1982_03 The Daily Collegian March 1982

              Pott2—la Votat* Aillam—Mmrch4,19*2
Two Steps Back
■
Less than two years ago Chicanes all over the Valley were '
hading Sanger at a perfect example of what can happen when
you work through the political
process.
Three young Chicaners were
swept into office giving Mexican-
Americans their first council majority in the town's history. Now,
two of three have been bounced
oat.
It was one of those political
losses 'hat can make you fed",
wefl, rotten.
But there should be no long
faces, nor talk of throwing in
the towel. The Sanger recall defeat was not a "losing" experience, it was a "learning" experience and it is encouraging that
the three Chicano council members and their supporters see the
campaign in those terms.
With that kind of understanding and spirit, the Sanger Mexican community can regroup and
provide an example of "bounce
back politics" just as it served
as a positive example for Chicanes everywhere when it helped
sweep those three council seats
in I960.
The Sanger "defeat" was actu-
Comrnemary1
aUy a rather nasty but enligbt-
ening lesson on how to keep your
political power.
There are slot of reason*) for
the recall of Taniz Ybarra and
Socorro Davila but the overriding
factor, unfortunately, was race.
Many of our fdlow Anglo
citizens apparently haven't accepted the fact that Chicanos
should be given a fair chance
to govern in the political process
once that change is appropriately
earned.
Does that mean that I'm kissing off all those Anglos who
voted for the recall as a bunch
of racists? Of course, not. The
majority of people who voted
for the recall were misinformed
and misled, yes, but they weren't
racists.
However, the people behind
the recall, who were doing the
misleading and misinforming,
apparently couldn't stomach the
fact that Mexicans were now calling the shots at City Hall and
were making changes.
The recall committee, Sanger
Citizens for Good Government,
offered no valid reasons for the
recall and seemed more interested
in damaging the Chicanos with
half truths and rumors.
Recall supporters complained
about the council firing the city
attorney and pressuring the City
Manager to resign.
Yet, the Sanger Herald newspaper — which like other small
town papers in the Valley has
no great record of championing
Chicano political aspirations —
wisely pointed out in an editorial
against the recall that the recall
committee had been "somewhat
vague about their objections"
and that a recall "should only
be undertaken when slot more
hard proof of wrong-doing sur-
faces than has to date.".
The Herald editorial also pointed out "Sanger has always had
an Anglo-dominated council, and
those in opposition apparently
hate to sec the balance swing
the other way eventhough the
city population is now 65 percent
Hispanic.
Those were interesting and
courageous observations by the
hometown newspaper. It wasn't
exactly the "Brown Power Oaz-
ette" making those points.
With flimsy reasons for the
recall, "The Paper" and the
Sanger Citizens for Good Government — and its main backer,
a newspaper called "The Paper"
•— kept hammering away at the
effective use of the absentee ballots by Chicanos as a method
to get Mexican-American people
to vote.
Letters to the editor
Eeagan Proposes Axing Student Aid
j Jerry Gonralei
The budget proposed by the Reagan
jAdministration for academic year 1983-
84 seeks to cut or eliminate important
student aid programs. The U.S. Department of Education concedes that over one
million students will be adversely affected
by ihc proposed cuts. This will amount lo
about one-third of all students who
Veceive financial aid.
For the California State University and
College System (CSUC) the proposed
reduction in Pell Grants, formerly known
as BEOC are granted to low and middle
income students, will result in 16.000
students being dropped from the program
at a cost of about $10.1 million to CSUC.
Overall, for the state of California. 94.219
students will not receive awards in 1983-
84. Reagan proposes to completely eliminate the Supplemental Educational Opportunity program, which is designed to
supplement other sources of financial aid.
Approximately 6.450 CSU students will
lose benefits at a cost of $4.7 million to the
CSUC. The administration also proposes
to eliminate the National Direct Student
Loan (NDSL) program, which offers low
interest federal loans to students. This
action will drop 13.237 students from the
program.
The College Work-Study (CWS) pro-^
gram also faces drastic reductions. Instead of nearly eight thousand students
working, only 5.743 students will panici-
LOiim
Funds for the State of California, under
campus based programs (SEOG, CWS.
NDSL) face a cut of nearly $80 million. A
staggering 120.000 California students
will be eliminated from these programs.
Reagan also proposes to phase out
social security educational benefits and
the TRIO program, which provides important services to disadvantaged low income
students. A 50 percent cut is in store for
both programs in 1983.
Contrary to the popular belief that
financial aid programs are "minority"
programs, at least half of all current post
secondary students receive some form of
federal assistance, which is over 3.3 million students. The majority of students
who receive aid come from families with
incomes under $25,000. In dollar terms,
about half of theaid presently available to
needy students, whose family income is
under $14,000. will be eliminated. For
students from families with incomes ranging between $I4.000-$25.000. virtually all
aid will be eliminated.
Nationwide resistance to Reagan's proposed cuts will be staged on the week of
March I. A National Day of Action on
Financial Aid Cuts sponsored by the
students and student organizations, such
asM.E.Ch.A..andthe Pan Afrikan Union
are actively working together in an effort
to counter Reagan's proposed cuts. A
concerted effort by students, faculty and
staff will be the strongest way to turn back
the wave of conservatism which threatens
to eliminate the right to a higher education for many students.
Recall supporters spread rumors about "illegal practices and
voters" despite the fact that back
in 1980, Sanger Mexican-Americans were cleared of any wrong
doing with absentee ballots by
an investigation by the Fresno
County District Attorney's Office and later won a suit in
Fresno County Superior Court
which charged them with illegal
voting practices.           ..  ,?.
The Sanger Herald . wisely
pointed out that absentee ballot
provisions are on the books and
it it within the rights of Hispamcs
or anyone for that matter to use
them to their advantage.
When you get to the bottom
of the matter, the recall committee and other disgruntled Anglos are not really incensed about
so-called illegal practices with absentee ballots. If you read between the lines, they're really saying, "We don't like the absentee
ballots because the Mexicans are
voting now."
If Mexicans weren't marking
those absentee ballots, I'm sure
we would be hearing nothing
about it. We can expect to bear
more, though, since Sanger Chicano council nirmben received
900 absentee ballot votes in the
recall election.
The old phrase, "Chicanos
don't vote or not enough Chicanos vote," is aetting to sound
hxe a broken record but, unfortunately, it partially applied
to the Sanger loss.
Mexican-Americans outnumber Anglos in registered voters
in Sanger and the losing candidates admitted that If more effort
had been put into getting the
vote out, the outcome would
have been different. The Chicano
candidates and their supporters,
again worked hard but apparently some things were 'taken
for granted end the damage was
done.
In addition, the three Chicano'
council candidates could've done
a better job of communicating
their positions to the citizens
through the media. You cant
just dock when someone is throwing mud at you, day in and day
out especially when the Fresno
media (newspapers and television) were giving token and superficial coverage to what was
happening in Sanger.
The racism of some voters,
the half-baked charges and rumors spread by the recall committee, the superficial media coverage and the failure of Chicanos
to get out more votes were all
factors in the results of the Sanger recall and from each of them,
something must be learned.
Mexican people in Sanger have
the knowledge, intelligence and
the numbers to win another majority on the Sanger Council
when the seats again go up for
election in April. They already
have proven that.   .
It wilL.boggle the mind to.lit
down and think about the contributions Mexican people have
made to this country. Millions
of Mexican working people have
given their sweat and their lives
to help build the agricultural and
industrial empires of the Southwest.
Think of the tlaoutands of
Mexican Americans who fought
in the wars and the families who
lost fathers and sons in the battles
of World War II, Korea and
Vietnam. With this great contri
bution in mind, doesn't it
only just that our Anglo-American citizens should judge Chicano candtflafirt on their merits
not on their race!
Marry Anglos apparently didn't
see it that way. .
Instead of taking a Map forward in race relations in their
town, they took a step backward.
Although this radal attitude
is saddening, it should not be
surprising.
Race baiting and hysteria are
a part of California since the
days of the Gold Rush when
some Anglo Americans decided
that the human rights of Mexican
and Latin people should be put
on a low priority.
That legacy which started in
the 1850s, still is with us today
in one way or another.
Remember, tins Valley only recently elected conservative politicians like the Reich Brothers
and made judges out of attorneys
who used radal tactics to defeat
the honorable Chicanos appointed to judgeships in Fresno County.
And we live in a country that
elected Ronald Reagan, President
and. Mr. Reagan isn't exactly the
champion of minority rights.
The Sanger Recall group, and '
other groups  who tfcan't want
to see Chicanos realize t*»eir full
political  potential,  are not  interested in playing fair.
That was obv1ouAlfl_ti*r- secall
eisc^jc,and. has been.la other
caMMiM in the Valley. Sue
Merkr, recall cocardinator, was
qBPfed at .catting the threeChicano' council members "puppets
of a much higher authority."
And who is the much higher
autbearity? As Merlo put h, "The
big Hispank people who want
■to take over, I guess. This U
statewide. Every time you turn
on the T.V. they're up at Sacramento on buses or whatever. So
who's funding, them?"
.We will all
people fike Sue 1
trymt to spread*
over" stare when1
•can dtizens take |
fitkal   process. '
they have carat
contributic^tothbc
Mrs. Merlo and
did somethmg that CHaan always are accoaed of oottrg. They
got ettacdooa] instead of uaiag
thdrh*adtv v   __ ■■• ..
ActiotB by the Saaitr Citizens
forOoodOn ttiwmgeajynan
that CRicanos gef isjtjre emery,
too. \      t•■» ' •
They can't help but oik (hat
"They stuck it to us part we've
got the numbers so tsjnre going
tostickittothem.•, S. .-
And with their nrjne^ers, Sanger Mexican-Americans easily
could do that in the future. But
it really shouldn't have had to
come to that. The Chicanos
shouldn' t have been recalled.
Sanger dty business would be
running uninterrupted, now it's
up in the air.
And race relations in Sanger
and the Valley have been dealt
a setback. The Valley hat never
had a shining record of race relations to begin with and the
last thing we need is to be moving
backward.
(Al Reyes was a television reporter foe Channels 30 and 24
in the 1970's and coveted many
stories throughout the San Joaquin Valley. He it currently working on special projects and tn
the future, will provide news
reports and other commentaries
.   forELTIEMPO.)
OBLEDO:
The Man Who Dared
Pat* J—La Votaa A Ulan—Monk 4,11*2
By Margarita Martinez
La Vol Start Writer
Those lucky enough to be present at the
Hilton Inn last Friday witnessed a historical event in the form of Mario Obledo.
Over 100 supporters wildly waving
signs and cheering proudly assembled to
greet "the next governorof California,"as
he has dubbed himself. Amid the shouts of
"Viva Obledo," frenzied clapping and
flashing bulbs, emerged the soft-spoken
scholarly leader.
The crowd enthusiastically followed
Obledo upstairs to the Press Room to
await his announcement. On hand to
introduce the candidate was Victor Lopez, mayor of Orange Cove and head of
the campaign in the San Joaquin Valley.
"Valley people feel in a real sense that
this is their campaign," proudly proclaimed Lopez, "there are 63 elected
Hispanic officials in the County of Fresno
and all 63 have endorsed Mario for the
next governor of the State of California."
The crowd cheered loudly as Lopez
continued, "You have an opportunity to
elect a man with the highest qualifications
that any individual could ask for."
"...a man who loves other numan
beings, let me introduce to you the next
governor of the State of California. Mario
Obledo,' shouted Lopez over the thunderous clapping and whistling. In stepped
Obledo in a somber looking three piece
suit. As the crowd quieted Obledo softly
greeted "Good morning." to the lively
crowd.
"I now officially announce my candidacy for the Governor of the State of California." tried to shout Obledo as the
crowd loudly cheered and clapped.
"1 ask every citizen to join me in heart
and in spirit as we commence this bold
step. As we fashion our destiny, as we
regain hope," Obledo said in an almost
priestly manner.
"Today I ask a simple request that I be
able to turn those dreams into reality. It is
not yet too late to create a glorious state,"
added Obledo with true conviction.
As the crowd quieted down Obledo
began to enumerate his goals as governor
of California. "For the old: support of
social security, safety, quality health care,
and the right to grow old with dignity."
For farmers he promised protection
from unfair competition from abroad and
equal pay for equal work and affordable
child care for women.
Obledo continued with other goals such
as free tuition and textbooks for college
students, jobs for high school youth, pay
incentives to encourage teachers to go into
barrios and ghetto schools.
Obledo then asked the crowd to contribute one dollar to his campaign as part
of an effort to raise $ I million by asking a
million individuals to contribute $1 each.
Attacking Reaganomics Obledo told
the cheering crowd, "As governor 1 will
stand as the loyal opposition to the federal
administration—to Mr. Reagan and his
economic policy of punishing the poor
and making the middle class the new
poor."
Obledo seemed to grow more confident
with every assertion and the crowd grew
more ecstatic. Addressing one of the
reasons as to why Chicanos have been
unable to achieve political prominence
Obledo warned. "We have to be aware of
the danger of futility—that one person
cannot make a difference, but one can
make a world of a difference."
/
"Look inwards and ask yourself whether you and your friends and neighbors
will have the courage to challenge tradition," continued Obledo. 'In the next 100
days we can be the makers' of history. Let
it be said that in 1982 you had a hand in
changing the political process of California."
In the press room were assembled
representatives of all major media in
Fresno as well as representatives of the
Spanbh speaking media. Obledo proved
an articulate speaker who could not be
ruffled by the constant implications that
he would be a governor for Chicanes.
When asked what he would do for
minorities Obledo responded. "Whatever
is necessary to make life better for
minorities and others. 1 will not be a governor for minorities. 1 will be a
governor of 24 million people.*
Asked about having campaign materials printed in Spanish and not in other
languages Obledo answered, "In California other groups do not have a large
enough population, but I will have materials printed in other languages as the
campaign progresses.*.
In response to questions about Reagan's new federalism Obledo replied that
he was opposed to the proposals the President has advanced. He cited that it will
cost the state "lots of money to assume
projects he has transferred to the states."
Questioned again about seeking the
endorsement of Chicanos in California.
Obledo replied. "I am seeking the endorsement of every registered voter in California irrespective of name, color, wealth
or status."
Obledo once a professor at Harvard
Law School, promised for educators
benefits and recognition for "the crucial
education they provide for future generations."
"Our task has now begun. Thank you."
Obledo said as he finished his speech and
headed to meet the press.   .
Asked what impact his campaign will
have Obledo confidently replied, "Roosevelt changed the course of the nation in
100 days. Obledo can change a campaign
in 100 days.*
In answer to a question about a recent
statement by an editorial writer /or the
Los Angeles Times calling Obledo'* campaign impossible Obledo confidently reiterated. 'I can tell you. youare looking at
the next governor."   . „    V
Obledo then sat back with a smile of a
man with a secret plan fof victory. The
Anglo media convinced he could not be
broken began to leave.
Afterward. Obledo continued the conference in Spanish. He spoke quietly in
Spanbh seeming more at home and less
defensive.
He told the Spanish speaking media
that many people in California were
afraid of the potential power of Chicanos.
'No one should be afraid. As governor I
will be open and responsive to all.' he
assured.
Asked if being a Chicano would be a
hindrance to his campaign Obledo responded pensatively. "Yes. there are still
people who dislike us because we arc
Spanish surnamed and will automatically
not vote for me. but those are less and less
because they see we have the same
qualifications."
Closing the conference Obledo thanked
those present and confidently said. 'California inerece lo tnejor. Ahorita meroyo
tarrlmrjor."