Arnold, once again, refuses to stand for equal access to education and vetoes the California Dream Act (SB1301). And, with this, hundreds of activists across the state are left wondering, what could we have done differently?
The groundwork was done: newspaper editorials gave them support, chambers of commerce and school boards pushed resolutions in their favor, and even a few conservatives were willing to speak out in favor of this bill.
And still there was a veto.
It seems the booby-grabbing, cigar-smoking walking plastic surgery with orange hair that we have for a governor cannot be counted to think rationally about an issue that involves a combination of a moral call to action with outside-the-box thinking on behalf of economic development.
Why? In part, it’s because he doesn’t know what is it to be a poor college student, let alone an undocumented one. At the Power and Unity Coalition rally two weeks ago, one could witness eager action combined with fresh intellectualism. Hundreds of mostly Latino college students chanted, gave speeches, recited poetry, laughed, and cried over their society’s current ills. Could the governor, as an immigrant, see through the foggy politics of nativism and decide in favor of these students? Could he share the vision expressed on their blue signs, those that expressed their future professions and the dreams they hoped to achieve? The answer is no. He doesn’t know because these high-achieving students do not seem familiar to him. After all, when he was young, he wasn’t trying to get himself ahead and change the world, he was learning how to say “ass” in Portuguese:
Arnold the politician is not far removed from Arnold the young stud: a lucky guy who got to see the world because of his profession, yet spent his time playing a game and abusing his power, rather than seeing the opportunity his position provided him.
Now, I appreciate bodybuilding as a skill and as a profession – one time, I even spent a whole summer building a perfect beer belly. But I do not think that is a youth profession that prepares you for a position of leadership, and this was demonstrated last night. At the last hour of the legislative year, Arnold struck out a common sense bill with a nonsensical veto message. But the message of the students, as they left the capitol was level-headed and clear, in the type of one-liner that the governor can both deliver and understand: We'll be back.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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2 comments:
Its a shame that as Californians we have someone so ill qualified for this position- Governor of the state. Its time to hold this Governor and our elected officials accountable.
However, the will and the power of the students will outsmart and outlast him. Because...
"There ain't no power like the power of the students cause the power of the students don't stop!"
During the 2005 commencement ceremony at Santa Monica College, the year I transferred to CSUN, the governor, who attended SMC in the early 70’s, appeared as the keynote speaker. I remember thinking about that speech during our trip to Sacramento, on September 17th.
I’ve never been a big fan of the governor, but I couldn’t help but to think of his words, and in a strange way it gave me lots of hope. Part of me wanted to believe that he actually gave a crap about education and about California’s future, but I was just giving him way too much credit.
These are some of the words he said during his speech at SMC on June 14, 2005:
“Now, the important thing is here, the message is, be strong. Go after your goal. Now, it’s going to be a big struggle. It’s going to be a lot of work. And make sure that you understand one thing; that you are the only obstacle. There is no other obstacle for you than you yourself, your own mind, because America and California is already the land of opportunity. It’s already the state with the greatest opportunity. You’re already here in the greatest state in the greatest country in the world.
So the only obstacle that you have is your own mind. Never fear competition. Always go all out, and always overcome your fears, because that’s what courage is all about. Courage is not the lack of fear, but courage is to mow through the fear and to go after your goals and do what you want to do.”
How ironic, don’t you think? The governor saying, “you are the only obstacle”. Yesterday, during the last hour of the night, with hundreds maybe thousands of students waiting to hear news on the CA Dream Act (SB1301), many glued to the TV for any news, searching the internet, waiting for a call, a text message, an e-mail, a facebook message, a myspace post….waiting for a miracle….the governor became THAT obstacle:
During that same trip to Sacramento, and on our way back to LA, we saw a movie which I’m sure most of you have heard of, “WALKOUT!”. After the movie, many of us shared our thoughts and feelings. Susan, a UCLA IDEAS member, pointed out that in one of the scenes one of the characters asked, “What have you accomplished with all of this (walkout)? Nothing, nothing has changed”, and another character, a young student, said: “We have changed”.
Susan was right to point that out, we all have changed, we all have grown, and the fact that we are sharing our thoughts, our feelings, and opening a dialogue is a proof of that. If I recall correctly, this didn’t happen last year when the governor vetoed the CA Dream Act. And it’s absolutely beautiful to see that this time we are all willing to share, to speak out and to continue the fight, because this is far from over. If the governor was able to hear us chanting in front of the state capitol, then he knows that WE’LL BE BACK!
Despite the irony that his 2005 commencement speech turned out to be, I leave you all with a message from the governor himself, hoping that he lives up to his words someday, and knowing that we will:
“…keep up the good work. Work, work, work. Study, study, study. Win, win, win, and give back to the community.
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