La Voz de Aztlan, October 16 1986
Item
Title
La Voz de Aztlan, October 16 1986
Creator
Associated Students of Fresno State
Relation
La Voz de Aztlan (Daily Collegian, California State University, Fresno)
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
10/16/1986
Format
PDF
Identifier
SCUA_lvda_00166
extracted text
La Voz de Aztlan
Calijornia State University, Fresno
The Daily Collegian
Thursday, Oct. 16, 1986
Initiative sparks debate
By Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Supporters of Proposition 63, the
English as the .o:(ficial language initiative,
believe English can act as a unifyit1g force
in the state.
"Our American heritage is now threatened by language conflicts and ethnic
separation," says the argument favoring
the initiative in the state ballot pamphlet.
Both supporters and opponents agree
that English is the common language in
California, but they sharply disagree on
what will happen if Proposition 63 is
approved by the voters in the Nov. 4
election.
Opponents of the initiative, such as
Californians United Against 63 and state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp
believe it is written too broadly and will
clog the state's courts because of likely
lawsuits to enforce and to challenge it.
They a lso believe making English the
official la nguage will not unify various
ethnic groups in the state but will isolate
them instead .
If it is passed , t he initiative will become ·
an amend ment to the state constitution
and cannot be altered or repealed except
through the init iative process, if problems
occur.
It will also require the legislature to
insure that Engl ish "is preserved and
enhanced," and gives any resident or
person doing busi ness in the state the right
to sue the state if he believes the initiative
is not enforced.
"Those innocent-sounding provisions
are an open invitation to hundreds of
hurtful and frivolous lawsuits," Van de
Kamp said in a prepared statement to a
joint hearing on the proposition in Los
Angeles.
Both the attorney general and a representative for Californians United Against
63, BiJl White, cited Miami's 1980 city
ordinance which allowed English only.
Miami, which has a large Spanishspeaking population, was not allowed to
have signs in Spanish to warn people of a
high-voltage rail in the subway system.
The airport did not have signs in any
language but English, and Haitian mothers
could not receive information in Creole
on how to care for newborn infants. Van
de Kamp said some people even objected
to the use of Latin in listing names of
species at the zoo.
Van de Kamp and White said the
initiative could be used to challenge multilingual emergenc:yservices,interpreters for
court witnesses or instructions to parents
in other languages on how to get their
children immunized.or enrolJed in school.
"I would certainly hope that no sensible
court would entertain such notions here in
California," said Van de Kamp . "But I can
guarantee that some zealous defender of
pure Americanism will raise each and
every one of them in court and set neighbor
against neighbor in the process."
The California English Campaign,
headed by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa
and his associate, Stanley Diamond, says
in its literature that emergency services,
such as 9 I I telephone numbers and other
health, safety and justice services, in other
languages are not threatened.
Diamond was not avalable for comment
at the group's headquarters in San Francisco, but a southern California spokesman, Richard Hughes, said in a telephone
interview that the elimination of such
services is not the intent of the initiative.
He .b~lieves that not having English as
an bffic1al .language hinders thos~t do
not speak 1t from wanting to learn it.
He said bilingual education is a factor
whic~ c~~tributes to ~~ople not learning
E~ghsh . l looked at b1hngual education ,,
sa1~ Hu~hes, "It's only keeping them {n
their native language longer . .,
. He _believe~ st~dents should only be
given mstruction m English so they will
learn the Iangu~ge faster. Hughes, a high
school teacher m Garden Grove, said he
supports English-as-a-second-language
See PROP. 63, page 7
STUDENT OUTREACH
Lawrence Tovar/ La Voz de Aztlan
Ron Avila of campus radio station KFSR 's Radio Chicano interviews a student from Tranquillity High School, on campus as
part of the Chicano Latino Students Association's high school outreach program.
Student reports discrimination
By Leo Valdez
Special to La Voz
Discrimination- The act ofdistinguishing
difference: A showing of partiality or
prejudice.
- Websters New World Dictionary
I believe discrimination is a problem
that is very hard for children to deal
with in our school system. Children
sometimes develop low self-esteem because
their teachers treat them differently
from other kids.
It is especially unfair to children of
racial minority groups. It is not right
for a teacher to stop a child from
speaking their native language in class:
They should be encouraged to speak
both languages.
I had gone from the sixth grade to
the seventh grade in a different school.
My first impression of my teacher,
Mrs. Ledbetter, was that she seemed to
be a very nice lady. A month or two
went by, and I didn't have any problems
with her. We were getting along just
fine .
One day two of my Mexican friends
and l were in Mrs. Led better's class and
we were talking in Spanish. Mrs. Ledbetter suddenly walked in the room
with an angry expression on her face.
She started yelling at us. We wondered
what we had done ·vrnng. She said in
front of the whole class, "You are in
America now, you are not supposed to
speak Spanish." My friends and I were
very embarrased. She told us that we
had to stay after school. She said, "You
must write, I will not speak Spanish in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class, on the chalk
board 250 times."
When I got home I discussed this
problem with my dad. The next morning
my dad decided to talk with the Spanish
speaking parents of the children in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class.
The parents all gathered together
and spoke to the principal, but the
principal told them that they had to
speak with the school board. It took
several months of speaking with the
school board to try to remove Mrs.
Ledbetter. Finally after three months
she was removed from our school.
Mrs. Ledbetter was white and raised
in an area where there were very few
Mexican people, so she wasn't used to
hearing Spanish. The day she was
leaving I asked her why she resented us
speaking Spanish around her. She said,
"Because I didn't understnad what you
were saying, I thought that you were
mocking me or talking abo~t me.
••1 really have no time for students
who don't speak a lot of English. The
other students would be cheated out of
learning time." All this showed me that
she was prejudiced and had low expectations of minority groups.
I've found discrimination at almost
every school I have visited. When 1
started to work for Hester Elementary
School in Farmersville, I was under the
Mini-Court Program (a program that
would have student-teachers help and
work with migrant kids).
I found that the teacher I was assigned
to was very prejudiced. The first day of
work I arrived to her room and she
said , "There they are. Try to work with
them. I have given up."
She had six migrant children sitting
at a large table separated from the
other kids . This made me very angry
because I thought she was being so
unfair to them, and I thought to myself,
"I will try to help these kids as much as
possible."
· The year went by and all six students
were doing as well or better than the
rest of the kids. The teacher was very
surprised and she asked, "What are you
doing with them?" I replied, "All they
needed was someone who could understand their problems."
I knew how they felt because when 1
was younger I had been in the same
See PROBLEM, page 6
=®____
L_a_~_oz_de_A_z_tla_n_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _r._h_u_rs_di_ay_,_o_c_t_.1_6_,_1_9_86_~
Trustees change requirements
By Bill Lerch
La Voz Writer
Also, there is a film that encourages quality of education. But he said they did
high school students to take those college . not look into the effects it might cause in
prep courses. The positive entertainment the inner city and rural areas.
The California State University Board is called "All You Can Dream." This
Because of the rejection to further study
of Trustees recently adopted tougher program stars positive role models like the 1988 requirements by Deukmejian,
requirements for students entering the Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong, the California State Student Association
CSU system straight from high school.
Kareem Abdul Jabaar from the Los is quiet on the issue of the 1988 requireThe requiremnents take affect in 1988 Angeles Lake rs and Pat Morita star of the ments because of it's causing conflict on
and increase the number of college prep- "Karate Kid"to name a few. There is also the board, according to Whalen.
aratory courses needed to 15.
a Spanish version. All of this is to
. The courses include four years of prep- encourage students to look at higher eduM EChA, however, strictly opposess the
aratory english. three years of math, one cation.
1988 Requirements saying that it is "a
year of lab science, one year of govemracist decision" according to the M EChA Statement, two years of a foreign language, one
Associated Students President Bob
wide Task Force on Educational Rights,
year of performing arts, and three years of Whalen says he understands why the
minorities will suffer from the instalation
college-prep electives
Board of Trustees want to improve the of the 1988 requirements. They say that
The California Post Secondary Education Commission and an Assembly bill
proposed plans designed to "evaluate high
school curriculum to implement the 1988
requirements. " The proposals were killed
by Gov. Deukmejian. Because of this, 17
By~o~t: > . . J
percent of California high schools do not
SJl!pial
· · ·• ·
offer some courses to meet the 1988
requirements.
Teena
According to Frances Pena, mostly
,problem
minority students will be affected . A
teell;lge
coordinator of the Student Affirmative
In th
Action program, Pena says, "Getting sturnillf
dents and minority students in the college, ,Stat
prep classes is our main goal."
•· ·l •o'•••,H,
The program under Robert Ramirez
\feeytim
and Frances Pena's guidance sends uniparents
versity role models to the high schools so
the kids can develop positive attitudes for
college.
the requirements "are part of a pattei:-n of
attacks on Chicano students on all levels."
M EChA wants to protest the 1988 requirements to "open all the doors to
higher education for Chicanos and other
mi11orities."
When the 1988 requirements take affect
there will be a phasing in period where
students will be admitted with IO of the 15
required courses. Students entering college
can make up course requirements in
college.
The 1988 requirements are supposed to
better prepare those entering college so
they will be able to adapt to university
standards.
Te ebi!J : .>A"t'f • "'
ontt:1
PROBLEM
Continued from page S
situation. I spoke with these kids in
both Spanish and English which made
it easier to understand what they needed
to learn.
These experiences have taught me a
lot about discrimination and how I
should fight for something I believe is
not right. Many things like a teacher
rejecting or having iow expectations
could make a kid quit school. Maybe
that's why minority groups have such
high drop-out rates.
My father had always stressed the·
portance of being able to speakt
panish. I don't think anyone should:
~ ot speak it because a teacher didn't 1
want him to speak it in class.
FISHBONE
SPECIAL GUESTS
THE PEP BOYS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 ..... 8 PM
Satellite College Union/Whitfield Hall
$5 CSUF STUDENT
$7 GENERAL
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PRESENTED BY-COLLEGE UNION PROGRAM COMMITTEE
La Voz
4e Aztlan
,--cL....
SA-.,,..o!. u - T R - E - A C - H - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~
.·.t-
i
Thursday, Oct.16, 1986
PROP. 63
~~:➔
Continued from page S
Lawrence Tovar/ La Vaz de Aztlan
Three students from Tranquility High School listen to Robert Castorena explain Career Day at CSUF. Castorena, a
former Associated Students senator and Chicano Latino Students Association member, helped out with CLSA's high
school outreach program.
Nakasone practices same old rhetoric
Bang!
Prime miniinister of Japan
Yasuhiro Nakasone said that blacks
Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are th;
cause of low educational standards in
the United States.
It was a curious broadcast because
the prime minister was shown speaking,
but it was not clear if he was speaking
English or Japanese.
He was addressing a group of Japanese politicians. The news flash gave
the impression that the news was
dub.;ed in £nglish, but did he really say
those exact words?
What was also mysterious about the
media message was the lack of an
introduction by a foreign correspondent. There were no comments at the
end of the news item. The prime minister
flashed on and off the screen.
That brings up questions. Why was
this newsworthy in the format in which
it was presented? What was the message?
Was it the intention of the media to
further intimidate minority school
children at that hour of the morning?
Can this be a new twist to "a picture is
worth a thousand words?" Now an
early morning news flash is worth
untold numbers of stereotypes. The
tunnelvision box reaches a lot of people.
Could this be a new trend by Uncle
Tf£l1
TEST?
American Cancer:
An Opinion
By Guadalupe Tovar
Sam to gain support to do away with
bilingualism in California and possibly
the U.S.? Just suppose that the eradication of other languages and the new
immigration enforcement laws are a
sign that jobs and wages are to be lower
in the near future for all Americans.
Then there will be no need or benefit to
tolerate Mexican nationals in this
country. Americans will be happy to
have jobs in the field with large foreignowned companies.
Imagine the exodus of heavy ind us try
to the third world countries where the
spirit of work and excellence is the rule
and not the commercialized exception.
This may seem irrelevant, but the
reason for the fuel effective cars was
because the price of gasoline was
expected to be $2.50 per gallon. Just
how far into the future is the ground
work of America being laid today? Is it
a matter of time before some of us have
the rug pulled out from under us?
There is the "band wagon" point of
view. There could have been a different
•,
OGRE
strategy to the news. Suppose the
government wanted to stir up trouble
in the relations between the U.S. and
Japan. What a nice way to get a
boycott started. The minorities would
get upset and boycott the Japanese
products and maybe even affect Japan's
economy.
But if they didn't, Uncle Big Brother
would be able to generate propaganda
to get America moving against the
Japanese on behalf of the minorities,
and bring them to their knees.
The Japanese can be judged as
prejudiced by signs on display in many
of their public establishments that say,
"Japanese only."
"****
instruction, but not instruction in students'
native language.
This, he said, gives students too much
instruction about the "old country's culture."
"They've come to America. They should
be taught about America," Hughes said.
Dr. Cecilio Orozco, coordinator of the
CSU F Bilingual Education Department,
.said, "They have no proof that teaching:
them all in English will encourage t.ngllsh. ''
He said a seven-year study showed just
the opposite.
"Americans have such a total ignorance
of the culture that made up this country."
Orozco believes the initiative has racial
intents. "They're fighting Mexicans.
They're not fighting for U.S. English."
White, who works out of Californians
Against 63's office in Sacramento, called
the California English Campaign "mean
spirited."
He said, "If their major concern is
bilingual education, why not form a law
that addresses bilingual education?"
Esther Padilla, President of the Mexican
American Political Association in Fresno,
said the backers of Proposition 63 are
"xenqphobic people who have a lot to
learn about the people who make up
California. They don't care anything about
unity. They just want to take away our
heritage."
Padilla mentioned various population
projections which predict that Hispanics
will be 38 percent to 40 percent of the
population by 2010.
But Hughes said another one of the
California English Campaign's intents is
to reduce the "influence of these machine
politicians," through election material.
He n:;fused to say Hispanic politicians
were in this category, but he gave
Assemblyman Art Torres and Los Angeles
City Councilman Richard Alatorre as
examples. Both are Hispanic.
"These are the types of politicians that
like to keep people corralled and segregated," Hughes said. "They want to keep
it (California) bicultural; they want to
keep it in their old language."
OJ,e of the year's best films.
Haunting and erotic.,,
"Bn1,1,IQn
.,, . t'"
•
-Gene Siske I. CHICAGO TRIBl 1NE
-Marilrn &ck. CHICA(;() TRIBl lNE SYNDICATE
"William Burt's sexual chemistry
produces the heat ...Marlee Matlin's debut
is a victorr"
- Brucl' Williamson. PLAYBOY MAGAZINE
"011e of the Best Films of 1986.. .
The most extraordinary love story in many years . . .
rich and profoundly moving."
-Michal'! Med\'l'd. SNEAK PRE\'IE\X'S
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GENERAL BOOK DEPTARTMENT
LOWER LEVEL
WILLIAM HURT
MARLEE MATLIN
PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESEm8 ABUKf SUGARMAN PRODUCTION
ARANDA tL'1NES FILM CHILDREN OF ALESSER GOD PIPER LAURIE · PHILIP BOSCO
Screenplay bv HESPER ANDERSON and MARK MEDOFF Based on the ~ Play by MARK MEDOFF
Pi,,ci~ bv BURT SUGARMAN and PATRICK PAIMER Directed by RANDA
r--R-r---=:..=n=•=icT=1D;:-;;;s;;.~ ~~~~:C~:,rs APARAMOUNf PICTURE { ~; •:
HAINES-A
UIO::J~:•,o:':u5L~cC:t:~~::IIG 11
•• ~.~ ..
-&
NOW PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU.
Prop. 63 not needed
Proposition 63 will not solve any problems if it
passes in November's election. It will do just the
opposite.
The initiative would declare English the official
language of California, but it also has a provision
which allows any resident or person doing business in
California to sue the state if he believes English is not
being "preserved and enhanced."
This clause is dangerous because it will clog the
state's courts with suits against the state.
Six states and Dade County, Florida have declared
English their official language. But according to state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp none of those
states or Dade County have a lawsuit provision. He
believes this clause will set California as "the testing
ground f orevery use of a foreign language in American
society."
The attorney general is right. Miami, which is in
Dade county, adopted a law similar to Proposition 63
in 1980. The issues that arose were ridiculous. The
Miami zoo could list the names of animals in English
only. Some people objected to the species names in
Latin. The international airport was English only. In a
large city with a lot of international traffic, it wo~ld be .
common courtesy to communicate to tourists in languages besides just English.
Supporters of the initiative - the California English
Campaign, led by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa and his Dear Editor:
In the Sept. 25 issue of La Yoz de
?Ssociate Stanley Diamond - say multi-lingual services,
Aztlan there was a controversial cartoon
such as 911 operators, interpreters for court witnesses published in which MEChA was libeled.
or instructions to parents on how to get their children The organizations involved, M EChA and
met Friday, Sept. 26 to resolve the
immunized and enrolled in school would not be CLSA
issue. It turned out that the CLSA
threatened. But because the initiative is written so organization did not endorse the cartoon,
were they a ware of the possibility of its
broadly, they can't guarantee those services will survive. or
being printed, therefore, we (MEChA)
Proposition 63 is very dangerous because it will be a feel that the cartoonist and the editor of
constitutional amendment. When problems with it· La Yoz de Aztlan are to be blamed for the
confusion. The cartoonist has not attended
arise, the only way to solve them is by another any of the M EChA meetings, nor has she
constitutional amendment, and that means the intiative attempted to contact any of the M EChA
board members to get information about
process all over again. The legislature, governor, the organization. She had no knowledge
attorney general or other state officials will not be able of what M EChA was involved in, thereto change Proposition 63. Hayakawa and Diamond
began their cause in 1981 and are just now getting the
English as an official language issue on the ballot. How
long will it take to get signatures for revision, place it on
the ballot and get it passed by voters?
Statewide polls have shown strong voter support for
On Oct. 7th Tracy Bernard asked the
Proposition 63 (from 63 percent to 70 percent in favor). Associated Students Senate to take a
stand against President Whalen's
Most of these people most likely believe English should formal
Media Council appointment, Erik Pappa.
simply be the dominant language, and it is. But because
Only five students voiced opposition to
the initiative brings up the issue of declaring English an the appointment, one of which was Pat
Young, a white male. Three others were
official language, it implies that English is being members of the Chicano Latino Associachallenged by another language. English is alive and tion and former A.S. Sens. Danny
Chacon, Robert Castorena and myself.
well in California.
The fifth was Bernard.
She had the
Proposition 63 is not needed and is dangerous. A courage to act despite the prevailing
that she was "beating a dead
vote against Proposition 63 does not mean that Spanish, opinion
horse." I'm upset that only four other
Latin, Greek or any other language will take the place students and three senators were present
to hear her. There were signatures of
of English.
Letter to the Editor
MEChA answers cartoon
fore , acted unprofessionally by not using
adequate editorial discretion.
The cartoon was a product of rumors
and the ignorance of a few individuals.
The perception of a rivalry between the
two organization is thus an illusion that
has caused confusion among students,
therefore M EChA denounces the actions
of the cartoonist and of the editor in order
to protect the integrity of La Yoz de
Aztlan . It is imperative that we take such a
position in order that this does not happen
in the future.
Sincerely yours,
George Martinez
M EChA 's Chairperson
Senator lacked backing
Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Barfield might have not quitely abstained
and maybe Sen. Randy Guerra, who
endorsed Pappa, may have not voted in
his favor. Politicians change when masses
of voters are present
As for the overused rhetoric "beating a
dead horse," Pappa is not a dead issue.
Would we so readily vote for Assemblyman Jim Costa after soliciting two prostitutes? Pappa said he learned his lesson.
What about Nixon, he learned his lesson
too. Why don't we have him appointed to
the Supreme Court? •
We should not prosecute Pappa further,
but we should not let him sit on a board
that oversees the minority papers.
different organizations on the resolution
If more people had shown support, we
she had written, but what good are signa- might have "beaten" the dead horse. But
tures if people are not there to back them? the dead horse has been revived, just like
Only three ~nators supported Tracey. Dracula.
If more peopl had shown up, I'm almost
positive that tH vote would have turned
By Lawrence Tovar
out differently. For example, Sen. Greg
Calijornia State University, Fresno
The Daily Collegian
Thursday, Oct. 16, 1986
Initiative sparks debate
By Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Supporters of Proposition 63, the
English as the .o:(ficial language initiative,
believe English can act as a unifyit1g force
in the state.
"Our American heritage is now threatened by language conflicts and ethnic
separation," says the argument favoring
the initiative in the state ballot pamphlet.
Both supporters and opponents agree
that English is the common language in
California, but they sharply disagree on
what will happen if Proposition 63 is
approved by the voters in the Nov. 4
election.
Opponents of the initiative, such as
Californians United Against 63 and state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp
believe it is written too broadly and will
clog the state's courts because of likely
lawsuits to enforce and to challenge it.
They a lso believe making English the
official la nguage will not unify various
ethnic groups in the state but will isolate
them instead .
If it is passed , t he initiative will become ·
an amend ment to the state constitution
and cannot be altered or repealed except
through the init iative process, if problems
occur.
It will also require the legislature to
insure that Engl ish "is preserved and
enhanced," and gives any resident or
person doing busi ness in the state the right
to sue the state if he believes the initiative
is not enforced.
"Those innocent-sounding provisions
are an open invitation to hundreds of
hurtful and frivolous lawsuits," Van de
Kamp said in a prepared statement to a
joint hearing on the proposition in Los
Angeles.
Both the attorney general and a representative for Californians United Against
63, BiJl White, cited Miami's 1980 city
ordinance which allowed English only.
Miami, which has a large Spanishspeaking population, was not allowed to
have signs in Spanish to warn people of a
high-voltage rail in the subway system.
The airport did not have signs in any
language but English, and Haitian mothers
could not receive information in Creole
on how to care for newborn infants. Van
de Kamp said some people even objected
to the use of Latin in listing names of
species at the zoo.
Van de Kamp and White said the
initiative could be used to challenge multilingual emergenc:yservices,interpreters for
court witnesses or instructions to parents
in other languages on how to get their
children immunized.or enrolJed in school.
"I would certainly hope that no sensible
court would entertain such notions here in
California," said Van de Kamp . "But I can
guarantee that some zealous defender of
pure Americanism will raise each and
every one of them in court and set neighbor
against neighbor in the process."
The California English Campaign,
headed by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa
and his associate, Stanley Diamond, says
in its literature that emergency services,
such as 9 I I telephone numbers and other
health, safety and justice services, in other
languages are not threatened.
Diamond was not avalable for comment
at the group's headquarters in San Francisco, but a southern California spokesman, Richard Hughes, said in a telephone
interview that the elimination of such
services is not the intent of the initiative.
He .b~lieves that not having English as
an bffic1al .language hinders thos~t do
not speak 1t from wanting to learn it.
He said bilingual education is a factor
whic~ c~~tributes to ~~ople not learning
E~ghsh . l looked at b1hngual education ,,
sa1~ Hu~hes, "It's only keeping them {n
their native language longer . .,
. He _believe~ st~dents should only be
given mstruction m English so they will
learn the Iangu~ge faster. Hughes, a high
school teacher m Garden Grove, said he
supports English-as-a-second-language
See PROP. 63, page 7
STUDENT OUTREACH
Lawrence Tovar/ La Voz de Aztlan
Ron Avila of campus radio station KFSR 's Radio Chicano interviews a student from Tranquillity High School, on campus as
part of the Chicano Latino Students Association's high school outreach program.
Student reports discrimination
By Leo Valdez
Special to La Voz
Discrimination- The act ofdistinguishing
difference: A showing of partiality or
prejudice.
- Websters New World Dictionary
I believe discrimination is a problem
that is very hard for children to deal
with in our school system. Children
sometimes develop low self-esteem because
their teachers treat them differently
from other kids.
It is especially unfair to children of
racial minority groups. It is not right
for a teacher to stop a child from
speaking their native language in class:
They should be encouraged to speak
both languages.
I had gone from the sixth grade to
the seventh grade in a different school.
My first impression of my teacher,
Mrs. Ledbetter, was that she seemed to
be a very nice lady. A month or two
went by, and I didn't have any problems
with her. We were getting along just
fine .
One day two of my Mexican friends
and l were in Mrs. Led better's class and
we were talking in Spanish. Mrs. Ledbetter suddenly walked in the room
with an angry expression on her face.
She started yelling at us. We wondered
what we had done ·vrnng. She said in
front of the whole class, "You are in
America now, you are not supposed to
speak Spanish." My friends and I were
very embarrased. She told us that we
had to stay after school. She said, "You
must write, I will not speak Spanish in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class, on the chalk
board 250 times."
When I got home I discussed this
problem with my dad. The next morning
my dad decided to talk with the Spanish
speaking parents of the children in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class.
The parents all gathered together
and spoke to the principal, but the
principal told them that they had to
speak with the school board. It took
several months of speaking with the
school board to try to remove Mrs.
Ledbetter. Finally after three months
she was removed from our school.
Mrs. Ledbetter was white and raised
in an area where there were very few
Mexican people, so she wasn't used to
hearing Spanish. The day she was
leaving I asked her why she resented us
speaking Spanish around her. She said,
"Because I didn't understnad what you
were saying, I thought that you were
mocking me or talking abo~t me.
••1 really have no time for students
who don't speak a lot of English. The
other students would be cheated out of
learning time." All this showed me that
she was prejudiced and had low expectations of minority groups.
I've found discrimination at almost
every school I have visited. When 1
started to work for Hester Elementary
School in Farmersville, I was under the
Mini-Court Program (a program that
would have student-teachers help and
work with migrant kids).
I found that the teacher I was assigned
to was very prejudiced. The first day of
work I arrived to her room and she
said , "There they are. Try to work with
them. I have given up."
She had six migrant children sitting
at a large table separated from the
other kids . This made me very angry
because I thought she was being so
unfair to them, and I thought to myself,
"I will try to help these kids as much as
possible."
· The year went by and all six students
were doing as well or better than the
rest of the kids. The teacher was very
surprised and she asked, "What are you
doing with them?" I replied, "All they
needed was someone who could understand their problems."
I knew how they felt because when 1
was younger I had been in the same
See PROBLEM, page 6
=®____
L_a_~_oz_de_A_z_tla_n_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _r._h_u_rs_di_ay_,_o_c_t_.1_6_,_1_9_86_~
Trustees change requirements
By Bill Lerch
La Voz Writer
Also, there is a film that encourages quality of education. But he said they did
high school students to take those college . not look into the effects it might cause in
prep courses. The positive entertainment the inner city and rural areas.
The California State University Board is called "All You Can Dream." This
Because of the rejection to further study
of Trustees recently adopted tougher program stars positive role models like the 1988 requirements by Deukmejian,
requirements for students entering the Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong, the California State Student Association
CSU system straight from high school.
Kareem Abdul Jabaar from the Los is quiet on the issue of the 1988 requireThe requiremnents take affect in 1988 Angeles Lake rs and Pat Morita star of the ments because of it's causing conflict on
and increase the number of college prep- "Karate Kid"to name a few. There is also the board, according to Whalen.
aratory courses needed to 15.
a Spanish version. All of this is to
. The courses include four years of prep- encourage students to look at higher eduM EChA, however, strictly opposess the
aratory english. three years of math, one cation.
1988 Requirements saying that it is "a
year of lab science, one year of govemracist decision" according to the M EChA Statement, two years of a foreign language, one
Associated Students President Bob
wide Task Force on Educational Rights,
year of performing arts, and three years of Whalen says he understands why the
minorities will suffer from the instalation
college-prep electives
Board of Trustees want to improve the of the 1988 requirements. They say that
The California Post Secondary Education Commission and an Assembly bill
proposed plans designed to "evaluate high
school curriculum to implement the 1988
requirements. " The proposals were killed
by Gov. Deukmejian. Because of this, 17
By~o~t: > . . J
percent of California high schools do not
SJl!pial
· · ·• ·
offer some courses to meet the 1988
requirements.
Teena
According to Frances Pena, mostly
,problem
minority students will be affected . A
teell;lge
coordinator of the Student Affirmative
In th
Action program, Pena says, "Getting sturnillf
dents and minority students in the college, ,Stat
prep classes is our main goal."
•· ·l •o'•••,H,
The program under Robert Ramirez
\feeytim
and Frances Pena's guidance sends uniparents
versity role models to the high schools so
the kids can develop positive attitudes for
college.
the requirements "are part of a pattei:-n of
attacks on Chicano students on all levels."
M EChA wants to protest the 1988 requirements to "open all the doors to
higher education for Chicanos and other
mi11orities."
When the 1988 requirements take affect
there will be a phasing in period where
students will be admitted with IO of the 15
required courses. Students entering college
can make up course requirements in
college.
The 1988 requirements are supposed to
better prepare those entering college so
they will be able to adapt to university
standards.
Te ebi!J : .>A"t'f • "'
ontt:1
PROBLEM
Continued from page S
situation. I spoke with these kids in
both Spanish and English which made
it easier to understand what they needed
to learn.
These experiences have taught me a
lot about discrimination and how I
should fight for something I believe is
not right. Many things like a teacher
rejecting or having iow expectations
could make a kid quit school. Maybe
that's why minority groups have such
high drop-out rates.
My father had always stressed the·
portance of being able to speakt
panish. I don't think anyone should:
~ ot speak it because a teacher didn't 1
want him to speak it in class.
FISHBONE
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 ..... 8 PM
Satellite College Union/Whitfield Hall
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La Voz
4e Aztlan
,--cL....
SA-.,,..o!. u - T R - E - A C - H - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~
.·.t-
i
Thursday, Oct.16, 1986
PROP. 63
~~:➔
Continued from page S
Lawrence Tovar/ La Vaz de Aztlan
Three students from Tranquility High School listen to Robert Castorena explain Career Day at CSUF. Castorena, a
former Associated Students senator and Chicano Latino Students Association member, helped out with CLSA's high
school outreach program.
Nakasone practices same old rhetoric
Bang!
Prime miniinister of Japan
Yasuhiro Nakasone said that blacks
Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are th;
cause of low educational standards in
the United States.
It was a curious broadcast because
the prime minister was shown speaking,
but it was not clear if he was speaking
English or Japanese.
He was addressing a group of Japanese politicians. The news flash gave
the impression that the news was
dub.;ed in £nglish, but did he really say
those exact words?
What was also mysterious about the
media message was the lack of an
introduction by a foreign correspondent. There were no comments at the
end of the news item. The prime minister
flashed on and off the screen.
That brings up questions. Why was
this newsworthy in the format in which
it was presented? What was the message?
Was it the intention of the media to
further intimidate minority school
children at that hour of the morning?
Can this be a new twist to "a picture is
worth a thousand words?" Now an
early morning news flash is worth
untold numbers of stereotypes. The
tunnelvision box reaches a lot of people.
Could this be a new trend by Uncle
Tf£l1
TEST?
American Cancer:
An Opinion
By Guadalupe Tovar
Sam to gain support to do away with
bilingualism in California and possibly
the U.S.? Just suppose that the eradication of other languages and the new
immigration enforcement laws are a
sign that jobs and wages are to be lower
in the near future for all Americans.
Then there will be no need or benefit to
tolerate Mexican nationals in this
country. Americans will be happy to
have jobs in the field with large foreignowned companies.
Imagine the exodus of heavy ind us try
to the third world countries where the
spirit of work and excellence is the rule
and not the commercialized exception.
This may seem irrelevant, but the
reason for the fuel effective cars was
because the price of gasoline was
expected to be $2.50 per gallon. Just
how far into the future is the ground
work of America being laid today? Is it
a matter of time before some of us have
the rug pulled out from under us?
There is the "band wagon" point of
view. There could have been a different
•,
OGRE
strategy to the news. Suppose the
government wanted to stir up trouble
in the relations between the U.S. and
Japan. What a nice way to get a
boycott started. The minorities would
get upset and boycott the Japanese
products and maybe even affect Japan's
economy.
But if they didn't, Uncle Big Brother
would be able to generate propaganda
to get America moving against the
Japanese on behalf of the minorities,
and bring them to their knees.
The Japanese can be judged as
prejudiced by signs on display in many
of their public establishments that say,
"Japanese only."
"****
instruction, but not instruction in students'
native language.
This, he said, gives students too much
instruction about the "old country's culture."
"They've come to America. They should
be taught about America," Hughes said.
Dr. Cecilio Orozco, coordinator of the
CSU F Bilingual Education Department,
.said, "They have no proof that teaching:
them all in English will encourage t.ngllsh. ''
He said a seven-year study showed just
the opposite.
"Americans have such a total ignorance
of the culture that made up this country."
Orozco believes the initiative has racial
intents. "They're fighting Mexicans.
They're not fighting for U.S. English."
White, who works out of Californians
Against 63's office in Sacramento, called
the California English Campaign "mean
spirited."
He said, "If their major concern is
bilingual education, why not form a law
that addresses bilingual education?"
Esther Padilla, President of the Mexican
American Political Association in Fresno,
said the backers of Proposition 63 are
"xenqphobic people who have a lot to
learn about the people who make up
California. They don't care anything about
unity. They just want to take away our
heritage."
Padilla mentioned various population
projections which predict that Hispanics
will be 38 percent to 40 percent of the
population by 2010.
But Hughes said another one of the
California English Campaign's intents is
to reduce the "influence of these machine
politicians," through election material.
He n:;fused to say Hispanic politicians
were in this category, but he gave
Assemblyman Art Torres and Los Angeles
City Councilman Richard Alatorre as
examples. Both are Hispanic.
"These are the types of politicians that
like to keep people corralled and segregated," Hughes said. "They want to keep
it (California) bicultural; they want to
keep it in their old language."
OJ,e of the year's best films.
Haunting and erotic.,,
"Bn1,1,IQn
.,, . t'"
•
-Gene Siske I. CHICAGO TRIBl 1NE
-Marilrn &ck. CHICA(;() TRIBl lNE SYNDICATE
"William Burt's sexual chemistry
produces the heat ...Marlee Matlin's debut
is a victorr"
- Brucl' Williamson. PLAYBOY MAGAZINE
"011e of the Best Films of 1986.. .
The most extraordinary love story in many years . . .
rich and profoundly moving."
-Michal'! Med\'l'd. SNEAK PRE\'IE\X'S
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GENERAL BOOK DEPTARTMENT
LOWER LEVEL
WILLIAM HURT
MARLEE MATLIN
PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESEm8 ABUKf SUGARMAN PRODUCTION
ARANDA tL'1NES FILM CHILDREN OF ALESSER GOD PIPER LAURIE · PHILIP BOSCO
Screenplay bv HESPER ANDERSON and MARK MEDOFF Based on the ~ Play by MARK MEDOFF
Pi,,ci~ bv BURT SUGARMAN and PATRICK PAIMER Directed by RANDA
r--R-r---=:..=n=•=icT=1D;:-;;;s;;.~ ~~~~:C~:,rs APARAMOUNf PICTURE { ~; •:
HAINES-A
UIO::J~:•,o:':u5L~cC:t:~~::IIG 11
•• ~.~ ..
-&
NOW PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU.
Prop. 63 not needed
Proposition 63 will not solve any problems if it
passes in November's election. It will do just the
opposite.
The initiative would declare English the official
language of California, but it also has a provision
which allows any resident or person doing business in
California to sue the state if he believes English is not
being "preserved and enhanced."
This clause is dangerous because it will clog the
state's courts with suits against the state.
Six states and Dade County, Florida have declared
English their official language. But according to state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp none of those
states or Dade County have a lawsuit provision. He
believes this clause will set California as "the testing
ground f orevery use of a foreign language in American
society."
The attorney general is right. Miami, which is in
Dade county, adopted a law similar to Proposition 63
in 1980. The issues that arose were ridiculous. The
Miami zoo could list the names of animals in English
only. Some people objected to the species names in
Latin. The international airport was English only. In a
large city with a lot of international traffic, it wo~ld be .
common courtesy to communicate to tourists in languages besides just English.
Supporters of the initiative - the California English
Campaign, led by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa and his Dear Editor:
In the Sept. 25 issue of La Yoz de
?Ssociate Stanley Diamond - say multi-lingual services,
Aztlan there was a controversial cartoon
such as 911 operators, interpreters for court witnesses published in which MEChA was libeled.
or instructions to parents on how to get their children The organizations involved, M EChA and
met Friday, Sept. 26 to resolve the
immunized and enrolled in school would not be CLSA
issue. It turned out that the CLSA
threatened. But because the initiative is written so organization did not endorse the cartoon,
were they a ware of the possibility of its
broadly, they can't guarantee those services will survive. or
being printed, therefore, we (MEChA)
Proposition 63 is very dangerous because it will be a feel that the cartoonist and the editor of
constitutional amendment. When problems with it· La Yoz de Aztlan are to be blamed for the
confusion. The cartoonist has not attended
arise, the only way to solve them is by another any of the M EChA meetings, nor has she
constitutional amendment, and that means the intiative attempted to contact any of the M EChA
board members to get information about
process all over again. The legislature, governor, the organization. She had no knowledge
attorney general or other state officials will not be able of what M EChA was involved in, thereto change Proposition 63. Hayakawa and Diamond
began their cause in 1981 and are just now getting the
English as an official language issue on the ballot. How
long will it take to get signatures for revision, place it on
the ballot and get it passed by voters?
Statewide polls have shown strong voter support for
On Oct. 7th Tracy Bernard asked the
Proposition 63 (from 63 percent to 70 percent in favor). Associated Students Senate to take a
stand against President Whalen's
Most of these people most likely believe English should formal
Media Council appointment, Erik Pappa.
simply be the dominant language, and it is. But because
Only five students voiced opposition to
the initiative brings up the issue of declaring English an the appointment, one of which was Pat
Young, a white male. Three others were
official language, it implies that English is being members of the Chicano Latino Associachallenged by another language. English is alive and tion and former A.S. Sens. Danny
Chacon, Robert Castorena and myself.
well in California.
The fifth was Bernard.
She had the
Proposition 63 is not needed and is dangerous. A courage to act despite the prevailing
that she was "beating a dead
vote against Proposition 63 does not mean that Spanish, opinion
horse." I'm upset that only four other
Latin, Greek or any other language will take the place students and three senators were present
to hear her. There were signatures of
of English.
Letter to the Editor
MEChA answers cartoon
fore , acted unprofessionally by not using
adequate editorial discretion.
The cartoon was a product of rumors
and the ignorance of a few individuals.
The perception of a rivalry between the
two organization is thus an illusion that
has caused confusion among students,
therefore M EChA denounces the actions
of the cartoonist and of the editor in order
to protect the integrity of La Yoz de
Aztlan . It is imperative that we take such a
position in order that this does not happen
in the future.
Sincerely yours,
George Martinez
M EChA 's Chairperson
Senator lacked backing
Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Barfield might have not quitely abstained
and maybe Sen. Randy Guerra, who
endorsed Pappa, may have not voted in
his favor. Politicians change when masses
of voters are present
As for the overused rhetoric "beating a
dead horse," Pappa is not a dead issue.
Would we so readily vote for Assemblyman Jim Costa after soliciting two prostitutes? Pappa said he learned his lesson.
What about Nixon, he learned his lesson
too. Why don't we have him appointed to
the Supreme Court? •
We should not prosecute Pappa further,
but we should not let him sit on a board
that oversees the minority papers.
different organizations on the resolution
If more people had shown support, we
she had written, but what good are signa- might have "beaten" the dead horse. But
tures if people are not there to back them? the dead horse has been revived, just like
Only three ~nators supported Tracey. Dracula.
If more peopl had shown up, I'm almost
positive that tH vote would have turned
By Lawrence Tovar
out differently. For example, Sen. Greg
La Voz de Aztlan
Calijornia State University, Fresno
The Daily Collegian
Thursday, Oct. 16, 1986
Initiative sparks debate
By Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Supporters of Proposition 63, the
English as the .o:(ficial language initiative,
believe English can act as a unifyit1g force
in the state.
"Our American heritage is now threatened by language conflicts and ethnic
separation," says the argument favoring
the initiative in the state ballot pamphlet.
Both supporters and opponents agree
that English is the common language in
California, but they sharply disagree on
what will happen if Proposition 63 is
approved by the voters in the Nov. 4
election.
Opponents of the initiative, such as
Californians United Against 63 and state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp
believe it is written too broadly and will
clog the state's courts because of likely
lawsuits to enforce and to challenge it.
They a lso believe making English the
official la nguage will not unify various
ethnic groups in the state but will isolate
them instead .
If it is passed , t he initiative will become ·
an amend ment to the state constitution
and cannot be altered or repealed except
through the init iative process, if problems
occur.
It will also require the legislature to
insure that Engl ish "is preserved and
enhanced," and gives any resident or
person doing busi ness in the state the right
to sue the state if he believes the initiative
is not enforced.
"Those innocent-sounding provisions
are an open invitation to hundreds of
hurtful and frivolous lawsuits," Van de
Kamp said in a prepared statement to a
joint hearing on the proposition in Los
Angeles.
Both the attorney general and a representative for Californians United Against
63, BiJl White, cited Miami's 1980 city
ordinance which allowed English only.
Miami, which has a large Spanishspeaking population, was not allowed to
have signs in Spanish to warn people of a
high-voltage rail in the subway system.
The airport did not have signs in any
language but English, and Haitian mothers
could not receive information in Creole
on how to care for newborn infants. Van
de Kamp said some people even objected
to the use of Latin in listing names of
species at the zoo.
Van de Kamp and White said the
initiative could be used to challenge multilingual emergenc:yservices,interpreters for
court witnesses or instructions to parents
in other languages on how to get their
children immunized.or enrolJed in school.
"I would certainly hope that no sensible
court would entertain such notions here in
California," said Van de Kamp . "But I can
guarantee that some zealous defender of
pure Americanism will raise each and
every one of them in court and set neighbor
against neighbor in the process."
The California English Campaign,
headed by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa
and his associate, Stanley Diamond, says
in its literature that emergency services,
such as 9 I I telephone numbers and other
health, safety and justice services, in other
languages are not threatened.
Diamond was not avalable for comment
at the group's headquarters in San Francisco, but a southern California spokesman, Richard Hughes, said in a telephone
interview that the elimination of such
services is not the intent of the initiative.
He .b~lieves that not having English as
an bffic1al .language hinders thos~t do
not speak 1t from wanting to learn it.
He said bilingual education is a factor
whic~ c~~tributes to ~~ople not learning
E~ghsh . l looked at b1hngual education ,,
sa1~ Hu~hes, "It's only keeping them {n
their native language longer . .,
. He _believe~ st~dents should only be
given mstruction m English so they will
learn the Iangu~ge faster. Hughes, a high
school teacher m Garden Grove, said he
supports English-as-a-second-language
See PROP. 63, page 7
STUDENT OUTREACH
Lawrence Tovar/ La Voz de Aztlan
Ron Avila of campus radio station KFSR 's Radio Chicano interviews a student from Tranquillity High School, on campus as
part of the Chicano Latino Students Association's high school outreach program.
Student reports discrimination
By Leo Valdez
Special to La Voz
Discrimination- The act ofdistinguishing
difference: A showing of partiality or
prejudice.
- Websters New World Dictionary
I believe discrimination is a problem
that is very hard for children to deal
with in our school system. Children
sometimes develop low self-esteem because
their teachers treat them differently
from other kids.
It is especially unfair to children of
racial minority groups. It is not right
for a teacher to stop a child from
speaking their native language in class:
They should be encouraged to speak
both languages.
I had gone from the sixth grade to
the seventh grade in a different school.
My first impression of my teacher,
Mrs. Ledbetter, was that she seemed to
be a very nice lady. A month or two
went by, and I didn't have any problems
with her. We were getting along just
fine .
One day two of my Mexican friends
and l were in Mrs. Led better's class and
we were talking in Spanish. Mrs. Ledbetter suddenly walked in the room
with an angry expression on her face.
She started yelling at us. We wondered
what we had done ·vrnng. She said in
front of the whole class, "You are in
America now, you are not supposed to
speak Spanish." My friends and I were
very embarrased. She told us that we
had to stay after school. She said, "You
must write, I will not speak Spanish in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class, on the chalk
board 250 times."
When I got home I discussed this
problem with my dad. The next morning
my dad decided to talk with the Spanish
speaking parents of the children in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class.
The parents all gathered together
and spoke to the principal, but the
principal told them that they had to
speak with the school board. It took
several months of speaking with the
school board to try to remove Mrs.
Ledbetter. Finally after three months
she was removed from our school.
Mrs. Ledbetter was white and raised
in an area where there were very few
Mexican people, so she wasn't used to
hearing Spanish. The day she was
leaving I asked her why she resented us
speaking Spanish around her. She said,
"Because I didn't understnad what you
were saying, I thought that you were
mocking me or talking abo~t me.
••1 really have no time for students
who don't speak a lot of English. The
other students would be cheated out of
learning time." All this showed me that
she was prejudiced and had low expectations of minority groups.
I've found discrimination at almost
every school I have visited. When 1
started to work for Hester Elementary
School in Farmersville, I was under the
Mini-Court Program (a program that
would have student-teachers help and
work with migrant kids).
I found that the teacher I was assigned
to was very prejudiced. The first day of
work I arrived to her room and she
said , "There they are. Try to work with
them. I have given up."
She had six migrant children sitting
at a large table separated from the
other kids . This made me very angry
because I thought she was being so
unfair to them, and I thought to myself,
"I will try to help these kids as much as
possible."
· The year went by and all six students
were doing as well or better than the
rest of the kids. The teacher was very
surprised and she asked, "What are you
doing with them?" I replied, "All they
needed was someone who could understand their problems."
I knew how they felt because when 1
was younger I had been in the same
See PROBLEM, page 6
=®____
L_a_~_oz_de_A_z_tla_n_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _r._h_u_rs_di_ay_,_o_c_t_.1_6_,_1_9_86_~
Trustees change requirements
By Bill Lerch
La Voz Writer
Also, there is a film that encourages quality of education. But he said they did
high school students to take those college . not look into the effects it might cause in
prep courses. The positive entertainment the inner city and rural areas.
The California State University Board is called "All You Can Dream." This
Because of the rejection to further study
of Trustees recently adopted tougher program stars positive role models like the 1988 requirements by Deukmejian,
requirements for students entering the Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong, the California State Student Association
CSU system straight from high school.
Kareem Abdul Jabaar from the Los is quiet on the issue of the 1988 requireThe requiremnents take affect in 1988 Angeles Lake rs and Pat Morita star of the ments because of it's causing conflict on
and increase the number of college prep- "Karate Kid"to name a few. There is also the board, according to Whalen.
aratory courses needed to 15.
a Spanish version. All of this is to
. The courses include four years of prep- encourage students to look at higher eduM EChA, however, strictly opposess the
aratory english. three years of math, one cation.
1988 Requirements saying that it is "a
year of lab science, one year of govemracist decision" according to the M EChA Statement, two years of a foreign language, one
Associated Students President Bob
wide Task Force on Educational Rights,
year of performing arts, and three years of Whalen says he understands why the
minorities will suffer from the instalation
college-prep electives
Board of Trustees want to improve the of the 1988 requirements. They say that
The California Post Secondary Education Commission and an Assembly bill
proposed plans designed to "evaluate high
school curriculum to implement the 1988
requirements. " The proposals were killed
by Gov. Deukmejian. Because of this, 17
By~o~t: > . . J
percent of California high schools do not
SJl!pial
· · ·• ·
offer some courses to meet the 1988
requirements.
Teena
According to Frances Pena, mostly
,problem
minority students will be affected . A
teell;lge
coordinator of the Student Affirmative
In th
Action program, Pena says, "Getting sturnillf
dents and minority students in the college, ,Stat
prep classes is our main goal."
•· ·l •o'•••,H,
The program under Robert Ramirez
\feeytim
and Frances Pena's guidance sends uniparents
versity role models to the high schools so
the kids can develop positive attitudes for
college.
the requirements "are part of a pattei:-n of
attacks on Chicano students on all levels."
M EChA wants to protest the 1988 requirements to "open all the doors to
higher education for Chicanos and other
mi11orities."
When the 1988 requirements take affect
there will be a phasing in period where
students will be admitted with IO of the 15
required courses. Students entering college
can make up course requirements in
college.
The 1988 requirements are supposed to
better prepare those entering college so
they will be able to adapt to university
standards.
Te ebi!J : .>A"t'f • "'
ontt:1
PROBLEM
Continued from page S
situation. I spoke with these kids in
both Spanish and English which made
it easier to understand what they needed
to learn.
These experiences have taught me a
lot about discrimination and how I
should fight for something I believe is
not right. Many things like a teacher
rejecting or having iow expectations
could make a kid quit school. Maybe
that's why minority groups have such
high drop-out rates.
My father had always stressed the·
portance of being able to speakt
panish. I don't think anyone should:
~ ot speak it because a teacher didn't 1
want him to speak it in class.
FISHBONE
SPECIAL GUESTS
THE PEP BOYS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 ..... 8 PM
Satellite College Union/Whitfield Hall
$5 CSUF STUDENT
$7 GENERAL
$10 DAY OF SHOW
PRESENTED BY-COLLEGE UNION PROGRAM COMMITTEE
La Voz
4e Aztlan
,--cL....
SA-.,,..o!. u - T R - E - A C - H - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~
.·.t-
i
Thursday, Oct.16, 1986
PROP. 63
~~:➔
Continued from page S
Lawrence Tovar/ La Vaz de Aztlan
Three students from Tranquility High School listen to Robert Castorena explain Career Day at CSUF. Castorena, a
former Associated Students senator and Chicano Latino Students Association member, helped out with CLSA's high
school outreach program.
Nakasone practices same old rhetoric
Bang!
Prime miniinister of Japan
Yasuhiro Nakasone said that blacks
Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are th;
cause of low educational standards in
the United States.
It was a curious broadcast because
the prime minister was shown speaking,
but it was not clear if he was speaking
English or Japanese.
He was addressing a group of Japanese politicians. The news flash gave
the impression that the news was
dub.;ed in £nglish, but did he really say
those exact words?
What was also mysterious about the
media message was the lack of an
introduction by a foreign correspondent. There were no comments at the
end of the news item. The prime minister
flashed on and off the screen.
That brings up questions. Why was
this newsworthy in the format in which
it was presented? What was the message?
Was it the intention of the media to
further intimidate minority school
children at that hour of the morning?
Can this be a new twist to "a picture is
worth a thousand words?" Now an
early morning news flash is worth
untold numbers of stereotypes. The
tunnelvision box reaches a lot of people.
Could this be a new trend by Uncle
Tf£l1
TEST?
American Cancer:
An Opinion
By Guadalupe Tovar
Sam to gain support to do away with
bilingualism in California and possibly
the U.S.? Just suppose that the eradication of other languages and the new
immigration enforcement laws are a
sign that jobs and wages are to be lower
in the near future for all Americans.
Then there will be no need or benefit to
tolerate Mexican nationals in this
country. Americans will be happy to
have jobs in the field with large foreignowned companies.
Imagine the exodus of heavy ind us try
to the third world countries where the
spirit of work and excellence is the rule
and not the commercialized exception.
This may seem irrelevant, but the
reason for the fuel effective cars was
because the price of gasoline was
expected to be $2.50 per gallon. Just
how far into the future is the ground
work of America being laid today? Is it
a matter of time before some of us have
the rug pulled out from under us?
There is the "band wagon" point of
view. There could have been a different
•,
OGRE
strategy to the news. Suppose the
government wanted to stir up trouble
in the relations between the U.S. and
Japan. What a nice way to get a
boycott started. The minorities would
get upset and boycott the Japanese
products and maybe even affect Japan's
economy.
But if they didn't, Uncle Big Brother
would be able to generate propaganda
to get America moving against the
Japanese on behalf of the minorities,
and bring them to their knees.
The Japanese can be judged as
prejudiced by signs on display in many
of their public establishments that say,
"Japanese only."
"****
instruction, but not instruction in students'
native language.
This, he said, gives students too much
instruction about the "old country's culture."
"They've come to America. They should
be taught about America," Hughes said.
Dr. Cecilio Orozco, coordinator of the
CSU F Bilingual Education Department,
.said, "They have no proof that teaching:
them all in English will encourage t.ngllsh. ''
He said a seven-year study showed just
the opposite.
"Americans have such a total ignorance
of the culture that made up this country."
Orozco believes the initiative has racial
intents. "They're fighting Mexicans.
They're not fighting for U.S. English."
White, who works out of Californians
Against 63's office in Sacramento, called
the California English Campaign "mean
spirited."
He said, "If their major concern is
bilingual education, why not form a law
that addresses bilingual education?"
Esther Padilla, President of the Mexican
American Political Association in Fresno,
said the backers of Proposition 63 are
"xenqphobic people who have a lot to
learn about the people who make up
California. They don't care anything about
unity. They just want to take away our
heritage."
Padilla mentioned various population
projections which predict that Hispanics
will be 38 percent to 40 percent of the
population by 2010.
But Hughes said another one of the
California English Campaign's intents is
to reduce the "influence of these machine
politicians," through election material.
He n:;fused to say Hispanic politicians
were in this category, but he gave
Assemblyman Art Torres and Los Angeles
City Councilman Richard Alatorre as
examples. Both are Hispanic.
"These are the types of politicians that
like to keep people corralled and segregated," Hughes said. "They want to keep
it (California) bicultural; they want to
keep it in their old language."
OJ,e of the year's best films.
Haunting and erotic.,,
"Bn1,1,IQn
.,, . t'"
•
-Gene Siske I. CHICAGO TRIBl 1NE
-Marilrn &ck. CHICA(;() TRIBl lNE SYNDICATE
"William Burt's sexual chemistry
produces the heat ...Marlee Matlin's debut
is a victorr"
- Brucl' Williamson. PLAYBOY MAGAZINE
"011e of the Best Films of 1986.. .
The most extraordinary love story in many years . . .
rich and profoundly moving."
-Michal'! Med\'l'd. SNEAK PRE\'IE\X'S
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GENERAL BOOK DEPTARTMENT
LOWER LEVEL
WILLIAM HURT
MARLEE MATLIN
PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESEm8 ABUKf SUGARMAN PRODUCTION
ARANDA tL'1NES FILM CHILDREN OF ALESSER GOD PIPER LAURIE · PHILIP BOSCO
Screenplay bv HESPER ANDERSON and MARK MEDOFF Based on the ~ Play by MARK MEDOFF
Pi,,ci~ bv BURT SUGARMAN and PATRICK PAIMER Directed by RANDA
r--R-r---=:..=n=•=icT=1D;:-;;;s;;.~ ~~~~:C~:,rs APARAMOUNf PICTURE { ~; •:
HAINES-A
UIO::J~:•,o:':u5L~cC:t:~~::IIG 11
•• ~.~ ..
-&
NOW PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU.
Prop. 63 not needed
Proposition 63 will not solve any problems if it
passes in November's election. It will do just the
opposite.
The initiative would declare English the official
language of California, but it also has a provision
which allows any resident or person doing business in
California to sue the state if he believes English is not
being "preserved and enhanced."
This clause is dangerous because it will clog the
state's courts with suits against the state.
Six states and Dade County, Florida have declared
English their official language. But according to state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp none of those
states or Dade County have a lawsuit provision. He
believes this clause will set California as "the testing
ground f orevery use of a foreign language in American
society."
The attorney general is right. Miami, which is in
Dade county, adopted a law similar to Proposition 63
in 1980. The issues that arose were ridiculous. The
Miami zoo could list the names of animals in English
only. Some people objected to the species names in
Latin. The international airport was English only. In a
large city with a lot of international traffic, it wo~ld be .
common courtesy to communicate to tourists in languages besides just English.
Supporters of the initiative - the California English
Campaign, led by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa and his Dear Editor:
In the Sept. 25 issue of La Yoz de
?Ssociate Stanley Diamond - say multi-lingual services,
Aztlan there was a controversial cartoon
such as 911 operators, interpreters for court witnesses published in which MEChA was libeled.
or instructions to parents on how to get their children The organizations involved, M EChA and
met Friday, Sept. 26 to resolve the
immunized and enrolled in school would not be CLSA
issue. It turned out that the CLSA
threatened. But because the initiative is written so organization did not endorse the cartoon,
were they a ware of the possibility of its
broadly, they can't guarantee those services will survive. or
being printed, therefore, we (MEChA)
Proposition 63 is very dangerous because it will be a feel that the cartoonist and the editor of
constitutional amendment. When problems with it· La Yoz de Aztlan are to be blamed for the
confusion. The cartoonist has not attended
arise, the only way to solve them is by another any of the M EChA meetings, nor has she
constitutional amendment, and that means the intiative attempted to contact any of the M EChA
board members to get information about
process all over again. The legislature, governor, the organization. She had no knowledge
attorney general or other state officials will not be able of what M EChA was involved in, thereto change Proposition 63. Hayakawa and Diamond
began their cause in 1981 and are just now getting the
English as an official language issue on the ballot. How
long will it take to get signatures for revision, place it on
the ballot and get it passed by voters?
Statewide polls have shown strong voter support for
On Oct. 7th Tracy Bernard asked the
Proposition 63 (from 63 percent to 70 percent in favor). Associated Students Senate to take a
stand against President Whalen's
Most of these people most likely believe English should formal
Media Council appointment, Erik Pappa.
simply be the dominant language, and it is. But because
Only five students voiced opposition to
the initiative brings up the issue of declaring English an the appointment, one of which was Pat
Young, a white male. Three others were
official language, it implies that English is being members of the Chicano Latino Associachallenged by another language. English is alive and tion and former A.S. Sens. Danny
Chacon, Robert Castorena and myself.
well in California.
The fifth was Bernard.
She had the
Proposition 63 is not needed and is dangerous. A courage to act despite the prevailing
that she was "beating a dead
vote against Proposition 63 does not mean that Spanish, opinion
horse." I'm upset that only four other
Latin, Greek or any other language will take the place students and three senators were present
to hear her. There were signatures of
of English.
Letter to the Editor
MEChA answers cartoon
fore , acted unprofessionally by not using
adequate editorial discretion.
The cartoon was a product of rumors
and the ignorance of a few individuals.
The perception of a rivalry between the
two organization is thus an illusion that
has caused confusion among students,
therefore M EChA denounces the actions
of the cartoonist and of the editor in order
to protect the integrity of La Yoz de
Aztlan . It is imperative that we take such a
position in order that this does not happen
in the future.
Sincerely yours,
George Martinez
M EChA 's Chairperson
Senator lacked backing
Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Barfield might have not quitely abstained
and maybe Sen. Randy Guerra, who
endorsed Pappa, may have not voted in
his favor. Politicians change when masses
of voters are present
As for the overused rhetoric "beating a
dead horse," Pappa is not a dead issue.
Would we so readily vote for Assemblyman Jim Costa after soliciting two prostitutes? Pappa said he learned his lesson.
What about Nixon, he learned his lesson
too. Why don't we have him appointed to
the Supreme Court? •
We should not prosecute Pappa further,
but we should not let him sit on a board
that oversees the minority papers.
different organizations on the resolution
If more people had shown support, we
she had written, but what good are signa- might have "beaten" the dead horse. But
tures if people are not there to back them? the dead horse has been revived, just like
Only three ~nators supported Tracey. Dracula.
If more peopl had shown up, I'm almost
positive that tH vote would have turned
By Lawrence Tovar
out differently. For example, Sen. Greg
Calijornia State University, Fresno
The Daily Collegian
Thursday, Oct. 16, 1986
Initiative sparks debate
By Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Supporters of Proposition 63, the
English as the .o:(ficial language initiative,
believe English can act as a unifyit1g force
in the state.
"Our American heritage is now threatened by language conflicts and ethnic
separation," says the argument favoring
the initiative in the state ballot pamphlet.
Both supporters and opponents agree
that English is the common language in
California, but they sharply disagree on
what will happen if Proposition 63 is
approved by the voters in the Nov. 4
election.
Opponents of the initiative, such as
Californians United Against 63 and state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp
believe it is written too broadly and will
clog the state's courts because of likely
lawsuits to enforce and to challenge it.
They a lso believe making English the
official la nguage will not unify various
ethnic groups in the state but will isolate
them instead .
If it is passed , t he initiative will become ·
an amend ment to the state constitution
and cannot be altered or repealed except
through the init iative process, if problems
occur.
It will also require the legislature to
insure that Engl ish "is preserved and
enhanced," and gives any resident or
person doing busi ness in the state the right
to sue the state if he believes the initiative
is not enforced.
"Those innocent-sounding provisions
are an open invitation to hundreds of
hurtful and frivolous lawsuits," Van de
Kamp said in a prepared statement to a
joint hearing on the proposition in Los
Angeles.
Both the attorney general and a representative for Californians United Against
63, BiJl White, cited Miami's 1980 city
ordinance which allowed English only.
Miami, which has a large Spanishspeaking population, was not allowed to
have signs in Spanish to warn people of a
high-voltage rail in the subway system.
The airport did not have signs in any
language but English, and Haitian mothers
could not receive information in Creole
on how to care for newborn infants. Van
de Kamp said some people even objected
to the use of Latin in listing names of
species at the zoo.
Van de Kamp and White said the
initiative could be used to challenge multilingual emergenc:yservices,interpreters for
court witnesses or instructions to parents
in other languages on how to get their
children immunized.or enrolJed in school.
"I would certainly hope that no sensible
court would entertain such notions here in
California," said Van de Kamp . "But I can
guarantee that some zealous defender of
pure Americanism will raise each and
every one of them in court and set neighbor
against neighbor in the process."
The California English Campaign,
headed by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa
and his associate, Stanley Diamond, says
in its literature that emergency services,
such as 9 I I telephone numbers and other
health, safety and justice services, in other
languages are not threatened.
Diamond was not avalable for comment
at the group's headquarters in San Francisco, but a southern California spokesman, Richard Hughes, said in a telephone
interview that the elimination of such
services is not the intent of the initiative.
He .b~lieves that not having English as
an bffic1al .language hinders thos~t do
not speak 1t from wanting to learn it.
He said bilingual education is a factor
whic~ c~~tributes to ~~ople not learning
E~ghsh . l looked at b1hngual education ,,
sa1~ Hu~hes, "It's only keeping them {n
their native language longer . .,
. He _believe~ st~dents should only be
given mstruction m English so they will
learn the Iangu~ge faster. Hughes, a high
school teacher m Garden Grove, said he
supports English-as-a-second-language
See PROP. 63, page 7
STUDENT OUTREACH
Lawrence Tovar/ La Voz de Aztlan
Ron Avila of campus radio station KFSR 's Radio Chicano interviews a student from Tranquillity High School, on campus as
part of the Chicano Latino Students Association's high school outreach program.
Student reports discrimination
By Leo Valdez
Special to La Voz
Discrimination- The act ofdistinguishing
difference: A showing of partiality or
prejudice.
- Websters New World Dictionary
I believe discrimination is a problem
that is very hard for children to deal
with in our school system. Children
sometimes develop low self-esteem because
their teachers treat them differently
from other kids.
It is especially unfair to children of
racial minority groups. It is not right
for a teacher to stop a child from
speaking their native language in class:
They should be encouraged to speak
both languages.
I had gone from the sixth grade to
the seventh grade in a different school.
My first impression of my teacher,
Mrs. Ledbetter, was that she seemed to
be a very nice lady. A month or two
went by, and I didn't have any problems
with her. We were getting along just
fine .
One day two of my Mexican friends
and l were in Mrs. Led better's class and
we were talking in Spanish. Mrs. Ledbetter suddenly walked in the room
with an angry expression on her face.
She started yelling at us. We wondered
what we had done ·vrnng. She said in
front of the whole class, "You are in
America now, you are not supposed to
speak Spanish." My friends and I were
very embarrased. She told us that we
had to stay after school. She said, "You
must write, I will not speak Spanish in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class, on the chalk
board 250 times."
When I got home I discussed this
problem with my dad. The next morning
my dad decided to talk with the Spanish
speaking parents of the children in
Mrs. Ledbetter's class.
The parents all gathered together
and spoke to the principal, but the
principal told them that they had to
speak with the school board. It took
several months of speaking with the
school board to try to remove Mrs.
Ledbetter. Finally after three months
she was removed from our school.
Mrs. Ledbetter was white and raised
in an area where there were very few
Mexican people, so she wasn't used to
hearing Spanish. The day she was
leaving I asked her why she resented us
speaking Spanish around her. She said,
"Because I didn't understnad what you
were saying, I thought that you were
mocking me or talking abo~t me.
••1 really have no time for students
who don't speak a lot of English. The
other students would be cheated out of
learning time." All this showed me that
she was prejudiced and had low expectations of minority groups.
I've found discrimination at almost
every school I have visited. When 1
started to work for Hester Elementary
School in Farmersville, I was under the
Mini-Court Program (a program that
would have student-teachers help and
work with migrant kids).
I found that the teacher I was assigned
to was very prejudiced. The first day of
work I arrived to her room and she
said , "There they are. Try to work with
them. I have given up."
She had six migrant children sitting
at a large table separated from the
other kids . This made me very angry
because I thought she was being so
unfair to them, and I thought to myself,
"I will try to help these kids as much as
possible."
· The year went by and all six students
were doing as well or better than the
rest of the kids. The teacher was very
surprised and she asked, "What are you
doing with them?" I replied, "All they
needed was someone who could understand their problems."
I knew how they felt because when 1
was younger I had been in the same
See PROBLEM, page 6
=®____
L_a_~_oz_de_A_z_tla_n_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _r._h_u_rs_di_ay_,_o_c_t_.1_6_,_1_9_86_~
Trustees change requirements
By Bill Lerch
La Voz Writer
Also, there is a film that encourages quality of education. But he said they did
high school students to take those college . not look into the effects it might cause in
prep courses. The positive entertainment the inner city and rural areas.
The California State University Board is called "All You Can Dream." This
Because of the rejection to further study
of Trustees recently adopted tougher program stars positive role models like the 1988 requirements by Deukmejian,
requirements for students entering the Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong, the California State Student Association
CSU system straight from high school.
Kareem Abdul Jabaar from the Los is quiet on the issue of the 1988 requireThe requiremnents take affect in 1988 Angeles Lake rs and Pat Morita star of the ments because of it's causing conflict on
and increase the number of college prep- "Karate Kid"to name a few. There is also the board, according to Whalen.
aratory courses needed to 15.
a Spanish version. All of this is to
. The courses include four years of prep- encourage students to look at higher eduM EChA, however, strictly opposess the
aratory english. three years of math, one cation.
1988 Requirements saying that it is "a
year of lab science, one year of govemracist decision" according to the M EChA Statement, two years of a foreign language, one
Associated Students President Bob
wide Task Force on Educational Rights,
year of performing arts, and three years of Whalen says he understands why the
minorities will suffer from the instalation
college-prep electives
Board of Trustees want to improve the of the 1988 requirements. They say that
The California Post Secondary Education Commission and an Assembly bill
proposed plans designed to "evaluate high
school curriculum to implement the 1988
requirements. " The proposals were killed
by Gov. Deukmejian. Because of this, 17
By~o~t: > . . J
percent of California high schools do not
SJl!pial
· · ·• ·
offer some courses to meet the 1988
requirements.
Teena
According to Frances Pena, mostly
,problem
minority students will be affected . A
teell;lge
coordinator of the Student Affirmative
In th
Action program, Pena says, "Getting sturnillf
dents and minority students in the college, ,Stat
prep classes is our main goal."
•· ·l •o'•••,H,
The program under Robert Ramirez
\feeytim
and Frances Pena's guidance sends uniparents
versity role models to the high schools so
the kids can develop positive attitudes for
college.
the requirements "are part of a pattei:-n of
attacks on Chicano students on all levels."
M EChA wants to protest the 1988 requirements to "open all the doors to
higher education for Chicanos and other
mi11orities."
When the 1988 requirements take affect
there will be a phasing in period where
students will be admitted with IO of the 15
required courses. Students entering college
can make up course requirements in
college.
The 1988 requirements are supposed to
better prepare those entering college so
they will be able to adapt to university
standards.
Te ebi!J : .>A"t'f • "'
ontt:1
PROBLEM
Continued from page S
situation. I spoke with these kids in
both Spanish and English which made
it easier to understand what they needed
to learn.
These experiences have taught me a
lot about discrimination and how I
should fight for something I believe is
not right. Many things like a teacher
rejecting or having iow expectations
could make a kid quit school. Maybe
that's why minority groups have such
high drop-out rates.
My father had always stressed the·
portance of being able to speakt
panish. I don't think anyone should:
~ ot speak it because a teacher didn't 1
want him to speak it in class.
FISHBONE
SPECIAL GUESTS
THE PEP BOYS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 ..... 8 PM
Satellite College Union/Whitfield Hall
$5 CSUF STUDENT
$7 GENERAL
$10 DAY OF SHOW
PRESENTED BY-COLLEGE UNION PROGRAM COMMITTEE
La Voz
4e Aztlan
,--cL....
SA-.,,..o!. u - T R - E - A C - H - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~
.·.t-
i
Thursday, Oct.16, 1986
PROP. 63
~~:➔
Continued from page S
Lawrence Tovar/ La Vaz de Aztlan
Three students from Tranquility High School listen to Robert Castorena explain Career Day at CSUF. Castorena, a
former Associated Students senator and Chicano Latino Students Association member, helped out with CLSA's high
school outreach program.
Nakasone practices same old rhetoric
Bang!
Prime miniinister of Japan
Yasuhiro Nakasone said that blacks
Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are th;
cause of low educational standards in
the United States.
It was a curious broadcast because
the prime minister was shown speaking,
but it was not clear if he was speaking
English or Japanese.
He was addressing a group of Japanese politicians. The news flash gave
the impression that the news was
dub.;ed in £nglish, but did he really say
those exact words?
What was also mysterious about the
media message was the lack of an
introduction by a foreign correspondent. There were no comments at the
end of the news item. The prime minister
flashed on and off the screen.
That brings up questions. Why was
this newsworthy in the format in which
it was presented? What was the message?
Was it the intention of the media to
further intimidate minority school
children at that hour of the morning?
Can this be a new twist to "a picture is
worth a thousand words?" Now an
early morning news flash is worth
untold numbers of stereotypes. The
tunnelvision box reaches a lot of people.
Could this be a new trend by Uncle
Tf£l1
TEST?
American Cancer:
An Opinion
By Guadalupe Tovar
Sam to gain support to do away with
bilingualism in California and possibly
the U.S.? Just suppose that the eradication of other languages and the new
immigration enforcement laws are a
sign that jobs and wages are to be lower
in the near future for all Americans.
Then there will be no need or benefit to
tolerate Mexican nationals in this
country. Americans will be happy to
have jobs in the field with large foreignowned companies.
Imagine the exodus of heavy ind us try
to the third world countries where the
spirit of work and excellence is the rule
and not the commercialized exception.
This may seem irrelevant, but the
reason for the fuel effective cars was
because the price of gasoline was
expected to be $2.50 per gallon. Just
how far into the future is the ground
work of America being laid today? Is it
a matter of time before some of us have
the rug pulled out from under us?
There is the "band wagon" point of
view. There could have been a different
•,
OGRE
strategy to the news. Suppose the
government wanted to stir up trouble
in the relations between the U.S. and
Japan. What a nice way to get a
boycott started. The minorities would
get upset and boycott the Japanese
products and maybe even affect Japan's
economy.
But if they didn't, Uncle Big Brother
would be able to generate propaganda
to get America moving against the
Japanese on behalf of the minorities,
and bring them to their knees.
The Japanese can be judged as
prejudiced by signs on display in many
of their public establishments that say,
"Japanese only."
"****
instruction, but not instruction in students'
native language.
This, he said, gives students too much
instruction about the "old country's culture."
"They've come to America. They should
be taught about America," Hughes said.
Dr. Cecilio Orozco, coordinator of the
CSU F Bilingual Education Department,
.said, "They have no proof that teaching:
them all in English will encourage t.ngllsh. ''
He said a seven-year study showed just
the opposite.
"Americans have such a total ignorance
of the culture that made up this country."
Orozco believes the initiative has racial
intents. "They're fighting Mexicans.
They're not fighting for U.S. English."
White, who works out of Californians
Against 63's office in Sacramento, called
the California English Campaign "mean
spirited."
He said, "If their major concern is
bilingual education, why not form a law
that addresses bilingual education?"
Esther Padilla, President of the Mexican
American Political Association in Fresno,
said the backers of Proposition 63 are
"xenqphobic people who have a lot to
learn about the people who make up
California. They don't care anything about
unity. They just want to take away our
heritage."
Padilla mentioned various population
projections which predict that Hispanics
will be 38 percent to 40 percent of the
population by 2010.
But Hughes said another one of the
California English Campaign's intents is
to reduce the "influence of these machine
politicians," through election material.
He n:;fused to say Hispanic politicians
were in this category, but he gave
Assemblyman Art Torres and Los Angeles
City Councilman Richard Alatorre as
examples. Both are Hispanic.
"These are the types of politicians that
like to keep people corralled and segregated," Hughes said. "They want to keep
it (California) bicultural; they want to
keep it in their old language."
OJ,e of the year's best films.
Haunting and erotic.,,
"Bn1,1,IQn
.,, . t'"
•
-Gene Siske I. CHICAGO TRIBl 1NE
-Marilrn &ck. CHICA(;() TRIBl lNE SYNDICATE
"William Burt's sexual chemistry
produces the heat ...Marlee Matlin's debut
is a victorr"
- Brucl' Williamson. PLAYBOY MAGAZINE
"011e of the Best Films of 1986.. .
The most extraordinary love story in many years . . .
rich and profoundly moving."
-Michal'! Med\'l'd. SNEAK PRE\'IE\X'S
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GENERAL BOOK DEPTARTMENT
LOWER LEVEL
WILLIAM HURT
MARLEE MATLIN
PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESEm8 ABUKf SUGARMAN PRODUCTION
ARANDA tL'1NES FILM CHILDREN OF ALESSER GOD PIPER LAURIE · PHILIP BOSCO
Screenplay bv HESPER ANDERSON and MARK MEDOFF Based on the ~ Play by MARK MEDOFF
Pi,,ci~ bv BURT SUGARMAN and PATRICK PAIMER Directed by RANDA
r--R-r---=:..=n=•=icT=1D;:-;;;s;;.~ ~~~~:C~:,rs APARAMOUNf PICTURE { ~; •:
HAINES-A
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NOW PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU.
Prop. 63 not needed
Proposition 63 will not solve any problems if it
passes in November's election. It will do just the
opposite.
The initiative would declare English the official
language of California, but it also has a provision
which allows any resident or person doing business in
California to sue the state if he believes English is not
being "preserved and enhanced."
This clause is dangerous because it will clog the
state's courts with suits against the state.
Six states and Dade County, Florida have declared
English their official language. But according to state
Attorney General John Van de Kamp none of those
states or Dade County have a lawsuit provision. He
believes this clause will set California as "the testing
ground f orevery use of a foreign language in American
society."
The attorney general is right. Miami, which is in
Dade county, adopted a law similar to Proposition 63
in 1980. The issues that arose were ridiculous. The
Miami zoo could list the names of animals in English
only. Some people objected to the species names in
Latin. The international airport was English only. In a
large city with a lot of international traffic, it wo~ld be .
common courtesy to communicate to tourists in languages besides just English.
Supporters of the initiative - the California English
Campaign, led by former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa and his Dear Editor:
In the Sept. 25 issue of La Yoz de
?Ssociate Stanley Diamond - say multi-lingual services,
Aztlan there was a controversial cartoon
such as 911 operators, interpreters for court witnesses published in which MEChA was libeled.
or instructions to parents on how to get their children The organizations involved, M EChA and
met Friday, Sept. 26 to resolve the
immunized and enrolled in school would not be CLSA
issue. It turned out that the CLSA
threatened. But because the initiative is written so organization did not endorse the cartoon,
were they a ware of the possibility of its
broadly, they can't guarantee those services will survive. or
being printed, therefore, we (MEChA)
Proposition 63 is very dangerous because it will be a feel that the cartoonist and the editor of
constitutional amendment. When problems with it· La Yoz de Aztlan are to be blamed for the
confusion. The cartoonist has not attended
arise, the only way to solve them is by another any of the M EChA meetings, nor has she
constitutional amendment, and that means the intiative attempted to contact any of the M EChA
board members to get information about
process all over again. The legislature, governor, the organization. She had no knowledge
attorney general or other state officials will not be able of what M EChA was involved in, thereto change Proposition 63. Hayakawa and Diamond
began their cause in 1981 and are just now getting the
English as an official language issue on the ballot. How
long will it take to get signatures for revision, place it on
the ballot and get it passed by voters?
Statewide polls have shown strong voter support for
On Oct. 7th Tracy Bernard asked the
Proposition 63 (from 63 percent to 70 percent in favor). Associated Students Senate to take a
stand against President Whalen's
Most of these people most likely believe English should formal
Media Council appointment, Erik Pappa.
simply be the dominant language, and it is. But because
Only five students voiced opposition to
the initiative brings up the issue of declaring English an the appointment, one of which was Pat
Young, a white male. Three others were
official language, it implies that English is being members of the Chicano Latino Associachallenged by another language. English is alive and tion and former A.S. Sens. Danny
Chacon, Robert Castorena and myself.
well in California.
The fifth was Bernard.
She had the
Proposition 63 is not needed and is dangerous. A courage to act despite the prevailing
that she was "beating a dead
vote against Proposition 63 does not mean that Spanish, opinion
horse." I'm upset that only four other
Latin, Greek or any other language will take the place students and three senators were present
to hear her. There were signatures of
of English.
Letter to the Editor
MEChA answers cartoon
fore , acted unprofessionally by not using
adequate editorial discretion.
The cartoon was a product of rumors
and the ignorance of a few individuals.
The perception of a rivalry between the
two organization is thus an illusion that
has caused confusion among students,
therefore M EChA denounces the actions
of the cartoonist and of the editor in order
to protect the integrity of La Yoz de
Aztlan . It is imperative that we take such a
position in order that this does not happen
in the future.
Sincerely yours,
George Martinez
M EChA 's Chairperson
Senator lacked backing
Rudy Murrieta
La Voz Editor
Barfield might have not quitely abstained
and maybe Sen. Randy Guerra, who
endorsed Pappa, may have not voted in
his favor. Politicians change when masses
of voters are present
As for the overused rhetoric "beating a
dead horse," Pappa is not a dead issue.
Would we so readily vote for Assemblyman Jim Costa after soliciting two prostitutes? Pappa said he learned his lesson.
What about Nixon, he learned his lesson
too. Why don't we have him appointed to
the Supreme Court? •
We should not prosecute Pappa further,
but we should not let him sit on a board
that oversees the minority papers.
different organizations on the resolution
If more people had shown support, we
she had written, but what good are signa- might have "beaten" the dead horse. But
tures if people are not there to back them? the dead horse has been revived, just like
Only three ~nators supported Tracey. Dracula.
If more peopl had shown up, I'm almost
positive that tH vote would have turned
By Lawrence Tovar
out differently. For example, Sen. Greg