Silent Majority

Fellow Students and Davis Community Members,

On May 1^st, 2007 several hundred students marched down 5^th Street and then proceeded to block the La Rue Intersection. Two dozen individuals dissatisfied with Sodexho employment blocked the Intersection causing traffic jams and inconvenience to many citizens. These individuals deliberately and knowingly broke the law by sitting in a tight circle in the center of the intersection.

By blocking the La Rue intersection Unitrans buses could not move forward causing many students to be late to class. Some of these students had important midterms and classes they could not afford to miss. Other Davis community members were inconvenienced by the organizers; they could not get to where they wanted to go or conduct their necessary trips for the day. The blocking of the intersection was entirely illegal and as a result the organizers were arrested one by one and bussed off to be booked.

What is even more troubling is that the organizers did not warn the community in advance as to what they were going to do. As a result many Davis community members and students were literally stranded.

First we must realize that the march would have been considered a success without the blocking of the intersection. Objectively the organizers of the march had much to celebrate considering the amount of people who marched.

Second the blocking of the intersection was entirely a Sodexho employee affair. The anti-war movement, the immigrant rights organizations, and the worker’s right organizations did not participate in the illegal activity that took place that day. The Sodexho employees acted alone for the purpose of publicity.

The Sodexho workers in the weeks afterwards disrupted a Brown Bag Lunch talk hosted by the Chancellor. They selflessly kept the Chancellor from addressing the interested parties at the event. If you walk around the campus you will find spray painted graffiti supporting the Sodexho workers on university property. This is lawlessness.

On May 23^rd, 2007 Sodexho workers surrounded Mrak Hall preventing employees and students from freely going in and out of the building. Protesters banged on the windows in an intimidating fashion and made it impossible for students to receive services from Mrak Hall. I, myself had desired to conduct business at Mrak Hall but was prevented by the mob that was there. As before some of the protestors were arrested for violating the law. Organizers wrote in the California Aggie that their protests would escalate as the university refuse to give in to their demands.

As a result of the Sodexho employee’s criminal activity many students and Davis community members have distance themselves from them. The Sodexho employees have resorted to blackmail and extortion to get what they want. They can’t prove their case on economic grounds and as such they hope to embarrass the university into submission with bad press and criminal intimidation. It is perfectly reasonable to feel sympathy towards Sodexho workers. It is righteous to want to help our fellow students achieve greater success in the work place. But by making Sodexho workers employees of UC Davis it will increase student fees and will make strikes more frequent on the campus. There is firm evidence that not all Sodexho workers desire to be UC Davis employees in the first place.

Those demonstrators who break the law and cause chaos on the campus are not the majority of students on the UC Davis campus. They will not be the leaders of the future. The Silent Majority of students need to stand up and be counted.

Davis College Republican Game

On May 1^st the Davis College Republicans organized an Immigration Game on the quad of the UC Davis campus. The event was advertised through club meetings and through a Facebook event. The reason the event was to take place on May 1^st was due to the large protests expected to form at the same time on that day.

The rules of the game were simple enough but every rule was symbolic of how our immigration system was broken. There would be two sides with two flags that were meant to be captured. The illegal immigrants on one side would attempt to capture the flag without being caught by INS agents who were represented by the other team.

The illegal immigrants were to be larger in numbers then the INS agents to symbolize the fact that the INS agents are currently and have always been outnumbered by the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who cross the border. No one can dispute the point that the INS is under staffed and is currently overwhelmed with the task of securing the border.

The INS side was to always play on defensive the entire game to symbolize the argument that INS agents are constantly defending the border and are not allowed to make any offensive moves against the problem. This is not to say that the Davis College Republicans desire INS agents to invade Mexican territory in retaliation. Rather it was to state that INS agents have to be right 100% of the time for them to win the game on illegal border crossing.

INS agents in the game were to have their hands behind their back. This was to symbolize the argument that INS agents lack the necessary personal, funds, equipment, and technology to properly do their jobs. This statement is a criticism of both the Bush administration’s and Congress’ inability to get the job done concerning the border.

Illegal Immigrant players would also be released from their cells after a ten minute period. This was to represent Amnesty. Amnesty which took place in 1986 by the Reagan administration and a Democratic Congress was later seen as a disaster by many Republicans. In a Capture the Flag game those who are tagged by the other side are sent to a holding place.

The game’s design gives a sense of futility for the INS side. Not only were they outnumbered and outgunned they would have to release all the prisoners they had accumulated every 10 minutes. This game was called “street theater” by the Davis College Republican Chair.

Was the game in itself racist? Instead of giving a rational argument against the complaints brought up by the Davis College Republicans too many labeled the game itself racist. The game itself could not be racist as its rules were never about race of any particular ethnicity. Some of the posters and advertisements shown by the Davis College Republicans were in English and Spanish, but that was merely another element to the satire. It is known by most that over 90% of all illegal immigration comes from Latin America. It is not racist in it of itself to point this fact out as any immigration policy will ultimately have to involve itself in geography. That said, I do believe the Davis College Republican posters should have had Ukrainian translation for good measure.

Had some of the players covered themselves in brown paint or specifically committed an action that poked fun of any particular race then perhaps a case could be made. However, if one supports stricter border controls that is not necessarily racist behavior towards Hispanics. Supporting a wall on the Israeli border is not necessarily racist against Palestinians, these are merely policy positions.

In reality the game couldn’t even begin because Hispanic organizations La Raza (The Race) and MECHA intervened and ambushed the smaller Davis College Republican group. It is true that these two groups had reserved in advance space on the quad but they did not have authority to enforce their reservation on the DCR group, which is up to university personal. Many DCR officers reported later that they had been threatened with violence through emails and personal confrontations. Campus police had to escort several DCR members from the quad so that they would not be physically attacked by protestors. Days later DCR members who had not even attended the event were threatened through emails and here I thought I was popular.

The Davis College Republicans as I have observed are not racist by any imagination. The organization is made up of Caucasians, Hispanics, Asians, African Americans, Jews, and even Libertarians. They have also campaigned for Republican candidates of every nationality and ethnicity. Only one who has not associated themselves with the group would be so ignorant as to claim they were a racist group.

On the other hand Hispanic organizations on the campus have taken the liberty of shouting anarchist slogans in Spanish on American soil during the protest marches. There were signs in the march that were written in Spanish, many of which were demeaning towards the university leadership. If you were to read the publications of the Hispanic organization you would find that they attack European colonists and European history. Hispanic organizations also have a tendency to segregate themselves from the rest of society. Yet none of these things can be touched upon because any attack on the Hispanic community is automatically considered racist.

As for me personally I have a non-related Mexican American aunt, and a cousin of Mexican descent. I have had friends in my high school class who were Hispanics and as a Catholic I cannot help but have positive relations with Hispanic people. In 2004 and 2005 I build houses for poor Mexican families and I have taken several Spanish language courses throughout my educational career. I am Hispanic myself in a way as I am ¼ Spanish; my grandmother being full blooded Spanish. My best friend is half Mexican; I am indeed immune to ignorant claims that I could ever be racist.

Perhaps the Davis College Republicans could have chosen a better way to advocate their message to the world. That said, until students and community members can understand each other’s motives there will continue to be these kinds of misunderstandings. And then there are those who wish to cause trouble. These people are the leaders who want to continue the division between the races and do not seek to reconcile differences. These individuals have a political stake in continuing the hate. These people must be confronted whenever possible.