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THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA
www.cagreens.org
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
Contact: Sara Amir, spokesperson 310.270.7106 saraamir@earthlink.net
Beth Moore Haines, spokesperson 530.277.0610 beth@ncws.com
SACRAMENTO (June 8, 2005) - The Green Party of
California has joined with a prominent Mexican-American advocacy group
to note the significance of legislation recognizing California's role in
the "Mexican Repatriation Program" that illegally and forcibly
sent 400,000 American citizens of Mexican descent to Mexico from
1929-1944.
SB 670 and SB 645, authored by Sen. Joseph Dunn
(D-Orange County) were approved by overwhelming majorities in the Senate
and sent to the Assembly this past week.
Dunn's first measure, SB 670, expresses an
"apology of the state of California to victims illegally deported
or coerced into leaving the U.S., and authorizes a plaque to be place in
a designated public location to commemorate the victims of the
repatriation program.
SB 645 goes still further, establishing an extended
statute of limitations to July 1, 2011 for victims of the illegal
repatriation of Mexican descent and forming a commission to make
recommendations regarding the appropriate monetary compensation to those
victims.
"By acknowledging these very un-American
historical facts, the legislators and the people of California will send
a clear message that racism should not and cannot be the basis for any
government policies without first throwing away our Constitution and the
freedoms and rights we all hold dear," said Hugo Vera, a Green
Party member and Sacramento Chapter president of the Mexican American
Political Association (MAPA).
"MAPA and the Greens applaud the efforts of our
state legislators to address and redress the unspeakable acts inflicted
upon the Mexican American community in the not-so-distant past. This is
a step in the right direction because it brings to light the devastating
effects of political scapegoating based on ethnicity and race.
"Clearly there is something very wrong when
state government creates policy around racist sentiment and the
fear-mongering of racial separatists and political opportunists. In this
case, at least 400,000 people of Mexican descent were deprived of their
liberty and their property merely because of the color of their
skin," Vera, a Sacramento attorney, added.
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