Volume 1, Edition 10 — July 2007

Carmen Núñez used to take the 34 bus from Logan Heights in San Diego to La Jolla everyday to work as a housekeeper in affluent neighborhoods.  When she was able to save enough money, she moved to the San Diego barrio of Logan Heights .  As a single mother, Carmen worked hard to ensure her young children received an education so they could become successful.  Little did she know that her desire for her children to attain a quality education would eventually lead her youngest son, Kevin, to one day become a California State Assemblymember.

As a child, Kevin de León became aware of the contrast between the haves and have-nots.  Poverty and drugs devastated his neighborhood.  He often wondered why those in power seemingly forgot about the common working class people.  Being witness to this injustice inspired Kevin to look for answers and fueled his desire to help people escape a life of poverty. 

Kevin de León became the first in his family to graduate from college.  He graduated from Pitzer College of the Claremont Colleges with

Honors.  Remembering the struggles of his own immigrant mother, he became a U.S. Citizenship teacher to help people become American citizens.  During his seven-year tenure with the California Teachers Association, he advocated for additional school construction and health insurance for children.  His passion for helping working class people led him to run for the State Assembly.  In the fall of 2006, Kevin de León was elected to represent the 45^th Assembly District with 82% of the vote. 

As a newly elected Assemblymember, Kevin de León realizes the challenges that face California .  He understands that impoverished minority communities suffer from contamination and pollution.  His own childhood neighborhood of Logan Heights was designated as a toxic dumping site.  He also views healthcare as a “right and not a privilege.”  Although he would like to have universal healthcare, Mr. de León believes AB 8 (Nuñez) is a great step forward that will ensure children have access to healthcare.  Regarding immigration, he is deeply disappointed that the U.S. Senate “lost a real opportunity to have an honest and transparent debate,” and he strongly calls on Congress to pass immigration reform.

In his spare time, Assemblymember de León spends time with his 13-year-old daughter, Lluvia.  Having been raised and influenced by a strong and compassionate woman, Kevin is now raising his daughter with those same values his mother instilled in him.  Lluvia is a young woman who is aware of social justice issues and is interested in the effects global warming has on our society. 

California Latino Legislative Caucus Newsletter — July 2007

Many propose that to fully integrate into a society, new immigrants should eliminate their native tongue. Governor Schwarzenegger recently asked Latinos to leave behind their mother tongue in order to better integrate with American culture.  But is the true test of integration the elimination of a language or, rather, the adoption of a new culture?

 The Governor’s personal go-it-alone struggle to learn English and American culture is laudable, but his no-pain-no gain route is far from the best way to learn English or promote diversity in American culture. Research in linguistics demonstrates that staying connected to primary language does not prevent a person from learning a second or third language, in fact it helps.   

 Generations of German-Americans demonstrated this long before Arnold Schwarzenegger came to these shores from his neighboring homeland Austria . German immigrants founded newspapers in their native language and German-English schools called Turnvereins to make the transition to American society easier for their fellow German-American immigrants. Sadly, anti-German sentiments following World War I eliminated almost all of the vital German-American cultural institutions, newspapers, and schools. If the Governor visits J Street in East Sacramento , he will find what remains of Turnverein Gymnasium, testimony to a once thriving bilingual German-American community that was wiped out by xenophobia and nationalism. It would be a sad irony if the Governor, an immigrant himself, promoted the same sort of nationalism this time victimizing a vibrant and diverse multicultural community.

 There are numerous positive outcomes resulting from the overlapping and interwoven contributions of generations of immigrants, specifically of Latinos in California .  The foundation for our system of medical care and treatment and the drafting of our constitution, hailing from the early 1800’s, are the direct result of positive integration of Latino and California settlers. In current times, we benefit from an expansive wave of Spanish-language news media that provide in-depth coverage of local, state, national and international public affairs.

Contrary to the Governor’s suggestion that Spanish-language media is a barrier to cultural integration and educational attainment, Spanish media serves as an important conduit for Latino immigrants to learn about English-language acquisition and citizenship classes as well as critical educational opportunities for their children.

 We applaud the Governor for his concern regarding the integration of immigrant communities in California but request a more active role in enabling these opportunities.  The success of English-learners in California public schools is directly related to the passage of bills such as SB 305, the Primary Language Achievement Test, authored by Sen. Denise Ducheny, which would bring the state into compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act related to providing achievement tests in pupils’ primary languages. Adult English-learners seeking to better integrate into our culture would directly benefit from the passage of Sen. Cedillo’s SB 1, Office of Immigrant Affairs, to advocate and promote an understanding between government agencies and immigrant residents and assist immigrants to naturalize.

 We urge the Governor to sign these bills this fall as a demonstration of his commitment to increasing the access for English language acquisition and further integration for California immigrants.

 The true measure of integration is much more than the acquisition of a language. It is the adoption of a culture, the attainment of prosperity, of education, families and homes. We should not distract ourselves with linguistic differences but celebrate them and remain focused in building our common goal, a more accepting and integrated society.

When I asked my best friend’s mom if she was going to see Michael Moore’s latest documentary “Sicko”, she replied, “I don’t want to see it. He only looks at extreme situations, doesn’t present the full story, and he’s fat.”

Well, whether you love him or hate him, think he is a liar or fiction creator, he has brought one of America ’s most pressing issues to the big screen – the dysfunctional American healthcare system.

In “Sicko”, Moore presents a side of America ’s broken healthcare system that is largely left out of the healthcare reform debate; he highlights the stories of insured Americans, who have major problems accessing care in spite of putatively being insured. It is far easier to take a pass on healthcare reform when the discussion is centered on uninsured Americans. They are, after all, the undocumented and jobless, right? Now that the plight of insured Americans has been brought to the forefront of the healthcare debate, the need for reform cannot be ignored.

When Flor Sanchez, a former farm worker in the San Joaquin valley, was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, she and her husband thought they would be fine. Flor, her

husband Pedro and their two kids all were covered under her husband’s health insurance plan. “We always thought if anything happened to any one of us, we would be fine. We had health insurance,” recalled Flor. “Everyone always assumes if you have health insurance you are protected.” However, when Flor started pursuing treatment for her cancer, she soon learned their health insurance didn’t cover treatment for a major illness like breast cancer. In fact, their deductible was “only” $10,000 - nothing compared to the cost of a full course of treatment, including chemotherapy and medication. While it was difficult, they found a way to finance her treatments. “But I’m lucky” commented Flor. “I can speak English and I know how to negotiate with the doctors. What about those who can’t speak English or don’t have jobs that provide any kind of health insurance?” She is referring to the 6.3 million uninsured Californians, 54% of whom are Latino. “How would they survive a situation like mine?”  

When talking about the movie “Sicko”, Flor raises a question that many seemed to raise after viewing the movie – “How is it that countries like France and Cuba can provide universal healthcare and we can’t?” asks Flor. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me. How can we put a price on life?”

The Latino Legislative Caucus has 23 active bills heading into the legislature’s summer recess.  With the deadline for bills to pass policy committees set for Friday, July 13^th, Members are hard at work to ensure their legislation continues to the next step of the legislative process. 

 Of the twenty-three active Latino Caucus bills, four have already made it to the floor of the “other house.”   If the bills get enough votes to pass, they will then either be sent back to their house of origin for concurrence or to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.  

 Two of the four bills nearing the end of the legislative process are the Latino Caucus civic engagement bills, AB 183 (Coto) and AB 122

(Solorio).  AB 183 requires high schools to report voter registration efforts, while AB 122 requires elections officials to provide prospective candidates a copy of the provisions of law that prohibit voter intimidation and voter fraud.  These two bills, along with SB 113 (Calderon) that moved the primary election up to February 2008, constitute the Latino Caucus civic engagement packet. 

California Latino Legislative Caucus Newsletter — July 2007

Audience members piled into the capitol last month for a presentation on school violence sponsored by the Latino, Black, Asian Pacific Islander and LGBT legislative caucuses and the office of Senator Ridley-Thomas in partnership with Comcast.  Teen Truth: Live is a motivational speaking tour inspired by the tragic Columbine high school shootings that includes both motivational speeches and a documentary film. It spreads awareness of an increasing problem taking place on school campuses.  

The producer of the film, Erahm Christopher, gave five students from ethnically and socially diverse backgrounds a camera and asked them to film their personal experience with school violence and discuss the social issues teenagers face that leads to that violence.  What evolved was a film that provided a raw look at the factors that contribute to school violence and the increasing abuse students face at school.    However, the presentation was also one of hope and inspiration.  In attendance were students from various middles schools who shared how the film affected them, telling similar stories of gaining “a new found respect for each other.”  Inspirational speaker Ryan Bellflower followed, whose story inspired everyone to look

past people’s differences.

As Assemblymember Coto stated, “every student should be afforded the right to a safe learning environment.”  While Teen Truth: Live is doing its part to combat the rising incidents of school violence occurring on school campuses across the nation, the presentation cast a much needed light on a problem which will prove increasingly important to the State Legislature. 

Assemblymember Calderon, Senator Ridley-Thomas, Assemblymember Coto , Senator Torlakson, Senator Perata and Senator Correa gather around inspirational speaker Ryan Bellflower.