Getting the Vote out for Xavier Becerra! Continue reading
Getting the Vote out for Xavier Becerra!
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Category Archives: Elections
Invitation to Rally at 12 noon on Apr. 4 for U.S. Senate Kevin de León at Pitzer College
You are invited to a rally for U. S. Senate candidate and Pitzer College Alumnus Kevin de Leon on April 4th at 12 noon at Pitzer College. Please get the word out. As you know, Kevin has taken strong positions in support of health care, the environment, and sanctuary for our immigrant families. I urge your support for this rally.
Jose Zapata Calderon
Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Chicano/a and Latino/a Studies
1050 North Mills Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711-6101
(909) 952-1640
Website: www.josezcalderon.com
Dear Pitzer Community –
Please join us in welcoming Candidate for U.S. Senate Kevin de León back to his alma mater for a campaign rally on Wednesday, April 4 at noon on the McConnell Center Apron.
Senator de León has led a bold agenda to increase economic opportunity for all Californians with a focus on maintaining California’s global leadership role in fighting climate change and building a clean-energy economy, rebuilding our state’s infrastructure, public education, work-place and health-care, equity for women, immigrants and low-wage workers and public safety.
Through his ambitious approach to policymaking, Senator de León has authored groundbreaking legislation on a variety of issues that have become national models. The progress that has been made on critical issues confronting California and the nation stands in stark contrast to the gridlock in the U.S. Congress.
In many ways, Senator de León embodies the promise of America. From a childhood of poverty to community activism, to the upper echelon of the California Legislature, his respect and commitment to working families and the betterment of all Californians has never diminished.
Senator de León is the son of a single immigrant mother who supported her family in the San Diego barrio of Logan Heights working as a housekeeper and other pick-up jobs. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school and college.
He attended U.C. Santa Barbara and graduated from Pitzer College at the Claremont Colleges with honors. He is a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California. He has one daughter.
Before entering into politics, Kevin served the public as a community organizer, taught English as a Second Language and U.S. Citizenship, and advocated for public schools.
Working for both the National Education Association and the California Teachers Association, Kevin fought for additional funding for schools in low-income neighborhoods, more school construction, and health insurance for children. He fought against schemes to take funds from public schools through taxpayer-funded vouchers and academic censorship in public schools.
Senator de León was elected by his colleagues to lead the Senate in 2014, making him the first Latino to hold that position in over a century. Prior to that, Kevin served four years in the Assembly before his election to the Senate in 2010.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please email senpres@students.pitzer.edu.
All Best,
Hajar Hammado ’18
Student Body President
Pitzer College Student Senate
LA + Parks = Awesome (YES on Measure A!)
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Invitation to Presentations on SB-1050 Legislation College for All
You are invited to join the Latino and Latina Roundtable, NAACP Pomona Valley Chapter, and the Pomona Unified School district to participate in a presentation and discussion with Betty Hung, from the College for All Coalition, on Thursday, November 10 at 7 PM at the PUSD board room (800 S. Garey Ave.) in Pomona. The presentation and discussion will focus on SB-1050 College for All and how the funding from this legislation will provide more funding for college readiness resources, expand college enrollment slots, and expand educational opportunity for LCFF plus students and students from first generation backgrounds. With Pomona being an LCFF+ school district, it will receive funding for these purposes. There will be an opportunity for Q & A and audience participation after the presentations.
Jose Zapata Calderon
Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Chicano/a and Latino/a Studies
1050 North Mills Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711-6101
(909) 952-1640
Website: www.josezcalderon.com
Article: Tuesday’s Election favored big business but some progressive victories
There was some light in the recent elections — as analyzed by my professor friend, Peter Dreier from Occidental College, in this article that I received yesterday (the link is below):
“Tuesday’s Republican wave of election victories did not reflect public opinion or the public mood. Instead it was the result of the GOP’s triumph in changing the rules of democracy to favor big business and conservative interest groups, including the triumphs of corporate money and voter suppression
…. progressives won some impressive but little-publicized victories on important issues — including minimum wage hikes — especially in red and purple states, suggesting that voters are not as conservative as the pundits are pontificating.”
Education that Advances Democracy
With the growth of a global economy, there is the need for a type of educational system that promotes civic engagement as a means of building new models toward a democratic society.
There is a trend emerging in our present educational system that wants to take us back to the days of reproducing individuals to fit a more authoritarian philosophy. This trend seeks to promote a managerial “banking” system where the power of disseminating knowledge is being transferred to the needs of the business and political establishments. This shift fits into the early 20th century industrial model of schools where students were socialized in assembly-like rows to be taught the status quo and not to be heard from. Continue reading
Elections in Pomona: Nolte and Martin win – Measure T is voted down
A big change in Pomona coming: John Nolte received 1,537 votes and beat out incumbent Danielle Soto (793 votes); Debra Martin won with 1,419 votes; and Measure T (that was backed by the Pomona Police Officer’s Association to wipe out district for at-large elections) was defeated with 11,869 voting No and 10,028 yes. This latter vote was a big victory. Measure T sought to turn back the will of
the people in Pomona who, back in 1990, after law suits were filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Southwest Voter Registration Project, voted to scrap citywide elections in favor of single-member districts to bolster minority representation, to facilitate more direct communication between the voters and their representatives, and to reduce the costs of running for city council seats. The voters voted in this way at that time, also to stop the reality that, although Pomona had changed demographically to over 50% in ethnic minorities in the city, only two members of racial or ethnic minorities, up until 1986, had ever been elected to the council in the city’s 99-year history. With Tuesday’s vote, the Pomona voters ensured the continuance of a progressive legacy that other cities are now seeking to replicate. They voted to not allow the exclusion of candidates who may have limited resources, to not allow a handful of interest groups to control, and to not waste the taxpayer’s hard-earned funds in defending an outdated Measure that would have undoubtedly ended up in the courts had it been passed.
http://m.laprensaenlinea.com/lpel/pm_109466/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=rOWg1LL8