Photo by Dexter Bercero

NOW president blasts Prop. 209

With slogans and chants, speakers for affirmative action and equal opportunity spoke out Tuesday against Proposition 209, a measure that would eliminate state and local government affirmative action programs in the areas of public employment and education.

Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, said the goal to preserve affirmative action is not restricted to California.

"This is not just a fight for California. This is a national fight," Ireland said. "If we don't stop this attack on affirmative action and equal opportunity for women and people of color here in California on November 5th, we will be fighting it state after state across the country and in Congress."

Ireland also stressed that Prop. 209's opposition to affirmative action is neither a racial nor gender issue.

"Proposition 209 and the question of affirmative action being defended is not a question of black versus brown versus white," Ireland said. "It is not a question of men versus women, but a question of right versus wrong. It is a question of justice."

Francisco Heredia, a former Cal State Long Beach sociology major and ASB presidential candidate who now works for Justice for Janitors, a labor union, also spoke in yesterday's rally.

Heredia's speech focused on the criticisms against affirmative action. In front of a cheering crowd, he said that affirmative action is not about quotas, hiring the unqualified or reverse discrimination.

"The point is we must defend affirmative action and find the root of the problem," Heredia added.

Representing the student voice on campus, the rally also featured Patricia Salazar, a political science student and president of College Democrats.

"Proposition 209 is a sham. It's an issue towards Governor Wilson's advantage," Salazar said. "If Prop. 209 is about nondiscrimination, why has it divided the factors, the races, men and women. Why has it divided the people on campus?"

Salazar urged the crowd to unite and reject Prop. 209, which she views as a lie similar to anti-illegal immigrant measure Prop. 187.

The "Don't Buy the Lie" rally was sponsored by various organizations which include the California Faculty Association, Student Coalition for a Colorful Future, La Raza Student Association and College Democrats.