Maria Shriver visits the Farmer's Market in downtown Watsonville. Her visit was interrupted by a protest from the Brown Berets, who were protesting her husband's (Gov. Schwarzenegger's) politics. I support the Brown Berets, but she was here in support of better access to fresh fruits and vegetables for food stamp recipients. Maybe this wasn't the time or place for protest...
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Shriver's visit hypocritical
The recent visit by California first lady Maria Shriver to Watsonville last week was a hypocritical publicity stunt attempting to utilize Latino families as background stage props.
Some may not agree with the student protesters who cut her visit short, but the students had every legal right to do so, remained within the peaceful realm of protest, and had very legitimate arguments for their demonstration.
It was no coincidence that Watsonville was chosen for such a high-profile, politically motivated visit. Watsonville is about 80 percent Latino and huge numbers are immigrants and farmworkers. A recent poll shows that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ratings among Latinos have dropped to record lows with only 12 percent saying they would vote for him in November and 60 percent disapproving of his job performance. In response, the governor launched a campaign to reach out to Latinos a few weeks ago at the National Council of La Raza Conference in Los Angeles, and at other events aimed to draw more attention from the Spanish language media. Now, his wife is doing part of his public relations work as well.
Campaign experts say that the governor will need to capture at least one-third of the Latino vote if he is to be re-elected in November. In fact, no Republican has won a gubernatorial race without such support from Latino voters according to California Target Book co-editor Tony Quinn, who has tracked ethnic voting patterns for the last 20 years.
At the event, the students expressed their disagreement with Watsonville being used as a photo opportunity by the first lady.
They added that if the governor or the first lady truly cared about Latino families, the governor would not have rescinded the law that provides drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants. That law would have benefited thousands in Watsonville allowing local residents to go to schools, shopping centers, and work without fear. Since then, the governor has refused to sign any bills granting such licenses despite added security measures.
In addition, the governor supported and commended anti-immigrant hate groups, such as the Minutemen, that have helped fuel an anti-immigrant hysteria across the state, generating much fear in communities like Watsonville. It is this fear that causes many immigrant families not to sign up for government programs including food stamp benefits.
In 1994, Schwarzenegger was an outspoken supporter of then-Gov. Pete Wilson, who crafted Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant measure that aimed to deny public services to many immigrants and required teachers to report undocumented children to the INS. Many local residents have not forgotten that unfortunate history.
Two years ago, the governor directly hurt local students by taking away $2 billion dollars from public schools by suspending the Proposition 98 school funding guarantee. He originally promised to return that money when state tax revenues increased, but later reneged on that promise.
State Superintendent Jack O'Connell and the California Teachers Association sued the governor in 2005 claiming he shorted public schools $3.1 billion over two years. The governor only recently agreed to return this money a few months before the election, which also settled the lawsuit, on May 10.
Last November, the governor launched a full on attack against working people including union members, nurses, firefighters, teachers, and other public workers with the numerous backward propositions that ultimately failed.
Even state Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, who represents Watsonville, had harsh words for the governor when he told the Los Angeles Times on July 12 that the governor showed "a lack of respect" for Latinos.
Maldonado went on to say, "When the governor needs Latinos, Latinos are always there for him. When Latinos need him, the answer's been no." If the governor and the first lady truly care about the food stamp program, they would push to expand funding to actually hire community outreach workers to sign up and educate residents year round, rather than doing a one-time publicity show.
If the governor and first lady truly care about improving the standard of living of Watsonville families, the governor would sign a minimum wage law with a cost of living adjustment so that local families would not have to struggle as hard to survive each day.
If the governor and the first lady truly care about public benefits for low-income families, why did the Republicans threaten to stall the state budget in June over a proposal that would have expanded health care for thousands of undocumented children through the Healthy Families program? The funding for the expanded program was ultimately removed from the state budget.
I have to concur with the students that the first lady's visit was nothing more than a publicity show. Although her family, the Kennedys, remain highly respected in progressive circles in the area and in the Latino community for the late Robert F. Kennedy's advocacy for farmworkers, there is not much admiration for the first lady's notable silence on the governor's positions that have harmed local working families.
As an observer at the Shriver event, I noticed there were dozens of people who were applauding and whistling in support of the local students. After all, this was the community that just had more than 10,000 people marching in the streets May 1 for immigrant rights and witnessed the largest student walkouts in county history last March in support of immigrants. These landmark events were indeed significant and even surpassed Santa Cruz standards.
With so much recent political activism in South County, it was not surprising to see many bystanders actually join in with the student protesters and I heard many others say they were glad somebody stood up to speak the truth.
Luis Alejo is a public interest attorney in Watsonville and director of the Student Empowerment Project.
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