In fall of 1994, the state of California was embroiled in a political controversy known as Proposition 187. It was a wrong-headed (though some might still argue well-intentioned) attempt to turn back the tide of illegal immigration into the state. Seen by many as a racist proposal, it promised to be a hot-button issue in the state as well as on our largely Hispanic campus.
When students at other schools, primarily in Los Angeles, began to stage walk-outs from classes, our students saw this as an opportunity (as many did two and a half years earlier, during the "civil unrest" of 1992, when some of our not-so-intelligent gangbangers attempted looting the local mall, with little success). Local junior college students staged a county-wide walk-out, imploring students from other campuses, secondary and elementary, to join in their cause. And many of our students saw this as a great way to skip out of class.
The only problem was that they did their cause a disservice. One student protestor from PeeVee, when asked what the proposition was all about, was at a loss even to name its topic, let alone its possible consequences. Another student, a senior who had just turned 18, was asked if she had registered to vote (so that she could work for the defeat of the measure at the ballot box); she admitted that she had not. It was moments like this, as well as the general rebellious nature of the marches, and in particular the waving of only Mexican flags (as opposed to other nations’ flags, or, better yet, the U.S. flag), that made the movement look bad.
I spent quite a good deal of time talking about these protests with my students. I did not implore them not to walk out. I told them that they had that choice. But I also told them that they had to do it responsibly. If they walk out, they had better know over what it is that they are walking out. And they had better be willing to take any consequence of their action.
These students had been given the term "civil disobedience" and they were waving it like a banner. This is fine, as long at they realize that Thoreau, Gandhi, and King all went to jail for their beliefs. Of course, these students didn’t want suspensions or even detentions for cutting out of class. If we (meaning the school) did that, then we were depriving them of their First Ammendment rights.
They were intensely into their rights, but not so much into their responsibilities.
I got a great kick out of reading in the paper the morning following the walk-out that student protest leaders complained that the police didn’t allow the protesters to use the police bullhorns to address the crowd. Excuse me? Since when does the police have to set up the public address system for protesters? These knuckleheads could even bring their materials to a demonstration, and these were the leaders of our students.
And people wonder why the measure passed.
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