¡FIOB against Proposition 54 and Schwarzenegger!
To all migrant and civil organizations in California
To all human rights organizations
To civil society of California
To the mass media
Proposition 54 intents to limit the principal of universal human rights to health and education for minorities in the State of California. Proposition 54 will be included in the ballot for the election on October 7 of this year. This new Proposition is similar to the extinct Proposition 187 that was pushed in 1994 by the then Governor of California Pete Wilson.
Contrary to what Proposition 54 claims, we affirm that the diversity of culture that we all have in California is a wealth and privilege that we all have to value and not destroy. The different cultural groups that live here, we have our own identities, but we also have particular health and education problems just for belonging to a particular ethnic group and that problem needs to be tackled differently. That is why, it is so important to recognize the origin and the ethnic identity and document them accordingly at health and education institutions in order to be able to identify and solve the necessity of each culture.
In addition, the United States is charactarized by being the country that documents efficiently detailed information in order to find faster solutions for each ethnic group and not in a generalize manner as Proposition 54 intents to do. This Proposition will bar health professionals from obtaining ethnic information that will help them prevent or treat illneses, such as diabetes, tuberculosis, hepatitis, hearth diseases, etc. The same will happen in schools, it will prevent them from knowing the cultural diversity of the population which will prevent them from searching educational material for particulars needs of certain students.
In other words, Proposition 54 will affect in a negative way the general community without taking into consideration their migratory status. It will increase and “legalize” discrimination, racism, hate crime and police abuse.
Ward Cornnely, Regent of the University of California-who was named by the unpopular exgovernor Pete Wilson-; the current republican candidate for California governor and member of the racist organization-English Only,
Arnold Schwarzenegger are 2 persons who have strongly expressed negative comments against migrants and are also promoting Proposition 54.
The Frente Indígena Oaxaqueño Binacional (FIOB) manifest through this mean a strong rejection to Proposition 54 and we make a call to all of our indigenous brothers and sisters to actively participate against this Proposition to bar it from becoming law. At the same time, we convoke all registered U.S. citizens to exercise their civic rights and vote this coming October 7 and do the following:
First: ¡Vote no on Proposition 54!
Second: ¡Vote no on Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Third: Boicott the movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger at the binational level by not attending theathers where his movies are shown and not rent his movies. We make a call to all Mexicans in Mexico and in the United States to unite in this boycott.
We are not going to allow that our cultural identities be aliminated by person whose ideas are hatred, racism and discrimination against the cultural diversity.
“For respect to the rights of the indigenous people”
Frente Indígena Oaxaqueño Binacional (FIOB)
Fresno, Oaxacalifornia, September 10, 2003.