
Victoria Chacon
It comes with a conscious sense
ot shock that I realize another
year in Viet Nam is coming to a
close. How many years has it
been now? Four? Five? It's been
an eternity for thousands of men,
young men, like you.
Young men who left home for
war with the conviction that
we were in the right. At least,
that's what the U.S. Senate and
the President told them. Do you
remember which President that
was?
It seems that our great and
powerful Navy had been attacked
by the enemy, or so it was
thought. Later, much later, the
possibility of a mistake became
public knowledge, but by then the
bombs were falling and we had
become a Nation committed.
The world cries out for salvation and America bleeds.
War is very destructive. It's
frightening, it's funny, it's sad,
dirty; wet., hot, and uncomfortable. It isn't very patriotic.
The girls are missing, no
oFass bands, no _
nag waving,
just you and the war.
There isn't a more exposed
feeling than crossing a rice paddy
on a -clear, quiet morning. The
mud grabbing at your boots, sweat
running down your bodf, and the
oppressive heat. It's very easy
to die in a war.
Have you lost a brother? A
husband? A friend? How many
future doctors, lawyers, teachers, and students has the nation
lost? Does anyone really care, or
is a committment more important? There aren't enough John
Waynes to win the war.
Today, there isn't a politician in the United States that
can possibly justify the wa:r any
longer. When that's admitted,
maybe we can really be ..big",
swallow our pride and m1stakes
and come home.
Winston Churchill's famous
V-symbol, of years past, stands
not for victory, but for Peace.
Truth and
Not Fallacy
By Manuel Pickett
All through the twelve years
of
early education I as a
Chicano have been taught that
my forefathers were nothing
but a band of bandits robbing
and raping women throughout
the country. That our women
were shameful women, we.men
with no values or moral aspects.
It has stereotyped the Chicano as
being interior and has left us with
an inferior pain, which has a
continuous effect, the inferiority
complex.
All these fallacies are a lot
of Bullshit. But yet we are conditioned to believe them! A few
years ago a program was started which had to do with a true
identity of the Chicano. In this
program, headed under ethnic
studies, the true concept of the
Chicano is r eve a 1 e d • •Truth-and not Fallacy" was the basis
of this program. Here we
learned that our forefathers
were not bandits, but every day
people. Some were fighting
against an unjust government.
Our women were not •cheap•
but religious and brave. From
childhood they were taught to follow the men wherever they went,
even to battle, and not leading
· the men like in this Anglo society.
With these programs the Chicano found a little spark of light
within the structure, something
we could relate to without the
. fear of being cheated.
Chicana
By Jesus de la Mancha
Mujer, con sangre
De todo el mundo.
Mas guapa no hay,
Chula, bonita, maravilla del Sol.
No man anywhere can
Deny the lure of the universal
Woman.
Sensual, tender, compassionate,
Violently humble.
Tu sonrisa, tus pensamientos,
Y palabras por labios
de tentacion
Nos dicen de la
Intel legencia que quieres
esconder.
A face that has enslaved men
Since I ave made the first rose
blush
Continues to mystify and
captivate,
Through natural brown radiance.
Machos, hijos de Mal inche,
Tienen nomas una debi I idad,
La angel quc viene del ol,
i hicana!
I have no money
I travel the countryside
And you reply Communist
as you nail me to the cross •.•
Jose Rendon
The Daily Collegian
Publhhed five days
a week except holi•·
days and examln•·
tion periods by the
Fresno State Colle&e
Anoclation. Mail subscriptions S8 a
■ eme ■ter, $JS a year. Editorial of•
flce, Bualneas 235, telephone 487•
2170. Business office, Coll•&• Union
316, telephone 487-2266.
MAJORITY
Leaves arc dying in the darkness
Trees are rotting
And the fat man laughs
The I iving are dead
corpses ar walking
His world is a vacuum
And New York is lonely
Hearts are bursting
Spewing blood which is thirsty
It smears itself on:
Cars, color T.V .'sand clothes
Machines are walking
Thinking, eating, dying
His birth is an abortion
His life a miscarriage
He loves only his urine
His salvation is assured
He paid ten dollars
He is like a bird without wings
A pie without filling
In essence he has no soul
And yet!
He vomits I iberty, equality
and justice for al I
God let him die
that he may I ive
Jorge Leos
I am the revolutionary
my skin is brown
my beard and the hair
that hangs over my shoulders
are black
and preach things that
are not seen here
I speak of love -for
mankind and brotherhood
I say that I ife is precious
and not to be destroyed
I tel I you to feed
those that hunger
and' to c I othe the
naked
I L ENT
MOUNTAI-N
I journey up the graceful slope
my attitude
one of a conqueror
to the very top
of her majestic crown
Fighting
for every foothold
till I'm short of breath
and sweaty
For her majesty is not easily
conquered
1-tttttttttft
But I am ruthless
in the war I wage
and you snap
under my boot
as I destroy the s i I ence
of your sanctuary
Your subjects defending you
take my foot
and I stumble
palcing your rich brown soul
against my face
I feel the warmth and beauty
of your untamed self
as I ponder over your freedom
Now I am envious of you
and I hate you
for owning what can never be
mine
So I enslave you
with concrete
and pretend
that your spirit is broken
Jose Rendon
y
._
Latin Slurs Bring; Call For
Judge's Removal,
As printed in the LOS ANGELES
TIMES, October 2, 1969
By Ruben Salazar
Los Angeles Times staff Writer
SAN JOSE-Demands mounted
here Wednesday (October 1) for
the resignation of a Superior
Court judge who made anti-Mexican remarks from the bench and
said •Maybe Hitler was right
about destroying the animals in
our society."
A court transcript shows that
Judge Gerald S. Chargin in sentencing a 17-year-old MexicanAmerican boy for incest said:
• ••• Mexican people after 13
years of age, think it is perfectly
all right to go out and act like
an animal . • . we ought to send
you out of the country - send you
back to Mexico. You belong in
prison for the rest of your life
for doing things of this kind. You
ought to commit suicide ••. "
The judge then went on to say
that •Maybe Hitler was right. The
animals in our society probably
ought to be destroyed because
they have no right to live among
human beings •.• "
Wednesday about 200 members
of Mexican-American organizations and civil right groups picketed the Superior Court building
in downtown San Jose. This city
of 450,000 people has the largest
Spanish surname population in
urban Northern California.
A meeting between community
representatives an d presiding
judge Joseph Kelly was unproductive, according to Paul Sanchez, chairman of the graduate
school of Social Work at San
Jose State College.
•Judge Kelly informed about
30 leaders oftheMexican-American communlty that he could do
nothing," Sanchez said.
•He rtghtlully informed us that
he has no jurisdiction in getting
Judge Chargin off the bench.
However, what shocked us is that
Judge Kelly was not sufficiently
morally shocked by Judge Chargin's behavior to support us even
philosophically. "
Sanchez said that the community is in a very volatile mood and
that •anything could happen."
Chargin, 65, member of an old
San Jose family of ranchers told
newsmen that • juvenile c ~ u rt
proceedings are private !or the
protection of the minor and the
family involved.
•only those persons directly
concerned are a 11 ow e d to be
present. For this reason it is
difficult to comment as fully and
freely as otherwise might be the
case."
people, animals and Hitler, the
Excerpts from the transcript
boy's attorney, Fred Lucero, Inwhich showed what Chargin said
terrupted.
were distributed by the California
•Your honor, I don't think I
Rural Legal Assistance and the
can sit here and listen to that
Community Service Organizasort of thing."
tion, a Mexican-Americangroup.
The judge answered, •You're
The names of the juveniles ingoing to have to listen to it bevolved were not disclosed in the
cause I consider this a very vulexcerpts dlstributed.
gar rotten human being."
The Mexican-American boy
Later, Lucero said, •what apwas charged with incest with his
palls me is that the court is say15-year-old sister, who is menIng that Hitler was right in genotally retarded. The boy claims
cide."
he is innocent and that he pleaded
To that the judge answered:
guilty only because attorneys ad"What are we going to do with
vised him to do so so that the
mad dogs in our society? Either
case would not go to trial.
we have to kill them or send
The boy was arrested after the
them to an institution or place
County W elf are Department
them out of the hands of good
learned about the girl's pregpeople because that's the theory
nancy.
-one theory ofpunisnment is that
Chargin placed the boy on probation. ·
they get to the position that they
want to act like mad dogs, then
Speaking about the remarks
we have to separate them from
that he made in court, Chargin
society."
told newsmen that the distribution
In his statement to the press
of the excerpts was •not only a
Chargin said that the reason he
disservice to the youth and family
made those statements was that
involved but may involve a viola"it is an accepted fact that these
tion of the law."
lectures (in court) are stated in
The California Rural Legal
harsh terms to impress upon the
Assistance said no law has been
minds of the youth the seriousviolated because the names of
ness of the situation in which
the minors were notdivulged.
they !ind themselves.
The group confirmed that it
•sometimes, the words of the
has complained to the State Julecture are purposely accentudicial Qualifications Commisated and exagerated. However it
sion which has been asked to reis to the ultimate dispositio; of
move Chargin Crom the hench.
this case that one must look.
The judge told newsmen that
•1n this case the youth was re"I am compelled to set the recturned to his grandmother, as a
ord straight in this regard. The
ward of the court under supercase involved the admitted unvision of the Juvenile Probation
natural crime of incest between
Department, which followed the
a 17-year-old hoy and his 15recommendation of the Juvenile
year-old sister, who is now pregProbation Department.
nant. Without revealing more of
•surnce it to say, much harshthe facts, it was a situation which
er alternative d~spositions were
was so revolting it offended my
available to me."
sense of m oral i t y and conscien e."
The U.S. Comm1ssion on Civil
Rights said that it would investiChargin said that he is not
gate the matter.
prejudiced a g a i II st any thnic
group.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Mex•r am pleased to say that my ican-American community inSan
eutire adult life. both in the law Jose said they wer having trouble keeping militants from taking
and on th Superior Court bench
has been an effort and a strivin~ drasti steps.
for Justice for all.
Pinnon said the Mexic n•The most recent example of A merican community would be
thi is my nomination of the only satisfied only with the removal
Mexican-American indi v1dual of Chargin from the bench. He
presently serving on the County said that although it is true that
Grand Jury."
Judge Kelly cannot remove CharAl Pi nnon, head of the San Jose gin, he does have the authority
Community Service Organiza- to transfer him from the juvenile
tion, told newsmen that Chargin's court.
"But Judge Kelly is not willing
remarks were "racist bigoted
biased and defamator/ to all in~ to do even that," Pinnon said. "It
dividuals of Mexican ancestry and seems to us that Judge Kelly has
we cannot in good conscience, a moral responsibility here as
far as the Mexican-American
remain silent •. ! "
According to the court tran- community is concerned to at
script, right after Chargin made least side with us philosophihis remarks about the Mexican cally. We cannot have this sort
of man (Chargin) on the bench.•
1
:,~"',r"'-.. ' //st,.
a-.
The·Judge Who
Invoked Hitler
(This is a reprint from an Oct.
10 Fresno Bee Editorial, written
by C. K. Mc Clatchy, executive
editor)
CLOSEST SCRUTINY - The
Honorable Gerald S. Chargln, a
judge of the Superior Court in
San Jose, recently made the astonishing statement Adolf Hitler
possibly was on the right track
when he organized a program of
genocide.
Now there are a lot of kooks
and nuts running around loose
expressing some pretty wild
ideas. Most of them are harmless and should be ignored. After
all, tree speech should be available to everyone, even a blithering idiot, as long as he does
not shout "fire• in a crowded
theater.
But Judge Chargin is something different than the village
screwball preaching his nonsense
to his wife or a trapped neighbor.
The judge is a public
servant whose function is to
render
even-handed justice.
The judge expressed his outrageous belief while he was
sitting on the bench. It was
made on company time, so to
speak, and therefore deserves the
closest scrutiny of the public.
It occurred when Chargin was
presiding at a juvenile hearing
involving a 17-year-old boy accused of having incestuous relations with his Hi-year-old
retarded sister. The youth, an
American of Mexican descent,
maintained his innocence.
He
said he pleaded guilty only on
advice of counsel.•
DIATRIBE -- Judge Chargin
then launched into a diatribe
which was at once disgraceful
and irrational. He said the boy
should be sent •back to Mexico•
and then attacked all people of
Mexican descent.
•You are lower than animals
and haven't the right to live in
organized
society- -just miserable, rotten people." He added: •Maybe Hitler was right.
The animals
in our society
probably ought to be destroyed
because they have no right to
live among human beings."
Not content with associating
himself with the barbarous racial practices of Hitler, the judge
levelled a series of personally insulting comments.
He told this 17-year-old boy
he •ought to commit suicide."
Suicide is a crime against hu-
manity, yet Judge Chargin gives
this advice while speaking as a
judge.
In an entirely gratuitous remark about the sister of the boy,
the judge said she probably will
have a half a dozen children
and three or four marriages before she is 18. What right does
he have to so speculate and so
insult
this
unfortunate retarded child? Where is· compassion in such mouthings of a
Jurist?
SLUR - There is something
particularly degrading and unfair
about
attacks on individuals tied to racial slurs.
A man can disprove or deny the
unfair
charge he is a thief,
a wife-beater
or just plain
dumb, but it is almost impossible
for an individual to counter
the insinuations heaped upon
an entire race.
Even more to the point, racial
slurs are inaccurate. Generally
they are based on prejudiced
lack of understanding. Judge
Chargin in his comments has
cast aspersions on a whole category of people - in this case
those Americans who happen to
be of Mexican descent. The fact
his insinuations
are so outrageous they reveal their own
bigoted falseness does not change
the need for a review of Judge
Chargin's fitness to sit on the
bench in judgement of his fellow
men.
He dares to do this to a people
for whom California reserves
special affection. For the Mexican and Spanish heritage, in this
far West state, is predated
only by the Indian, and much of
that heritage is common, now, in
the California culture. Rotten
people? Look to the grand architecture brought to the California
landscape, to the gentle influence of the Mexican in the songs
recalled from
California's
founding years. to the spleHdid
record of citizenship found in
those communities wherever
the American of Mexican descent
gathes. Chargin's was an almost unbelievable insult.
Judge Chargin has made it
clear he lacks the compassion
and the understanding to sit in a
seat of judgment. If he wants to
be. a bigot, that is his business--so long as he does it on
his time. But when he uses his
position as a judge to spew nonsense of this dark nature it ls
time for him to leave the bench-·
gracefully in retirement or disgracefully through recall.
LXXV /26
By Ricardo Duran
Dr. Frederic Ness, president
of Fresno State College, quit
October 7th. Why did he quit?
He had already resigned, but his
resignation doesn't become effective for two more months.
President Ness felt he was not
able to continue even for that
length of time. It is obvious that
P resident Ness was under too
much pressure. Pressure from
the students who demanded the
rights of Marvin X, pressure
from the faculty, pressure from
the Chancellor's office, and who
knows how much pressure from
President Ness' own conscience.
So, unable to face the students
anymore, or even look his faculty
i n the eye, Dr. Frederic Ness
walked off his job.
In order to fully understand
some of the motivation for Dr.
Ness' action, and to determine
what the net effect of his action
will be, let us review some of
the events that have taken place
at Fresno State the past few
days. For it's in these events,
in his remarks, the reasons he
gave , and the outright lies that
he told that we can find the reasons for the building up of the
pressures that led to his quitting.
On Thursday, October 2nd, Dr.
Frederic Ness, President of
Fresno State College called a
conference for the press, radio
and television media. At this
time he issued a prepared statement to the effect that he had
fired one of the professors who
is currently teaching three
courses on the Fresno StateCollege campus for the Black Studies
program. Dr. Ness then went on
to list the reasons for his decision.
The students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department here
at Fresno State, after numerous
meetings with Dr. Ness have
found his rhetoric insincere, his
statements often outright lies,
and his general qualifications for
hiring and firing people of minority groups to be totally inadequate.
we know, as will be shown
here, that not only has he lied
to our faces but has released
misleading information to the
mass media.
To begin with, let us examine
in detail Dr. Frederic Ness'
"reasonsn as he gave them tothe
mass media:
1. •. • . the candidate under
consideration did not meet the
usually expected qualifications."
2. •misrepresentations in the
candidate's employment application, dated August 11, 1969. n
3. "Further investigation disclosed that he is under indictment on felony charges in the
u.s. District court, San Francisco."
4. •, . • his renunciation of
U.s. citizenship .•. "
5, •The record of his teaching
experience was unclear •.. "
6. •. • . that his academic
qualificatior.<. for membership in
the Fresno State College faculty
were minimal,"
All of these •reasons" were
submitted to the official legal
counsel for all State Colleges,
the Chancellor's Office and the
decision by this legal ~uthorlty
(President Ness' own legal counsel also) is that none ofthe above
six reasons constitute any legal
basis whatsoever for firing or
not hiring Marvin X or anyone
else.
To begin with, five of the six
charges are vague and unclear.
Only NoA 4 is a specific charge,
and this charge , as with Nos. 2
and 3 are basically the same issue, which is: Marvin X's refusal
of induction into the Viet Nam
draft on religious principles.
The other charges, Nos. 1, 5
and 6, are so vague as to render
them almost inadequate for discussion. In fact, Nos. 1 and 6 are
actually the same charge but
camouflaged in different words.
First the charge that Marvin X
"did not meet the usually expected qualifications n.
We students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department were
not looking for instructors with
"the usually expected qualifica. tions ". Those instructors are the
main reason for educationalfailure generally and the basic reason for the educational alienation
of minority groups from the educational experience . It has been
these instructors with the •usually expected qualifications" which
have brought the minorities to
the present level of educational
attainment - a miserable nothing! It is these same instructors
that have made the general curriculum for all students so meaningless today, let alone have any
relevancy to the culturally different, economically deprived,
and totally oppressed minorities.
We do not want the same old
garbage that passes for •educators." We want what's relevant
today for us.
No. 2-The charge that Marvin
X is guilty of • misrepre ·entations" in his application is an
outright lie by President Ness.
The vague charge without specifics alludes to the s.c.1 form
which asks prospective employees if they have ever been
"convicted" of any charges other
than traffic citations. M uvin answered •No"--it is true he
is presently under Federal Indictment (#3) for his refusal
to be dratted, but he has not been
convicted.
Charge #3 is the only concrete
charge, #3 is related to #2 and
$4. Marvin X is under indictment for his stand on VietNam.
Muslims do not believe in the
war in Viet Nam and their religious convictions, like those of
the Mormons and Quakers (both
white groups) currently employed
on the Fresno State Faculty,
will not allow him to aid any
agressive war without losing his
moral integrity and breakinghis
religious conviction. This charge
is an encroachment on a man's
right to religious belief and no
bas ls for hiring or f1 ring because
it involves a man's religious
conviction. Marvin X, to emphasize his religious convict-
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1969
ions, and to dramatize his attitude
towards this country's
policles in Viet Nam has publicly
renounced his citizenship. This
is
charge #4.
That's his
right!
Charge #5, that Marvin's
•teaching record is unclear•
is about as unclear as the charge
itself. Supposedly in reference to
past employment it has yet to
be made public what Dr. Ness
is implying.
The last and f i n al charge,
"that his academic qualifications for membership in the
F'resno State
College were
11inimal" is o! course the same
!harge as #1 in different words.
3ut while the words are differmt the charge is just as meaningless.
Let us look at Marvin X's qualifications. What are they? Mar vin X has been a teacher, a
poet . a playwright, editor, ac tor , director and numerous other
things. His books of poetry
and proverbs and his dramas are
his main contribution to the literature of the Black movem e ntin
this country. He has studied under Le Roi Jones, the foremost Black poet today (Mr.
Jones wrote a superlative reference for Marvin X in endorsing his hiring here at Fresno
State). He has written and directed plays in co-operation with
Le Roi Jones. Marvin X has
edited Black Poetry Anthologies.
He has been guest editor for
"Black Theatre", nationally recognized as •the" organ for drama
in the Black Community. He has
even written valid critiques on1
Le Roi Jones' works. He has
taught at innumerable theater
work shops, admittedly outside
the traditional educational structure, but this experience seems
to be completely overlooked or
disregarded as immaterial by
Dr. Ness.
I could go on about Marvin X's
qualifications, but it is obvious
that it is not Marvin X's qualifications which are in question,
his qualifications are sound. It
was
really President Ness's
qualifications which should have
been questioned. Why did Dr.
Ness think that he could judge
what is good for minorities? What
makes Dr. Ness such an authority on what we minorities should
or should not have? Nothing! Nothing but the same old white
man's paternalistic philosophy
that he and only he knows what's
good for us.
It is this assumption, welfare
colonialism in an educational bag,
which has brought us minorities
to the oppressed position we are
in today. We must determine
what we know is relevant for
us. We must be able to have
self-determination and departmental autonomy in hiring and
firing as all departments should,
whether they are the English,
Spanish, or any other department.
We can no longer let inconsiderate white puppet administrators lie to our faces and
run things for us.
President Ness states at the
end of paragraph one of Page 2
in his statement that he went
along with the recommendation
by Dean Burtner, the Dean of
Arts and Sciences, Later President Ness reversed himself and
at this date has changed his
endorsement of Marvin X's recommendation.
Why? Why did
President Ness first endorse
Marvin X's recommendation then
change his mind? Pressure? Reactionary pressure from people
who have threatened him in regard t9 his future job in Washington? President Frederic Ness
has stated in paragraph two
that Dean Burtner •at his own
initiative, withdrew his recommendation in writing•. This ls a
llet Dean Burtner has never
shaken in his strong recommendation that Marvin X should
be hired.
In fact he publicly
re-stated his endorsement for
hiring at the Friday Oct. 3rd
Press Conference for TV-Radio
and press; he also stated that
he had Jn fact never. Withdrawn
the recommendation. Why does
Dr. Ness lie?
Why the lies? Are the pressures from outside so great that
they threaten President Ness 's
future employment? Has this been
the reason for President Ness'
puppet like performance? And
perhaps the reason behind
his evasive answers to simple
questions and his vague trumped
up charges?
It is obvious that President
Ness was a victim-a victim of
outside forces from Los Angeles, through the person of Chancellor Dumke and from Sacramento - the Reagan administration .
rr Chancellor Dumke is to rule
judicially ln this instance, he
should consult his own legal
department who have ruled that
there is no legal basis for not
hiring Marvin X.
These outside agitators are
missusing the power entrusted
to them by the public, to destroy
the only fresh approach to
minority higher
education in
Fresno. Can education be that
dangerous? For there is a good
possibility that 1f this program
at Fresno State is successful
it could serve as a model for
the rest of the state college
system. This is something
the Reagan administration would
sorely hate to see.
It is evident that Dr. Ness was
being pressured by the Chancellor's office. He was pressured
to the extent that he reversed
his stand from that of re com mending Marvin X to that of having to fight for his dismissal.
But Dr. Ness lacked the fortitude to stick to his own original
conviction and then even to face
the music for his reversal.
So Dr. Ness has left us - even
left town!
Another instance of lying or
withholding information has been
the President's meetings with
concerned faculty and students.
As an example, Pres. Ness held
a meeting on Oct. 2nd--the date
of his scheduled press conference, with students and faculty at which time the concern
was whether he was indeed going to flre Marvin X. Although
his scheduled press conference
was less than an hour away he
refused to tell the students and
faculty of his decision and went
so far as to tell them •I don't
know" when they asked him where
he would hold hls conference.
The students, not able to believe
that the President of Fresno State
College did not know where he
had scheduled his own mass
media conference , asked him
again. Again Dr. Ness replied
"I don't know!• Faculty member Davis then asked why he did
not know and the President replied that when the arrangements
were made he was out of the office. Prof. Davis then asked him
if he could then find out for us.
The President then replied that
he could but would not. When asked
why he shouted to us, •Because
it's none of your business".
This and other instances of
insincerity have made the faculty and students of the Ethnic
Studies Department adamant in
our stand for departmental autonomy and self determination
For the record, Dr. Ness originally scheduled his conference for the Little Arena Theater on campus, then in an effort
to exclude all Ethnic Studies
personnel from attending, secretly changed it to Room #187 at the
Ramada Inn. But we were able
to find out this information and
the President again changed the
locale, making sure that none of
the concerned parties would be
able to attend.
Why? Why is the Ethnic Studies Program being harassed.
(Why did Campus Police cause
undue harassment to a Chicano
history Class on September 23rd)
and why are we not allowed to
determine our own needs? The
charges by the President are
obviousy misleading and unjustifiable. The only decision
we as minorities can come to is
the same old reason, Racism.
Marvin X's Blackness is the
issue.
"It is not a
question of
militancy,
.
but of
. ,,
survival.
Unfading Arrogance i Ya Basta Con Los .. •
In The New World Educational Inadequacies!
By Pedro Gonzalez, Jr.
In 1492 small groups of scientitlcally inclined persons felt
satisfied they had been in every
corner of the world. Columbus
didn't want to ftnd a new world.
He just wanted to ft.nd a new route
te India an~ load up his vessel
with silks and spices.
Suddenly, in front of him, was
a new stretch of land. He thought
he was close to his goal, the Indies, so he called these people
"Indians".
Then tales of a New World
brought amazement to the Old
World of golden men and silver
cities.
The Spanish recovered •devolada" from their amazement.
Even though the New World had
unfamiliar things, one familiar
thing it did have was •oro".
The rest was unimportant. The
people already occupying the New
World were looked upon as temporary owners, and claim jumpers, to be disregarded as possible
possessors of land. Then there
was a great deal of discussion
about the natives "alma•. Many
of the so-called theologically inclined persons surmized that the
by Cynthia Ramirez
The educational system in CalIndians had no souls and therefore, were not "humano•. Can a ifornia leaves much to be desired. The purpose of public
beast possess land and wealth?
schools ts to educate the entire
"No!" shouted the gold seekers.
Then European arrogance reach- public and not a select few who
happen to be Anglo-Saxon or any
ed its height by claiming posrace tor that matter.
session of land already occuMinority students do not wish
pied by sedentary and civilized
to be given so-called •favors•
people.
for no reason at all. They
What right in the world did
desire, like the Anglos, to be
these people have to cast judgegiven an equal opportunity to proment over the most civilized
gress at the same rate as other
people of the world. To say they
students in their age or academic
were beasts and couldn't pobracket. These students canssess land.
not be ignored or refused the
They couldn't even answer
privilege of an excellent educatheir own questions of how they
received the i r knowledge and d tion, when in fact, it is rightfully theirs. In spite of this,
arts. The reason for th 1,200
the entire educational system
dialects they spoke? Such quescaters to the upper middle class
tions were never answered obAnglos and almost refuses to
viously, no one could be as' culrecognize the needs or minority
tured as the egotistical people
groups.
of the Old World. •These stupid
Many anglos who profess to be
natives, who were conquered,
adhering to or helping minority
could not possibly have evolved
students feel that minority groups
to such high culture by themare receiving equal educationselves." Some neighbor had to
al opportunities; when in fact,
be responsible for these splendid
minority students are being
courts, temples and other marvelous works or art. Such was .placed into a system foreign to
their way of life. Young mithe basis or the haughty European
nority students are handicapped
reasoning (disease) which still
almost as soon as they enter
manitests itself today.
school. For example, many Mex•VIVA LA RAZA"
ican-American children speak
little or no English upon entering school, yet they are still
placed into competition with their
Anglo pee rs who have, on the most
part, spoken English all their
lives. These Mexican-Americans
have as strong· desires and capacities to achieve and become responsible cltizens as any other
students. It ' ts almost impossible
for these children to achieve
in an allen atmosphere in which
instructors have no desire to take
time out to help them ln any way.
Minority children who fall into glos who ao uv~ wish to take the
this category are often forced time, on the most part, to unto repeat a grade again for lack derstand the true functions of
of understanding. When a student these special programs.
is kept back, the fear of failure
The social atmosphere of tooften inhibits his capacity to day's
educational institutions
succeed and thus he regresses could also be improved. Inmore and more and finally has forming Anglo students of Mexno desire whatsoever to be in an lean-American or Afro-Amerieducational institution of any kind. can cultures would improve stuHe then becomes one of the sta- dent relationships much more.
tisttcian's so-called •drop-outs" There is almost no need to edufrom school and also from so- cate the minority races on Anciety.
glo culture slnce they have had
Failure
breeds rebellion, to cope with it all their lives.
therefore riots and violence are Along with the knowledge and
often the outcome. Failure also reco~nitlon of minority culture
breeds continual failure which would come an understanding
increases in importance and sig- and acceptance of these groups
nificance as time goes on. This by all. Ignorance or misunderfailure caused by lack of edu- standing concerning minority
cation often promotes early mar- values etc. often leads to a misriage the end result being more conceived idea of an entire race
unsatisfactorily educated child- in general and does not allow
ren with whom society must con- for individuality. An understandtend sooner or later. It would ing between Anglos and minority
be so much easier to supply suf- groups would promote a lastficient
instructional aids to ing friendship among all stuthese children than to have to dents, which in turn would erecope with them in penal insti- ate an atmosphere congenial to
tutions or welfare agencies where better education. If a student
twice as much money is being does not enjoy attending an inspent.
stitution of education it will
Money, which seems to be the be that much harder for him to
point in question, should be allo- concentrate on the work at hand.
cated to improve educational opIf the control of the educaportunlties in early primary
tional systemsinCalifornladonot
institutions and not solely for become aware of our school's
those students who happen to
plight, educating our youth will
pull through high school despite
not be as effective as it could
their handicaps. Take, for inbe. One can be sure, however,
stance, the E. O. P. program at
that a change is bound to come
Fresno State. This ls an exin time. The youth of today is
ceptional program for lowbecoming more and more aware
income students considering the
of the inequality of most insti!act that it would be unfeasible
tutions in America nd will
for many of these students to
strive to make this world a better
attend an institute of higher learnplace for all concerned. The Aning 1! it wasn't for the money alglo cannot survive without the
located, and yet even though this
"Brown" or "Black" and vicets a beginning, it has been under
versa. If we do not find a betgreat dispute, again by the Anter way of educating our youth,
what wlll be the fate of tomorrows
children?
How Much longer In Vietnam t
By Charley Rueda
Chicanas Unite To
Form Las Adelitas
"Adelitas" is the nameofanew
organization on campus. It ts
composed of Fresno State. College women, of which the ~jority are Chicanas.
•Adema" ls the name of -the
revolutionary song sung by the
revolutionaries during the Mexican Revolution. The name • AdeUta • slgnitles the fighting woman
of the revolution, the "soldadera •, who was a great help to
the revolutionary c au s e • She,
"Adellta", was a nurse soldier
and cook.
'
'
The organization has threepurp0ses, 1) to project, promote
and develop the role of the woman 1n the field of education·
2) to work in conjunction wtth-o~
people in determining our destiny; and 3) to ofter our services
to community and campus organizations.
Our first project 1s a Hallow-
een Party for underprivileged
children.
On October 25, members of
• A~ell.ta-s.!._are going to attend a
.conference in Los Angeles.
·n is° 'tieing . sponsored by the
Councll·-otM ext can-American
Women. 'I'he conference ls designed to increase our knowledge
of Mexlcan-Arriertcan people and
out culture, the program will be
in thrEHit parts: Education, Economics and Politics.
The officers of • Adelitas" are
Linda Padilla, President; Sus~
Medina, Vlce.-President; Frances
Pere~ Secretary, Victoria Chacon, Treasurer; -nor a Zuniga,
. Historian; and Jb)se Gonzalez,
PubUclty·Chsl-rman.
Anyone interested in g¢ng may
contact any of the- officers at
Baker Hall 119. Dues are- 50
cents a semester.
Victoria Chacon
It comes with a conscious sense
ot shock that I realize another
year in Viet Nam is coming to a
close. How many years has it
been now? Four? Five? It's been
an eternity for thousands of men,
young men, like you.
Young men who left home for
war with the conviction that
we were in the right. At least,
that's what the U.S. Senate and
the President told them. Do you
remember which President that
was?
It seems that our great and
powerful Navy had been attacked
by the enemy, or so it was
thought. Later, much later, the
possibility of a mistake became
public knowledge, but by then the
bombs were falling and we had
become a Nation committed.
The world cries out for salvation and America bleeds.
War is very destructive. It's
frightening, it's funny, it's sad,
dirty; wet., hot, and uncomfortable. It isn't very patriotic.
The girls are missing, no
oFass bands, no _
nag waving,
just you and the war.
There isn't a more exposed
feeling than crossing a rice paddy
on a -clear, quiet morning. The
mud grabbing at your boots, sweat
running down your bodf, and the
oppressive heat. It's very easy
to die in a war.
Have you lost a brother? A
husband? A friend? How many
future doctors, lawyers, teachers, and students has the nation
lost? Does anyone really care, or
is a committment more important? There aren't enough John
Waynes to win the war.
Today, there isn't a politician in the United States that
can possibly justify the wa:r any
longer. When that's admitted,
maybe we can really be ..big",
swallow our pride and m1stakes
and come home.
Winston Churchill's famous
V-symbol, of years past, stands
not for victory, but for Peace.
Truth and
Not Fallacy
By Manuel Pickett
All through the twelve years
of
early education I as a
Chicano have been taught that
my forefathers were nothing
but a band of bandits robbing
and raping women throughout
the country. That our women
were shameful women, we.men
with no values or moral aspects.
It has stereotyped the Chicano as
being interior and has left us with
an inferior pain, which has a
continuous effect, the inferiority
complex.
All these fallacies are a lot
of Bullshit. But yet we are conditioned to believe them! A few
years ago a program was started which had to do with a true
identity of the Chicano. In this
program, headed under ethnic
studies, the true concept of the
Chicano is r eve a 1 e d • •Truth-and not Fallacy" was the basis
of this program. Here we
learned that our forefathers
were not bandits, but every day
people. Some were fighting
against an unjust government.
Our women were not •cheap•
but religious and brave. From
childhood they were taught to follow the men wherever they went,
even to battle, and not leading
· the men like in this Anglo society.
With these programs the Chicano found a little spark of light
within the structure, something
we could relate to without the
. fear of being cheated.
Chicana
By Jesus de la Mancha
Mujer, con sangre
De todo el mundo.
Mas guapa no hay,
Chula, bonita, maravilla del Sol.
No man anywhere can
Deny the lure of the universal
Woman.
Sensual, tender, compassionate,
Violently humble.
Tu sonrisa, tus pensamientos,
Y palabras por labios
de tentacion
Nos dicen de la
Intel legencia que quieres
esconder.
A face that has enslaved men
Since I ave made the first rose
blush
Continues to mystify and
captivate,
Through natural brown radiance.
Machos, hijos de Mal inche,
Tienen nomas una debi I idad,
La angel quc viene del ol,
i hicana!
I have no money
I travel the countryside
And you reply Communist
as you nail me to the cross •.•
Jose Rendon
The Daily Collegian
Publhhed five days
a week except holi•·
days and examln•·
tion periods by the
Fresno State Colle&e
Anoclation. Mail subscriptions S8 a
■ eme ■ter, $JS a year. Editorial of•
flce, Bualneas 235, telephone 487•
2170. Business office, Coll•&• Union
316, telephone 487-2266.
MAJORITY
Leaves arc dying in the darkness
Trees are rotting
And the fat man laughs
The I iving are dead
corpses ar walking
His world is a vacuum
And New York is lonely
Hearts are bursting
Spewing blood which is thirsty
It smears itself on:
Cars, color T.V .'sand clothes
Machines are walking
Thinking, eating, dying
His birth is an abortion
His life a miscarriage
He loves only his urine
His salvation is assured
He paid ten dollars
He is like a bird without wings
A pie without filling
In essence he has no soul
And yet!
He vomits I iberty, equality
and justice for al I
God let him die
that he may I ive
Jorge Leos
I am the revolutionary
my skin is brown
my beard and the hair
that hangs over my shoulders
are black
and preach things that
are not seen here
I speak of love -for
mankind and brotherhood
I say that I ife is precious
and not to be destroyed
I tel I you to feed
those that hunger
and' to c I othe the
naked
I L ENT
MOUNTAI-N
I journey up the graceful slope
my attitude
one of a conqueror
to the very top
of her majestic crown
Fighting
for every foothold
till I'm short of breath
and sweaty
For her majesty is not easily
conquered
1-tttttttttft
But I am ruthless
in the war I wage
and you snap
under my boot
as I destroy the s i I ence
of your sanctuary
Your subjects defending you
take my foot
and I stumble
palcing your rich brown soul
against my face
I feel the warmth and beauty
of your untamed self
as I ponder over your freedom
Now I am envious of you
and I hate you
for owning what can never be
mine
So I enslave you
with concrete
and pretend
that your spirit is broken
Jose Rendon
y
._
Latin Slurs Bring; Call For
Judge's Removal,
As printed in the LOS ANGELES
TIMES, October 2, 1969
By Ruben Salazar
Los Angeles Times staff Writer
SAN JOSE-Demands mounted
here Wednesday (October 1) for
the resignation of a Superior
Court judge who made anti-Mexican remarks from the bench and
said •Maybe Hitler was right
about destroying the animals in
our society."
A court transcript shows that
Judge Gerald S. Chargin in sentencing a 17-year-old MexicanAmerican boy for incest said:
• ••• Mexican people after 13
years of age, think it is perfectly
all right to go out and act like
an animal . • . we ought to send
you out of the country - send you
back to Mexico. You belong in
prison for the rest of your life
for doing things of this kind. You
ought to commit suicide ••. "
The judge then went on to say
that •Maybe Hitler was right. The
animals in our society probably
ought to be destroyed because
they have no right to live among
human beings •.• "
Wednesday about 200 members
of Mexican-American organizations and civil right groups picketed the Superior Court building
in downtown San Jose. This city
of 450,000 people has the largest
Spanish surname population in
urban Northern California.
A meeting between community
representatives an d presiding
judge Joseph Kelly was unproductive, according to Paul Sanchez, chairman of the graduate
school of Social Work at San
Jose State College.
•Judge Kelly informed about
30 leaders oftheMexican-American communlty that he could do
nothing," Sanchez said.
•He rtghtlully informed us that
he has no jurisdiction in getting
Judge Chargin off the bench.
However, what shocked us is that
Judge Kelly was not sufficiently
morally shocked by Judge Chargin's behavior to support us even
philosophically. "
Sanchez said that the community is in a very volatile mood and
that •anything could happen."
Chargin, 65, member of an old
San Jose family of ranchers told
newsmen that • juvenile c ~ u rt
proceedings are private !or the
protection of the minor and the
family involved.
•only those persons directly
concerned are a 11 ow e d to be
present. For this reason it is
difficult to comment as fully and
freely as otherwise might be the
case."
people, animals and Hitler, the
Excerpts from the transcript
boy's attorney, Fred Lucero, Inwhich showed what Chargin said
terrupted.
were distributed by the California
•Your honor, I don't think I
Rural Legal Assistance and the
can sit here and listen to that
Community Service Organizasort of thing."
tion, a Mexican-Americangroup.
The judge answered, •You're
The names of the juveniles ingoing to have to listen to it bevolved were not disclosed in the
cause I consider this a very vulexcerpts dlstributed.
gar rotten human being."
The Mexican-American boy
Later, Lucero said, •what apwas charged with incest with his
palls me is that the court is say15-year-old sister, who is menIng that Hitler was right in genotally retarded. The boy claims
cide."
he is innocent and that he pleaded
To that the judge answered:
guilty only because attorneys ad"What are we going to do with
vised him to do so so that the
mad dogs in our society? Either
case would not go to trial.
we have to kill them or send
The boy was arrested after the
them to an institution or place
County W elf are Department
them out of the hands of good
learned about the girl's pregpeople because that's the theory
nancy.
-one theory ofpunisnment is that
Chargin placed the boy on probation. ·
they get to the position that they
want to act like mad dogs, then
Speaking about the remarks
we have to separate them from
that he made in court, Chargin
society."
told newsmen that the distribution
In his statement to the press
of the excerpts was •not only a
Chargin said that the reason he
disservice to the youth and family
made those statements was that
involved but may involve a viola"it is an accepted fact that these
tion of the law."
lectures (in court) are stated in
The California Rural Legal
harsh terms to impress upon the
Assistance said no law has been
minds of the youth the seriousviolated because the names of
ness of the situation in which
the minors were notdivulged.
they !ind themselves.
The group confirmed that it
•sometimes, the words of the
has complained to the State Julecture are purposely accentudicial Qualifications Commisated and exagerated. However it
sion which has been asked to reis to the ultimate dispositio; of
move Chargin Crom the hench.
this case that one must look.
The judge told newsmen that
•1n this case the youth was re"I am compelled to set the recturned to his grandmother, as a
ord straight in this regard. The
ward of the court under supercase involved the admitted unvision of the Juvenile Probation
natural crime of incest between
Department, which followed the
a 17-year-old hoy and his 15recommendation of the Juvenile
year-old sister, who is now pregProbation Department.
nant. Without revealing more of
•surnce it to say, much harshthe facts, it was a situation which
er alternative d~spositions were
was so revolting it offended my
available to me."
sense of m oral i t y and conscien e."
The U.S. Comm1ssion on Civil
Rights said that it would investiChargin said that he is not
gate the matter.
prejudiced a g a i II st any thnic
group.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Mex•r am pleased to say that my ican-American community inSan
eutire adult life. both in the law Jose said they wer having trouble keeping militants from taking
and on th Superior Court bench
has been an effort and a strivin~ drasti steps.
for Justice for all.
Pinnon said the Mexic n•The most recent example of A merican community would be
thi is my nomination of the only satisfied only with the removal
Mexican-American indi v1dual of Chargin from the bench. He
presently serving on the County said that although it is true that
Grand Jury."
Judge Kelly cannot remove CharAl Pi nnon, head of the San Jose gin, he does have the authority
Community Service Organiza- to transfer him from the juvenile
tion, told newsmen that Chargin's court.
"But Judge Kelly is not willing
remarks were "racist bigoted
biased and defamator/ to all in~ to do even that," Pinnon said. "It
dividuals of Mexican ancestry and seems to us that Judge Kelly has
we cannot in good conscience, a moral responsibility here as
far as the Mexican-American
remain silent •. ! "
According to the court tran- community is concerned to at
script, right after Chargin made least side with us philosophihis remarks about the Mexican cally. We cannot have this sort
of man (Chargin) on the bench.•
1
:,~"',r"'-.. ' //st,.
a-.
The·Judge Who
Invoked Hitler
(This is a reprint from an Oct.
10 Fresno Bee Editorial, written
by C. K. Mc Clatchy, executive
editor)
CLOSEST SCRUTINY - The
Honorable Gerald S. Chargln, a
judge of the Superior Court in
San Jose, recently made the astonishing statement Adolf Hitler
possibly was on the right track
when he organized a program of
genocide.
Now there are a lot of kooks
and nuts running around loose
expressing some pretty wild
ideas. Most of them are harmless and should be ignored. After
all, tree speech should be available to everyone, even a blithering idiot, as long as he does
not shout "fire• in a crowded
theater.
But Judge Chargin is something different than the village
screwball preaching his nonsense
to his wife or a trapped neighbor.
The judge is a public
servant whose function is to
render
even-handed justice.
The judge expressed his outrageous belief while he was
sitting on the bench. It was
made on company time, so to
speak, and therefore deserves the
closest scrutiny of the public.
It occurred when Chargin was
presiding at a juvenile hearing
involving a 17-year-old boy accused of having incestuous relations with his Hi-year-old
retarded sister. The youth, an
American of Mexican descent,
maintained his innocence.
He
said he pleaded guilty only on
advice of counsel.•
DIATRIBE -- Judge Chargin
then launched into a diatribe
which was at once disgraceful
and irrational. He said the boy
should be sent •back to Mexico•
and then attacked all people of
Mexican descent.
•You are lower than animals
and haven't the right to live in
organized
society- -just miserable, rotten people." He added: •Maybe Hitler was right.
The animals
in our society
probably ought to be destroyed
because they have no right to
live among human beings."
Not content with associating
himself with the barbarous racial practices of Hitler, the judge
levelled a series of personally insulting comments.
He told this 17-year-old boy
he •ought to commit suicide."
Suicide is a crime against hu-
manity, yet Judge Chargin gives
this advice while speaking as a
judge.
In an entirely gratuitous remark about the sister of the boy,
the judge said she probably will
have a half a dozen children
and three or four marriages before she is 18. What right does
he have to so speculate and so
insult
this
unfortunate retarded child? Where is· compassion in such mouthings of a
Jurist?
SLUR - There is something
particularly degrading and unfair
about
attacks on individuals tied to racial slurs.
A man can disprove or deny the
unfair
charge he is a thief,
a wife-beater
or just plain
dumb, but it is almost impossible
for an individual to counter
the insinuations heaped upon
an entire race.
Even more to the point, racial
slurs are inaccurate. Generally
they are based on prejudiced
lack of understanding. Judge
Chargin in his comments has
cast aspersions on a whole category of people - in this case
those Americans who happen to
be of Mexican descent. The fact
his insinuations
are so outrageous they reveal their own
bigoted falseness does not change
the need for a review of Judge
Chargin's fitness to sit on the
bench in judgement of his fellow
men.
He dares to do this to a people
for whom California reserves
special affection. For the Mexican and Spanish heritage, in this
far West state, is predated
only by the Indian, and much of
that heritage is common, now, in
the California culture. Rotten
people? Look to the grand architecture brought to the California
landscape, to the gentle influence of the Mexican in the songs
recalled from
California's
founding years. to the spleHdid
record of citizenship found in
those communities wherever
the American of Mexican descent
gathes. Chargin's was an almost unbelievable insult.
Judge Chargin has made it
clear he lacks the compassion
and the understanding to sit in a
seat of judgment. If he wants to
be. a bigot, that is his business--so long as he does it on
his time. But when he uses his
position as a judge to spew nonsense of this dark nature it ls
time for him to leave the bench-·
gracefully in retirement or disgracefully through recall.
By Ricardo Duran
Dr. Frederic Ness, president
of Fresno State College, quit
October 7th. Why did he quit?
He had already resigned, but his
resignation doesn't become effective for two more months.
President Ness felt he was not
able to continue even for that
length of time. It is obvious that
P resident Ness was under too
much pressure. Pressure from
the students who demanded the
rights of Marvin X, pressure
from the faculty, pressure from
the Chancellor's office, and who
knows how much pressure from
President Ness' own conscience.
So, unable to face the students
anymore, or even look his faculty
i n the eye, Dr. Frederic Ness
walked off his job.
In order to fully understand
some of the motivation for Dr.
Ness' action, and to determine
what the net effect of his action
will be, let us review some of
the events that have taken place
at Fresno State the past few
days. For it's in these events,
in his remarks, the reasons he
gave , and the outright lies that
he told that we can find the reasons for the building up of the
pressures that led to his quitting.
On Thursday, October 2nd, Dr.
Frederic Ness, President of
Fresno State College called a
conference for the press, radio
and television media. At this
time he issued a prepared statement to the effect that he had
fired one of the professors who
is currently teaching three
courses on the Fresno StateCollege campus for the Black Studies
program. Dr. Ness then went on
to list the reasons for his decision.
The students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department here
at Fresno State, after numerous
meetings with Dr. Ness have
found his rhetoric insincere, his
statements often outright lies,
and his general qualifications for
hiring and firing people of minority groups to be totally inadequate.
we know, as will be shown
here, that not only has he lied
to our faces but has released
misleading information to the
mass media.
To begin with, let us examine
in detail Dr. Frederic Ness'
"reasonsn as he gave them tothe
mass media:
1. •. • . the candidate under
consideration did not meet the
usually expected qualifications."
2. •misrepresentations in the
candidate's employment application, dated August 11, 1969. n
3. "Further investigation disclosed that he is under indictment on felony charges in the
u.s. District court, San Francisco."
4. •, . • his renunciation of
U.s. citizenship .•. "
5, •The record of his teaching
experience was unclear •.. "
6. •. • . that his academic
qualificatior.<. for membership in
the Fresno State College faculty
were minimal,"
All of these •reasons" were
submitted to the official legal
counsel for all State Colleges,
the Chancellor's Office and the
decision by this legal ~uthorlty
(President Ness' own legal counsel also) is that none ofthe above
six reasons constitute any legal
basis whatsoever for firing or
not hiring Marvin X or anyone
else.
To begin with, five of the six
charges are vague and unclear.
Only NoA 4 is a specific charge,
and this charge , as with Nos. 2
and 3 are basically the same issue, which is: Marvin X's refusal
of induction into the Viet Nam
draft on religious principles.
The other charges, Nos. 1, 5
and 6, are so vague as to render
them almost inadequate for discussion. In fact, Nos. 1 and 6 are
actually the same charge but
camouflaged in different words.
First the charge that Marvin X
"did not meet the usually expected qualifications n.
We students and faculty of the
Ethnic Studies Department were
not looking for instructors with
"the usually expected qualifica. tions ". Those instructors are the
main reason for educationalfailure generally and the basic reason for the educational alienation
of minority groups from the educational experience . It has been
these instructors with the •usually expected qualifications" which
have brought the minorities to
the present level of educational
attainment - a miserable nothing! It is these same instructors
that have made the general curriculum for all students so meaningless today, let alone have any
relevancy to the culturally different, economically deprived,
and totally oppressed minorities.
We do not want the same old
garbage that passes for •educators." We want what's relevant
today for us.
No. 2-The charge that Marvin
X is guilty of • misrepre ·entations" in his application is an
outright lie by President Ness.
The vague charge without specifics alludes to the s.c.1 form
which asks prospective employees if they have ever been
"convicted" of any charges other
than traffic citations. M uvin answered •No"--it is true he
is presently under Federal Indictment (#3) for his refusal
to be dratted, but he has not been
convicted.
Charge #3 is the only concrete
charge, #3 is related to #2 and
$4. Marvin X is under indictment for his stand on VietNam.
Muslims do not believe in the
war in Viet Nam and their religious convictions, like those of
the Mormons and Quakers (both
white groups) currently employed
on the Fresno State Faculty,
will not allow him to aid any
agressive war without losing his
moral integrity and breakinghis
religious conviction. This charge
is an encroachment on a man's
right to religious belief and no
bas ls for hiring or f1 ring because
it involves a man's religious
conviction. Marvin X, to emphasize his religious convict-
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1969
ions, and to dramatize his attitude
towards this country's
policles in Viet Nam has publicly
renounced his citizenship. This
is
charge #4.
That's his
right!
Charge #5, that Marvin's
•teaching record is unclear•
is about as unclear as the charge
itself. Supposedly in reference to
past employment it has yet to
be made public what Dr. Ness
is implying.
The last and f i n al charge,
"that his academic qualifications for membership in the
F'resno State
College were
11inimal" is o! course the same
!harge as #1 in different words.
3ut while the words are differmt the charge is just as meaningless.
Let us look at Marvin X's qualifications. What are they? Mar vin X has been a teacher, a
poet . a playwright, editor, ac tor , director and numerous other
things. His books of poetry
and proverbs and his dramas are
his main contribution to the literature of the Black movem e ntin
this country. He has studied under Le Roi Jones, the foremost Black poet today (Mr.
Jones wrote a superlative reference for Marvin X in endorsing his hiring here at Fresno
State). He has written and directed plays in co-operation with
Le Roi Jones. Marvin X has
edited Black Poetry Anthologies.
He has been guest editor for
"Black Theatre", nationally recognized as •the" organ for drama
in the Black Community. He has
even written valid critiques on1
Le Roi Jones' works. He has
taught at innumerable theater
work shops, admittedly outside
the traditional educational structure, but this experience seems
to be completely overlooked or
disregarded as immaterial by
Dr. Ness.
I could go on about Marvin X's
qualifications, but it is obvious
that it is not Marvin X's qualifications which are in question,
his qualifications are sound. It
was
really President Ness's
qualifications which should have
been questioned. Why did Dr.
Ness think that he could judge
what is good for minorities? What
makes Dr. Ness such an authority on what we minorities should
or should not have? Nothing! Nothing but the same old white
man's paternalistic philosophy
that he and only he knows what's
good for us.
It is this assumption, welfare
colonialism in an educational bag,
which has brought us minorities
to the oppressed position we are
in today. We must determine
what we know is relevant for
us. We must be able to have
self-determination and departmental autonomy in hiring and
firing as all departments should,
whether they are the English,
Spanish, or any other department.
We can no longer let inconsiderate white puppet administrators lie to our faces and
run things for us.
President Ness states at the
end of paragraph one of Page 2
in his statement that he went
along with the recommendation
by Dean Burtner, the Dean of
Arts and Sciences, Later President Ness reversed himself and
at this date has changed his
endorsement of Marvin X's recommendation.
Why? Why did
President Ness first endorse
Marvin X's recommendation then
change his mind? Pressure? Reactionary pressure from people
who have threatened him in regard t9 his future job in Washington? President Frederic Ness
has stated in paragraph two
that Dean Burtner •at his own
initiative, withdrew his recommendation in writing•. This ls a
llet Dean Burtner has never
shaken in his strong recommendation that Marvin X should
be hired.
In fact he publicly
re-stated his endorsement for
hiring at the Friday Oct. 3rd
Press Conference for TV-Radio
and press; he also stated that
he had Jn fact never. Withdrawn
the recommendation. Why does
Dr. Ness lie?
Why the lies? Are the pressures from outside so great that
they threaten President Ness 's
future employment? Has this been
the reason for President Ness'
puppet like performance? And
perhaps the reason behind
his evasive answers to simple
questions and his vague trumped
up charges?
It is obvious that President
Ness was a victim-a victim of
outside forces from Los Angeles, through the person of Chancellor Dumke and from Sacramento - the Reagan administration .
rr Chancellor Dumke is to rule
judicially ln this instance, he
should consult his own legal
department who have ruled that
there is no legal basis for not
hiring Marvin X.
These outside agitators are
missusing the power entrusted
to them by the public, to destroy
the only fresh approach to
minority higher
education in
Fresno. Can education be that
dangerous? For there is a good
possibility that 1f this program
at Fresno State is successful
it could serve as a model for
the rest of the state college
system. This is something
the Reagan administration would
sorely hate to see.
It is evident that Dr. Ness was
being pressured by the Chancellor's office. He was pressured
to the extent that he reversed
his stand from that of re com mending Marvin X to that of having to fight for his dismissal.
But Dr. Ness lacked the fortitude to stick to his own original
conviction and then even to face
the music for his reversal.
So Dr. Ness has left us - even
left town!
Another instance of lying or
withholding information has been
the President's meetings with
concerned faculty and students.
As an example, Pres. Ness held
a meeting on Oct. 2nd--the date
of his scheduled press conference, with students and faculty at which time the concern
was whether he was indeed going to flre Marvin X. Although
his scheduled press conference
was less than an hour away he
refused to tell the students and
faculty of his decision and went
so far as to tell them •I don't
know" when they asked him where
he would hold hls conference.
The students, not able to believe
that the President of Fresno State
College did not know where he
had scheduled his own mass
media conference , asked him
again. Again Dr. Ness replied
"I don't know!• Faculty member Davis then asked why he did
not know and the President replied that when the arrangements
were made he was out of the office. Prof. Davis then asked him
if he could then find out for us.
The President then replied that
he could but would not. When asked
why he shouted to us, •Because
it's none of your business".
This and other instances of
insincerity have made the faculty and students of the Ethnic
Studies Department adamant in
our stand for departmental autonomy and self determination
For the record, Dr. Ness originally scheduled his conference for the Little Arena Theater on campus, then in an effort
to exclude all Ethnic Studies
personnel from attending, secretly changed it to Room #187 at the
Ramada Inn. But we were able
to find out this information and
the President again changed the
locale, making sure that none of
the concerned parties would be
able to attend.
Why? Why is the Ethnic Studies Program being harassed.
(Why did Campus Police cause
undue harassment to a Chicano
history Class on September 23rd)
and why are we not allowed to
determine our own needs? The
charges by the President are
obviousy misleading and unjustifiable. The only decision
we as minorities can come to is
the same old reason, Racism.
Marvin X's Blackness is the
issue.
"It is not a
question of
militancy,
.
but of
. ,,
survival.
Unfading Arrogance i Ya Basta Con Los .. •
In The New World Educational Inadequacies!
By Pedro Gonzalez, Jr.
In 1492 small groups of scientitlcally inclined persons felt
satisfied they had been in every
corner of the world. Columbus
didn't want to ftnd a new world.
He just wanted to ft.nd a new route
te India an~ load up his vessel
with silks and spices.
Suddenly, in front of him, was
a new stretch of land. He thought
he was close to his goal, the Indies, so he called these people
"Indians".
Then tales of a New World
brought amazement to the Old
World of golden men and silver
cities.
The Spanish recovered •devolada" from their amazement.
Even though the New World had
unfamiliar things, one familiar
thing it did have was •oro".
The rest was unimportant. The
people already occupying the New
World were looked upon as temporary owners, and claim jumpers, to be disregarded as possible
possessors of land. Then there
was a great deal of discussion
about the natives "alma•. Many
of the so-called theologically inclined persons surmized that the
by Cynthia Ramirez
The educational system in CalIndians had no souls and therefore, were not "humano•. Can a ifornia leaves much to be desired. The purpose of public
beast possess land and wealth?
schools ts to educate the entire
"No!" shouted the gold seekers.
Then European arrogance reach- public and not a select few who
happen to be Anglo-Saxon or any
ed its height by claiming posrace tor that matter.
session of land already occuMinority students do not wish
pied by sedentary and civilized
to be given so-called •favors•
people.
for no reason at all. They
What right in the world did
desire, like the Anglos, to be
these people have to cast judgegiven an equal opportunity to proment over the most civilized
gress at the same rate as other
people of the world. To say they
students in their age or academic
were beasts and couldn't pobracket. These students canssess land.
not be ignored or refused the
They couldn't even answer
privilege of an excellent educatheir own questions of how they
received the i r knowledge and d tion, when in fact, it is rightfully theirs. In spite of this,
arts. The reason for th 1,200
the entire educational system
dialects they spoke? Such quescaters to the upper middle class
tions were never answered obAnglos and almost refuses to
viously, no one could be as' culrecognize the needs or minority
tured as the egotistical people
groups.
of the Old World. •These stupid
Many anglos who profess to be
natives, who were conquered,
adhering to or helping minority
could not possibly have evolved
students feel that minority groups
to such high culture by themare receiving equal educationselves." Some neighbor had to
al opportunities; when in fact,
be responsible for these splendid
minority students are being
courts, temples and other marvelous works or art. Such was .placed into a system foreign to
their way of life. Young mithe basis or the haughty European
nority students are handicapped
reasoning (disease) which still
almost as soon as they enter
manitests itself today.
school. For example, many Mex•VIVA LA RAZA"
ican-American children speak
little or no English upon entering school, yet they are still
placed into competition with their
Anglo pee rs who have, on the most
part, spoken English all their
lives. These Mexican-Americans
have as strong· desires and capacities to achieve and become responsible cltizens as any other
students. It ' ts almost impossible
for these children to achieve
in an allen atmosphere in which
instructors have no desire to take
time out to help them ln any way.
Minority children who fall into glos who ao uv~ wish to take the
this category are often forced time, on the most part, to unto repeat a grade again for lack derstand the true functions of
of understanding. When a student these special programs.
is kept back, the fear of failure
The social atmosphere of tooften inhibits his capacity to day's
educational institutions
succeed and thus he regresses could also be improved. Inmore and more and finally has forming Anglo students of Mexno desire whatsoever to be in an lean-American or Afro-Amerieducational institution of any kind. can cultures would improve stuHe then becomes one of the sta- dent relationships much more.
tisttcian's so-called •drop-outs" There is almost no need to edufrom school and also from so- cate the minority races on Anciety.
glo culture slnce they have had
Failure
breeds rebellion, to cope with it all their lives.
therefore riots and violence are Along with the knowledge and
often the outcome. Failure also reco~nitlon of minority culture
breeds continual failure which would come an understanding
increases in importance and sig- and acceptance of these groups
nificance as time goes on. This by all. Ignorance or misunderfailure caused by lack of edu- standing concerning minority
cation often promotes early mar- values etc. often leads to a misriage the end result being more conceived idea of an entire race
unsatisfactorily educated child- in general and does not allow
ren with whom society must con- for individuality. An understandtend sooner or later. It would ing between Anglos and minority
be so much easier to supply suf- groups would promote a lastficient
instructional aids to ing friendship among all stuthese children than to have to dents, which in turn would erecope with them in penal insti- ate an atmosphere congenial to
tutions or welfare agencies where better education. If a student
twice as much money is being does not enjoy attending an inspent.
stitution of education it will
Money, which seems to be the be that much harder for him to
point in question, should be allo- concentrate on the work at hand.
cated to improve educational opIf the control of the educaportunlties in early primary
tional systemsinCalifornladonot
institutions and not solely for become aware of our school's
those students who happen to
plight, educating our youth will
pull through high school despite
not be as effective as it could
their handicaps. Take, for inbe. One can be sure, however,
stance, the E. O. P. program at
that a change is bound to come
Fresno State. This ls an exin time. The youth of today is
ceptional program for lowbecoming more and more aware
income students considering the
of the inequality of most insti!act that it would be unfeasible
tutions in America nd will
for many of these students to
strive to make this world a better
attend an institute of higher learnplace for all concerned. The Aning 1! it wasn't for the money alglo cannot survive without the
located, and yet even though this
"Brown" or "Black" and vicets a beginning, it has been under
versa. If we do not find a betgreat dispute, again by the Anter way of educating our youth,
what wlll be the fate of tomorrows
children?
How Much longer In Vietnam t
By Charley Rueda
Chicanas Unite To
Form Las Adelitas
"Adelitas" is the nameofanew
organization on campus. It ts
composed of Fresno State. College women, of which the ~jority are Chicanas.
•Adema" ls the name of -the
revolutionary song sung by the
revolutionaries during the Mexican Revolution. The name • AdeUta • slgnitles the fighting woman
of the revolution, the "soldadera •, who was a great help to
the revolutionary c au s e • She,
"Adellta", was a nurse soldier
and cook.
'
'
The organization has threepurp0ses, 1) to project, promote
and develop the role of the woman 1n the field of education·
2) to work in conjunction wtth-o~
people in determining our destiny; and 3) to ofter our services
to community and campus organizations.
Our first project 1s a Hallow-
een Party for underprivileged
children.
On October 25, members of
• A~ell.ta-s.!._are going to attend a
.conference in Los Angeles.
·n is° 'tieing . sponsored by the
Councll·-otM ext can-American
Women. 'I'he conference ls designed to increase our knowledge
of Mexlcan-Arriertcan people and
out culture, the program will be
in thrEHit parts: Education, Economics and Politics.
The officers of • Adelitas" are
Linda Padilla, President; Sus~
Medina, Vlce.-President; Frances
Pere~ Secretary, Victoria Chacon, Treasurer; -nor a Zuniga,
. Historian; and Jb)se Gonzalez,
PubUclty·Chsl-rman.
Anyone interested in g¢ng may
contact any of the- officers at
Baker Hall 119. Dues are- 50
cents a semester.
Victoria Chacon
It comes with a conscious sense
ot shock that I realize another
year in Viet Nam is coming to a
close. How many years has it
been now? Four? Five? It's been
an eternity for thousands of men,
young men, like you.
Young men who left home for
war with the conviction that
we were in the right. At least,
that's what the U.S. Senate and
the President told them. Do you
remember which President that
was?
It seems that our great and
powerful Navy had been attacked
by the enemy, or so it was
thought. Later, much later, the
possibility of a mistake became
public knowledge, but by then the
bombs were falling and we had
become a Nation committed.
The world cries out for salvation and America bleeds.
War is very destructive. It's
frightening, it's funny, it's sad,
dirty; wet., hot, and uncomfortable. It isn't very patriotic.
The girls are missing, no
oFass bands, no _
nag waving,
just you and the war.
There isn't a more exposed
feeling than crossing a rice paddy
on a -clear, quiet morning. The
mud grabbing at your boots, sweat
running down your bodf, and the
oppressive heat. It's very easy
to die in a war.
Have you lost a brother? A
husband? A friend? How many
future doctors, lawyers, teachers, and students has the nation
lost? Does anyone really care, or
is a committment more important? There aren't enough John
Waynes to win the war.
Today, there isn't a politician in the United States that
can possibly justify the wa:r any
longer. When that's admitted,
maybe we can really be ..big",
swallow our pride and m1stakes
and come home.
Winston Churchill's famous
V-symbol, of years past, stands
not for victory, but for Peace.
Truth and
Not Fallacy
By Manuel Pickett
All through the twelve years
of
early education I as a
Chicano have been taught that
my forefathers were nothing
but a band of bandits robbing
and raping women throughout
the country. That our women
were shameful women, we.men
with no values or moral aspects.
It has stereotyped the Chicano as
being interior and has left us with
an inferior pain, which has a
continuous effect, the inferiority
complex.
All these fallacies are a lot
of Bullshit. But yet we are conditioned to believe them! A few
years ago a program was started which had to do with a true
identity of the Chicano. In this
program, headed under ethnic
studies, the true concept of the
Chicano is r eve a 1 e d • •Truth-and not Fallacy" was the basis
of this program. Here we
learned that our forefathers
were not bandits, but every day
people. Some were fighting
against an unjust government.
Our women were not •cheap•
but religious and brave. From
childhood they were taught to follow the men wherever they went,
even to battle, and not leading
· the men like in this Anglo society.
With these programs the Chicano found a little spark of light
within the structure, something
we could relate to without the
. fear of being cheated.
Chicana
By Jesus de la Mancha
Mujer, con sangre
De todo el mundo.
Mas guapa no hay,
Chula, bonita, maravilla del Sol.
No man anywhere can
Deny the lure of the universal
Woman.
Sensual, tender, compassionate,
Violently humble.
Tu sonrisa, tus pensamientos,
Y palabras por labios
de tentacion
Nos dicen de la
Intel legencia que quieres
esconder.
A face that has enslaved men
Since I ave made the first rose
blush
Continues to mystify and
captivate,
Through natural brown radiance.
Machos, hijos de Mal inche,
Tienen nomas una debi I idad,
La angel quc viene del ol,
i hicana!
I have no money
I travel the countryside
And you reply Communist
as you nail me to the cross •.•
Jose Rendon
The Daily Collegian
Publhhed five days
a week except holi•·
days and examln•·
tion periods by the
Fresno State Colle&e
Anoclation. Mail subscriptions S8 a
■ eme ■ter, $JS a year. Editorial of•
flce, Bualneas 235, telephone 487•
2170. Business office, Coll•&• Union
316, telephone 487-2266.
MAJORITY
Leaves arc dying in the darkness
Trees are rotting
And the fat man laughs
The I iving are dead
corpses ar walking
His world is a vacuum
And New York is lonely
Hearts are bursting
Spewing blood which is thirsty
It smears itself on:
Cars, color T.V .'sand clothes
Machines are walking
Thinking, eating, dying
His birth is an abortion
His life a miscarriage
He loves only his urine
His salvation is assured
He paid ten dollars
He is like a bird without wings
A pie without filling
In essence he has no soul
And yet!
He vomits I iberty, equality
and justice for al I
God let him die
that he may I ive
Jorge Leos
I am the revolutionary
my skin is brown
my beard and the hair
that hangs over my shoulders
are black
and preach things that
are not seen here
I speak of love -for
mankind and brotherhood
I say that I ife is precious
and not to be destroyed
I tel I you to feed
those that hunger
and' to c I othe the
naked
I L ENT
MOUNTAI-N
I journey up the graceful slope
my attitude
one of a conqueror
to the very top
of her majestic crown
Fighting
for every foothold
till I'm short of breath
and sweaty
For her majesty is not easily
conquered
1-tttttttttft
But I am ruthless
in the war I wage
and you snap
under my boot
as I destroy the s i I ence
of your sanctuary
Your subjects defending you
take my foot
and I stumble
palcing your rich brown soul
against my face
I feel the warmth and beauty
of your untamed self
as I ponder over your freedom
Now I am envious of you
and I hate you
for owning what can never be
mine
So I enslave you
with concrete
and pretend
that your spirit is broken
Jose Rendon
y
._
Latin Slurs Bring; Call For
Judge's Removal,
As printed in the LOS ANGELES
TIMES, October 2, 1969
By Ruben Salazar
Los Angeles Times staff Writer
SAN JOSE-Demands mounted
here Wednesday (October 1) for
the resignation of a Superior
Court judge who made anti-Mexican remarks from the bench and
said •Maybe Hitler was right
about destroying the animals in
our society."
A court transcript shows that
Judge Gerald S. Chargin in sentencing a 17-year-old MexicanAmerican boy for incest said:
• ••• Mexican people after 13
years of age, think it is perfectly
all right to go out and act like
an animal . • . we ought to send
you out of the country - send you
back to Mexico. You belong in
prison for the rest of your life
for doing things of this kind. You
ought to commit suicide ••. "
The judge then went on to say
that •Maybe Hitler was right. The
animals in our society probably
ought to be destroyed because
they have no right to live among
human beings •.• "
Wednesday about 200 members
of Mexican-American organizations and civil right groups picketed the Superior Court building
in downtown San Jose. This city
of 450,000 people has the largest
Spanish surname population in
urban Northern California.
A meeting between community
representatives an d presiding
judge Joseph Kelly was unproductive, according to Paul Sanchez, chairman of the graduate
school of Social Work at San
Jose State College.
•Judge Kelly informed about
30 leaders oftheMexican-American communlty that he could do
nothing," Sanchez said.
•He rtghtlully informed us that
he has no jurisdiction in getting
Judge Chargin off the bench.
However, what shocked us is that
Judge Kelly was not sufficiently
morally shocked by Judge Chargin's behavior to support us even
philosophically. "
Sanchez said that the community is in a very volatile mood and
that •anything could happen."
Chargin, 65, member of an old
San Jose family of ranchers told
newsmen that • juvenile c ~ u rt
proceedings are private !or the
protection of the minor and the
family involved.
•only those persons directly
concerned are a 11 ow e d to be
present. For this reason it is
difficult to comment as fully and
freely as otherwise might be the
case."
people, animals and Hitler, the
Excerpts from the transcript
boy's attorney, Fred Lucero, Inwhich showed what Chargin said
terrupted.
were distributed by the California
•Your honor, I don't think I
Rural Legal Assistance and the
can sit here and listen to that
Community Service Organizasort of thing."
tion, a Mexican-Americangroup.
The judge answered, •You're
The names of the juveniles ingoing to have to listen to it bevolved were not disclosed in the
cause I consider this a very vulexcerpts dlstributed.
gar rotten human being."
The Mexican-American boy
Later, Lucero said, •what apwas charged with incest with his
palls me is that the court is say15-year-old sister, who is menIng that Hitler was right in genotally retarded. The boy claims
cide."
he is innocent and that he pleaded
To that the judge answered:
guilty only because attorneys ad"What are we going to do with
vised him to do so so that the
mad dogs in our society? Either
case would not go to trial.
we have to kill them or send
The boy was arrested after the
them to an institution or place
County W elf are Department
them out of the hands of good
learned about the girl's pregpeople because that's the theory
nancy.
-one theory ofpunisnment is that
Chargin placed the boy on probation. ·
they get to the position that they
want to act like mad dogs, then
Speaking about the remarks
we have to separate them from
that he made in court, Chargin
society."
told newsmen that the distribution
In his statement to the press
of the excerpts was •not only a
Chargin said that the reason he
disservice to the youth and family
made those statements was that
involved but may involve a viola"it is an accepted fact that these
tion of the law."
lectures (in court) are stated in
The California Rural Legal
harsh terms to impress upon the
Assistance said no law has been
minds of the youth the seriousviolated because the names of
ness of the situation in which
the minors were notdivulged.
they !ind themselves.
The group confirmed that it
•sometimes, the words of the
has complained to the State Julecture are purposely accentudicial Qualifications Commisated and exagerated. However it
sion which has been asked to reis to the ultimate dispositio; of
move Chargin Crom the hench.
this case that one must look.
The judge told newsmen that
•1n this case the youth was re"I am compelled to set the recturned to his grandmother, as a
ord straight in this regard. The
ward of the court under supercase involved the admitted unvision of the Juvenile Probation
natural crime of incest between
Department, which followed the
a 17-year-old hoy and his 15recommendation of the Juvenile
year-old sister, who is now pregProbation Department.
nant. Without revealing more of
•surnce it to say, much harshthe facts, it was a situation which
er alternative d~spositions were
was so revolting it offended my
available to me."
sense of m oral i t y and conscien e."
The U.S. Comm1ssion on Civil
Rights said that it would investiChargin said that he is not
gate the matter.
prejudiced a g a i II st any thnic
group.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Mex•r am pleased to say that my ican-American community inSan
eutire adult life. both in the law Jose said they wer having trouble keeping militants from taking
and on th Superior Court bench
has been an effort and a strivin~ drasti steps.
for Justice for all.
Pinnon said the Mexic n•The most recent example of A merican community would be
thi is my nomination of the only satisfied only with the removal
Mexican-American indi v1dual of Chargin from the bench. He
presently serving on the County said that although it is true that
Grand Jury."
Judge Kelly cannot remove CharAl Pi nnon, head of the San Jose gin, he does have the authority
Community Service Organiza- to transfer him from the juvenile
tion, told newsmen that Chargin's court.
"But Judge Kelly is not willing
remarks were "racist bigoted
biased and defamator/ to all in~ to do even that," Pinnon said. "It
dividuals of Mexican ancestry and seems to us that Judge Kelly has
we cannot in good conscience, a moral responsibility here as
far as the Mexican-American
remain silent •. ! "
According to the court tran- community is concerned to at
script, right after Chargin made least side with us philosophihis remarks about the Mexican cally. We cannot have this sort
of man (Chargin) on the bench.•
1
:,~"',r"'-.. ' //st,.
a-.
The·Judge Who
Invoked Hitler
(This is a reprint from an Oct.
10 Fresno Bee Editorial, written
by C. K. Mc Clatchy, executive
editor)
CLOSEST SCRUTINY - The
Honorable Gerald S. Chargln, a
judge of the Superior Court in
San Jose, recently made the astonishing statement Adolf Hitler
possibly was on the right track
when he organized a program of
genocide.
Now there are a lot of kooks
and nuts running around loose
expressing some pretty wild
ideas. Most of them are harmless and should be ignored. After
all, tree speech should be available to everyone, even a blithering idiot, as long as he does
not shout "fire• in a crowded
theater.
But Judge Chargin is something different than the village
screwball preaching his nonsense
to his wife or a trapped neighbor.
The judge is a public
servant whose function is to
render
even-handed justice.
The judge expressed his outrageous belief while he was
sitting on the bench. It was
made on company time, so to
speak, and therefore deserves the
closest scrutiny of the public.
It occurred when Chargin was
presiding at a juvenile hearing
involving a 17-year-old boy accused of having incestuous relations with his Hi-year-old
retarded sister. The youth, an
American of Mexican descent,
maintained his innocence.
He
said he pleaded guilty only on
advice of counsel.•
DIATRIBE -- Judge Chargin
then launched into a diatribe
which was at once disgraceful
and irrational. He said the boy
should be sent •back to Mexico•
and then attacked all people of
Mexican descent.
•You are lower than animals
and haven't the right to live in
organized
society- -just miserable, rotten people." He added: •Maybe Hitler was right.
The animals
in our society
probably ought to be destroyed
because they have no right to
live among human beings."
Not content with associating
himself with the barbarous racial practices of Hitler, the judge
levelled a series of personally insulting comments.
He told this 17-year-old boy
he •ought to commit suicide."
Suicide is a crime against hu-
manity, yet Judge Chargin gives
this advice while speaking as a
judge.
In an entirely gratuitous remark about the sister of the boy,
the judge said she probably will
have a half a dozen children
and three or four marriages before she is 18. What right does
he have to so speculate and so
insult
this
unfortunate retarded child? Where is· compassion in such mouthings of a
Jurist?
SLUR - There is something
particularly degrading and unfair
about
attacks on individuals tied to racial slurs.
A man can disprove or deny the
unfair
charge he is a thief,
a wife-beater
or just plain
dumb, but it is almost impossible
for an individual to counter
the insinuations heaped upon
an entire race.
Even more to the point, racial
slurs are inaccurate. Generally
they are based on prejudiced
lack of understanding. Judge
Chargin in his comments has
cast aspersions on a whole category of people - in this case
those Americans who happen to
be of Mexican descent. The fact
his insinuations
are so outrageous they reveal their own
bigoted falseness does not change
the need for a review of Judge
Chargin's fitness to sit on the
bench in judgement of his fellow
men.
He dares to do this to a people
for whom California reserves
special affection. For the Mexican and Spanish heritage, in this
far West state, is predated
only by the Indian, and much of
that heritage is common, now, in
the California culture. Rotten
people? Look to the grand architecture brought to the California
landscape, to the gentle influence of the Mexican in the songs
recalled from
California's
founding years. to the spleHdid
record of citizenship found in
those communities wherever
the American of Mexican descent
gathes. Chargin's was an almost unbelievable insult.
Judge Chargin has made it
clear he lacks the compassion
and the understanding to sit in a
seat of judgment. If he wants to
be. a bigot, that is his business--so long as he does it on
his time. But when he uses his
position as a judge to spew nonsense of this dark nature it ls
time for him to leave the bench-·
gracefully in retirement or disgracefully through recall.