Today, the Porterville Police Department decided that it was going to arrest students and ticket motorists taking part in the high school protests against that xenophobic bill making it’s way through the legislative branch of our government. Nothing new from our law enforcement, which is notorious for harassing Porterville youth. What a great opportunity to meet their daily quota.
Although the Central Valley doesn’t get much attention from the rest of the state, students have been making their voices heard. In Bakersfield nearly 4,000 students walked out today. As is normally the case, the youth are leading the demonstrations, especially here in the Valley where there have been walk-outs in Visalia, Porterville, Delano, and even McFarland. I wish there was more organization though. It’s times like these when I wish I was at the high school level. I really liked how the Spanish radio DJ’s in Los Angeles strategized their demonstration in downtown LA a few days ago. They were handing out American flags to the protestors. Not that I am in love with the stars and stripes but this is politics. You gotta convince the other side. You don’t want to alienate everyone. I have to admit though, that most have a false perception of protestors waving the Mexican flag. They’re not signaling some take over of the west coast (fuck you Victor Hanson). They’re NOT signaling allegiance to the mal gobierno. Waving the Mexican flag signals love of our people (el pueblo), love of our culture, love of our madre patria.
Monthly Archive for March, 2006
The teachers are always wrong. The parents are always right. It is never the student’s fault. Where’s the accountability? Parents, take some responsibility for your student’s learning. If your kid is flunking don’t just blame it all on the teacher, especially when that same student is flunking classes with other teachers.
The thought of baseball in March is just so…just so damn inspiring. I know the World Baseball Classic in no way can compare to futbol’s World Cup, but there is nothing better than international sporting events…it beats having wars, that’s for damn sure. Sure, there are countries that have no business participating in the WBC (like Italy), but ah who cares. My only complaint really is some of the big name players dropping out at the last second and also all the many naysayers (like George Steinbrenner being worried about ballplayers getting hurt). This is baseball for crying out loud. It’s that one sport where overweight men can still be stars. You never hear futboleros leaving their squad before the start of the World Cup. Vamos México! Vamos equipos del Caribe!! Play ball!!
The 4 teams I will be rooting for in the WBC
1. Mexico
2. Dominican Republic
3. Japan
4. Cuba