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news
Civil rights leader
finishes festival
By Jeanne Hoffa
On-line Forty-Niner
Civil rights leader
James Lawson came to Cal State Long Beach Friday to cap off
the Associated Students Inc.-sponsored Multicultural Festival.
He chatted with students as if he were a family member, not
an international figure who has worked with Martin Luther
King, Jr. and the followers of Mohandes Gandhi.
Unlike some college-event
speakers who sweep in at the height of a program, shake a
few hands, and vanish after giving a speech, Lawson participated
in every part of the program: shared the food, smiled at the
entertainment, viewed the slide show and observed as awards
were handed out. It was nearly 10 p.m. before he broke away
from attendees who were full of questions and gratitude, and
requests for one last photo with their disposable cameras.
Lawson said he
knows a social movement when he sees one.
He has organized
farm workers, opposed wars in both Vietnam and Central America,
fought for living wages, supported gay and lesbian rights
and worked towards nuclear disarmament.
In a time when
the nation is led by the idea that force can resolve conflicts,
Lawson said there is no greater social movement going on in
the world than what Qiana Johnson, A.S.I secretary of cultural
affairs, and her crew made happen at CSULB with the creation
of the Multicultural Festival.
"No matter
how you evaluate what you've done," Lawson said, "what
you have done - is more significant to the human family than
the entire war on terrorism."
The effort to bring
different people together is of particular significance to
a man who helped desegregate the nation. Lawson compared the
festival to the belief that the likeness of God is in each
person and then looking for that likeness in each other's
faces.
The world has undergone
many transformations in the 73 years Lawson has been alive.
Born only 10 years after women got the vote, he has seen the
growth of unions and worker's rights, the flourishing of the
middle class and the implementation of Social Security. He
said the greatest leaps in social progress happened not through
force or violence, but when people gathered together and made
their voices heard.
"Women got
the vote, not because congress decided it, but because they
protested," Lawson said. "The standards of the middle
class rose, not because Roosevelt decided on the New Deal,
but because people worked in strikes and sit-ins and protests.
"Recognize
that [the world] can be changed. You have to recognize the
power of it to change."
Lawson told the
organizers not to be discouraged if they did not get the attention
or resources they should have, that good things grow gradually.
"Work for
the next 12 month to make it happen," he said "Let
it grow until it attracts the central attention of your whole
university. Then pass it on from one year to the next. How
very important it is, what you have done."
Rosa Hernandez,
A.S.I. treasurer, said she was glad the student government
participated.
"I think it's
commendable that Qiana took the initiative," Hernandez
said. "And that she incorporated A.S.I. and the Multicultural
Center and all these organizations."
Rose Angulo, A.S.I.
associated justice, drove with Lawson to the banquet. She
said he was an awesome addition to the festival.
"He was really
down to earth. He asked me all about my life experience,"
Angulo said. "This guy who worked with Martin Luther
King and has been all over the world."
At the conclusion
of the banquet, Johnson handed out awards to everyone who
made the festival come together.
"I'm really
excited I got to be a part of this," Johnson said. "I
hope people can get to know each other on a personal basis.
Not from what you read, but from the facts."
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