Thread: Arnold Schwarzenegger Can Take Action to Honor Cesar Chavez

April 1, 2007. 0 comments. Topic: Immigration

Arnold Schwarzenegger Can Take Action This Year to Honor Cesar Chavez


By Frank D. Russo

Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in the grueling heat last Thursday to join members of Cesar Chavez's family and to unveil a portrait of the former leader of the United Farm Workers that will hang in a high school named after Chavez.

Much has been written in the press and shown on the TV news about the fact that two girls fainted, some say swooned, and how our Governor was an "action hero" in getting them back up on their feet. The Governor poked fun at himself, saying "I've given a lot of speeches, but none of them have made people faint."

Very little has been written about what the Governor actually said in his speech. And perhaps that is to be understood since this was an unveiling of a portrait, a ceremonial act. But if you really take a look at the words of the Governor, and some of the action he has taken and has promised in the past, you come away hoping that he will take further action, now that the 2006 election is over, and consider three bills that State Senator Gil Cedillo has introduced and that are likely to pass the legislature and land on his desk:

• SB 1 – To create the Office of Immigrant Affairs to help the 2.7 million immigrants in this state who are eligible to naturalize and the several million more that will be able to do so in the near future.

• SB 60 – The California Real ID Act which has been rewritten and would enable undocumented immigrants to apply for a driving only license with stringent security measures that meet or exceed Federal Real ID security requirements.

• SB 160 – The California Dream Act which would enable immigrant students to compete for institutional and CalGrant financial aid.

This will be a real test of political courage, and to see if all the pieties the Governor has been larding up his speeches with lately, including post partisanship, serving the people, and getting things done, can be turned into reality.

Have I been standing out in the sun too long to think the Governor might work with Democratic State Senator Gil Cedillo and help those who labor in our fields?

Let's take a look at the Governor's words in Delano last week and then his history with the help of someone who knows him quite well.

Arnold stated out thanking Arturo Rodriguez, the President of the United Farm Workers, who introduced him. He recognized the importance of the work the union is doing for those who labor in the fields, and urged action, not just a day off on what would be Chavez's 80th birthday on Saturday:

Thank you for the nice reception and Arturo, thank you very much for that nice introduction and I want to thank you for that nice introduction and I want to thank you again for the great work you are doing and for being such a great leader of the union and fighting for the rights of the farm workers
.
You read these remarks and you know that Arnold really "gets" what is at stake in extending common decency to immgrants:

I am a big fan and I think Cesar Chavez is a great, great hero; he is an inspiration to so many people. …
His 80th birthday is coming up on Saturday. This is why we celebrate that.

But I have to say that at the same time should not take that Saturday and just look at it as a day off. It's a day on. A day on, which means that we should think about what can we do in order that we can really honor Cesar Chavez and his birthday.

We all know that he was a great public servant. He served so many people. Fought for the farm workers, for the invisible people. People don't know that they really exist. People just eat their vegetables and their fruits and they have all this agriculture and this wine and they don't really know where it came from--that it came from hundreds of thousands of people working hard and struggling out there and sometimes dying in the fields in order to get this great product.

And so, in order to really celebrate and honor him we should all make a commitment that day, let us go out and do that service: To help someone who needs help.


Arnold Schwarzenegger continued these themes including helping and reaching out. There were passing references to what he has done to help farm workers with the problems of heat [he agreed to unprecedented regulations allowing farm workers to take breaks in the heat and requiring water and other safe practices of employers] and the freeze of this year that made many workers associated with the citrus industry unemployed. He mentioned his in-law, Sargent Shriver and the friendship he had with Chavez, who helped him when he was running as the vice presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket in 1972.

Not only has the Governor helped out farm workers, including those who have snuck into this country, he even proposed earlier this year that health benefits be extended to them. Of course, Republicans in the legislature torpedoed that action last year for the children of undocumented workers, and threatened to hold up the state budget on this issue, and the Governor while able to revive fainting girls, will have to achieve a miracle to get them to agree to much of anything here. But some of the pending bills can be passed on a majority vote.

For more history on this, consider "Schwarzenegger is Really an 'Immigration Liberal' According to Joe Mathews" which we ran last November after the election. Here is the pertinent part:

Los Angeles Times reporter Joe Mathews is perhaps the best person to give us clues as to who the real Schwarzenegger is--among those who are talking--and writing. His recent book, "The People's Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy" is a must read for those trying to figure out the thought processes of our Governor and what motivates him. Mathews has had access to Schwarzenegger himself in private interviews. He has interviewed hundreds of people close to him, both here and in Austria, and pored over many documents. Much of his information comes from inside the Schwarzenegger Administration.

Mathews appeared at the Institute for Governmental Studies on the UC Berkeley campus after the election. What he had to say about Schwarzenegger was most revealing, especially about immigration and the issue of California Driver's licenses for those who are not here legally, but nevertheless are driving in this state. The California state legislature has, on multiple occasions, passed bills that have been vetoed by the Governor despite efforts by Senator Gil Cedillo to negotiate provisions that would be acceptable to the Governor. As Cedillo readies yet another bill, here is what Mathews said about driver's licenses and the larger topic of immigration, listed as by voters in surveys before the election as one of the of the most important issues facing the state:



"What do you believe his view is on immigrant drivers licenses?"

"I believe there is a conversation. I believe his personal view is that he doesn’t care. He was willing to sign it. He certainly made a handshake deal with Gil Cedillo on his fourth day in office where he said "We’ll negotiate a bill I can sign," and then he never did that when the heat became—the talk radio heat became too much. I believe there was a conversation between Duf Sundheim, the chairman of the Re;publican party, and him which went something like this: “Arnold, you haven’t given the people on the right a lot. The two things you’ve given them are taxes and this issue. There are people—there are Republicans in this state--that have pictures of you on the wall. If you sign that bill, those pictures come down and will never go back up." And I just think this is an issue he will never give on even though he knows better.

I think the whole immigration issue he’s completely hypocritical on. He is essentially an immigration liberal. All his friends, so many of them are from other countries. He tells stories of all the ways he’s helped them manipulate the immigration system over the years and get them into the country. George Borjas is a great immigration scholar at Harvard, briefed him when he was running for office said it was pointless. That Arnold knew more about how the INS worked, if it was still the INS then… but knew how immigration worked better than he did. He had literally helped hundreds of people for years deal with immigration authorities; so, I mean he’s a complete liberal on that.

But even when he says things like Mexicans aren’t assimilating fast enough, and you really should, you know, leave your country behind when you come here—I mean this guy hasn’t left his country behind—He’s an Austrian citizen. He’s really proud of it. He’s tight. He makes endorsements in Austrian elections. He’s--the OVP, the Austrian Volks Party, the Austrian People’s Party has been trying to get him to run for President. They keep sending him polling that says “You’d win.” So, I mean you know. His true views on that are probably poisonous for him politically."


We ended that article "We'll see what happens this year." Now that the Governor has said all those wonderful things about Cesar Chavez, we hope for action, so that last weeks wonderful words mean something. Maybe a little help from Maria, the daughter of Sargent Shriver, would help. But it would be nice think last Friday's state holiday was not just a day off.



http://www.californiaprogressreport.com ... rze_2.html

Cesar Chavez should be honored as the first Modern Day Minuteman.

California needs to look at what it really wants. Many Californians cannot afford taxes to pay for everything and then the state cries because it cannot fund everything. Like everyone with a budget, the state needs to decide on what it really needs.