‘People of color are already the majority; we just need to take charge!’

“Last week’s win was a setback to Arnold,” Phillips added. Because the summit commenced after the Governator’s special election, each panelist referenced the power of California’s workers and communities of color to galvanize and win despite the money and power of Arnold.

The summit was called by Oakland-based Applied Research Center to present their “Report Card on Racial Equity,” which released “grades” on all of California’s legislators based on their voting records on issues such as health equity, education equity and civil rights.

Phillips went on to push the point that as people of color whose sheer numbers are transforming the tired notion of “ethnic minority into multi-cultural majority,” we need to take charge of our power with votes and candidates and issues that speak to our issues, our solutions and our dreams.

“The governor has no awareness of California history,” said Mervyn Dymally, state assembly member from Los Angeles, who was also a speaker on the panel and received an “A” from the Racial Justice Report Card for his good voting record on issues related to economic and racial justice.

Dymally, the first Black member of the California Senate, the state’s first Black lieutenant governor and later a member of the U.S. Congress, broke it down to the audience of over 100 grassroots organizers and advocates about everything from Arnold to the history of California politics and race.

According to the report, “three of four Californians will be people of color by 2050,” with Latinos, Asian-Pacific Islanders and Blacks as the top three communities represented in that rise.

“We’re in a very good position in California right now,” said panelist Wilma Chan, state assemblywoman from Oakland. Notwithstanding the fact that Chan’s health care bill for all uninsured children – 79 percent of whom are children of color – was vetoed by the Governator, Chan felt that as people of color we should have power. She is planning a big forum on health care for all later this month to gather support and scholarship for that idea.

Read More
http://www.sfbayview.com/113005/takecharge113005.shtml