Re: Protest of Prop. 187 politics in ANTHRO-L

Marcial Godoy (mg110@COLUMBIA.EDU)
Wed, 23 Nov 1994 17:09:17 -0500

I think the only thing we can do as anthropologists is publicly repudiate
this racist LAW, and perhaps keeping our meetings out of California might
be an effective way of doing so. By the way, we can only hope that 187
will be overturned in the courts, but this is by no means a given.
Furthermore, 187 was written in such a way that the courts will have to
rule on each of its measures. That is, if the denial of education is
found unconstitutional, this does not mean that the same will hold for
the denial of health care. Moreover, I think this is no time for liberal
optimism and faith in the system, considering that Jesse Helms can
basically incite violence against the President of the United States and
in all likely hood take command of the Senate Committe on Foreign
Relations.
MarcialOn Wed, 23 Nov 1994, Glenn Stone wrote:

> > kindly referred to us, who will gladly sign a petition urging the AAA to
> > take a stance on proposition 187. Furthermore, I would suggest that the
> > AAA keep its yearly meetings out of California until this racist
> > proposition is overturned.
> > Marcial Godoy
>
> What's unclear is whether this tactic is actually expected to help
> reverse the law, or if it is really just a means of publicizing many
> anthropologists' opposition to it.
>
> The law would have to either be struck down in the courts (which will
> hardly be swayed by convention loci) or reversed by the electorate,
> and I have my doubts about the impact we would have on California
> voters. Perhaps a few wavering voters who decide to vote against 187
> because it's costing the state convention dollars, but there would
> probably be an equal number who resent outsiders coercing their vote.
>
> If it's not really expected to have the desired practical effect then
> it's essentially a statement of our position and our pique, and I
> would prefer to see the position stated in a way that won't have a
> negative impact on job prospects for illegal immigrants.
>
>
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> Glenn Davis Stone BITNET: stone@cunixf
> Columbia University INTERNET: stone@columbia.edu
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>