News and Views by Joan David -----This month I am concentrating on local California issues that are coming up in the June election, as well as federal legislation that affects women and other minority groups. This is definitely an important time in history to make ourselves heard: we have several legislative propositions coming up that are being proposed by Republicans and conservative Christians that could have repercussions for years to come.
Ca: No on Prop 227 -----This hateful proposition has been instigated by conservative Republican, Ron Unz, and is widely supported by xenophobic white Californians who are angry that they are no longer a majority in CA. While they claim to only want to be sure that all "groups" have an opportunity to learn English, they really want to control teachers at the local level by imposing state standards to make sure no one teaches non-English speaking children another language. Prop 227 also wants to divert $50M per year from programs for children's education to ill-conceived programs for adults. Because people of color (and in particular, Hispanics) will soon be-come the majority population in CA, the white flight folks want to make sure that English is the only language to be taught and spoken by all. This is non-sense and should be seen for what it is: a right-wing desire to try and hold onto the "good ole days" when minorities knew their place and didn't make waves. The biggest sleeping giant of potential voters in CA is now the Hispanic population. In many ways, conservative groups are shooting themselves in the foot: if they keep on showing their hand so boldly as they have done with Prop 227, they will further drive Hispanics, Asians, and other minority groups (including women, gays, and blacks) into the Democratic fold. Please urge everyone you know to vote No on Prop 227.
CA: No on Prop226 -----The second proposition which is a blatant anti-union attempt upon the part of conservative groups to ensure that working people are further denied appropriate represen-tation in American politics will also be on the June ballot. By stating that Union members should be given a choice in deciding where their dollars go in determining political contributions, right wing groups are using tactics to try and get the "Reagan Democrats" back into the fold. The fact is that wealthy businessmen, Grover Norquist and J. Steve Smith, sup-port this proposition because they want to weaken labor's ability to support Democratic causes and make sure that right wing causes are strengthened. If they were serious about helping the "working person," they would insist that all corporate political contributions could not be donated unless all stockholders agreed with CEO political view-points. This is just another example of how far the right-wing will go in attempting to keep political power in the hands of the corporate business community and the wealthiest citizens. Now that unions are starting to attract more people and the anti-union rhetoric is not as effective as it once was, we can expect to see more and more propositions such as 226 to appear.
Big Win for Women-Owned Businesses -----The Senate voted 58 to 37 to foil Republican efforts to eliminate the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program which aids businesses owned by women and people of color in the transpor-tation field. The amendment offered by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would have supplanted DBE for a program for "emerging businesses." This was a real plus for Affirmative Action and it is not likely that Republicans will attempt to introduce more anti-affirmative legislation at this time.
Victory over Anti-Abortion Thugs! In a major victory for women's rights, NOW won its 12-year battle to put the anti-abortion racketeers out of business. With this verdict, NOW will win an injunction against the defendants' blockades, extortion, and other use of force or violence at clinics. This is a great day for advocates of reproductive choice and freedom. Lead attorney Fay Clayton said, "We cannot tolerate the use of threats and force by one group to impose its views on others."
