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3/12/00 Juvenile Injustice Initiative Passes California minorities brace for Cholocaust by Victor Payan
Pocho Concentration Campesino In a scene straight out of "Schindler's List", Californians overwhelmingly voted to approve the controversial Pete Wilson-backed Proposition 21, which condemns future generations of children to a life of slavery, rape and despair without the possibility of parole. "I went to sleep in California and I woke up in Nazi Germany," says Chicano political activist Thierry Libertad. "When we should be thinking about punishing police officers for civil rights violations, voters have granted broader powers for these same law enforcement officials to abuse. This Proposition will cost billions of tax dollars and destroy millions of lives." Libertad also warns that this measure sets the stage for a kind of ethnic cleansing in the Golden State. "The first step in ethnic cleansing, as we have seen throughout history, is to get rid of the male population," says Libertad. "Whether it's Albanians or Jews, Tutsis or Apaches, it's the same thing. This kinder, gentler genocide will thin competition for jobs and resources, dilute voter strength over time in communities of color and rip apart families. In California, where 'Three Strikes' means being poor, young and a minority, what we have is a full-scale Cholocaust." Nat C. Culero, a spokesperson for Pete Wilson, calls such accusations groundless. "Proposition 21 is not about genocide. All Proposition 21 will do is fill the existing prisons and create a need for new ones. Once these new prisons are full and it becomes too expensive to house the steady flow of lifers, then, sure, the next step is to exterminate them. But this proposition isn't about that. It's about funding prison construction." The first Superprison industrial park slated for construction in California, which will have the capacity to house ten thousand death row inmates at a time, will be called Bergen-Wilson. Conservative California radio talk show host Kay K. Keigh agrees. "I don't see how Proposition21 discriminates," she says. "Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and poor white trash will all get the same treatment: life in prison without parole. Now that's what I call affirmative action!" Former California Governor Pete Wilson also issued a statement, saying that Proposition 21 will "retake California neighborhoods, schools and businesses from vicious street gangs...and make them safe for rich White people." Opponents of Proposition 21 claim that the initiative, which allows children as young as 14 to be tried as adults and receive sentences of life in prison, will result in a kind of legalized child molestation. "Not only is Pete Wilson a genocidal maniac," says children's rights activist Naomi Jodes, "he is institutionalizing rape and other forms of child molestation. Billions of dollars will be spent to ensure this gruesome fate for children, but not one dollar is going to prevention, rehabilitation or therapy. This bill violates human rights plain and simple." One irony of Super Tuesday's results is that children imprisoned under Proposition 21 regulations may now also be forced to break the statute passed by Proposition 22, which does not recognize same sex unions in California. The corporate activist organization Amnesty Multinational released a statement supporting the controversial initiative. "This is a great day. California will be a safer place...for multinational investment. And not just because of a large captive labor force, but because it will pave the way for future growth industries, such as clandestine drug testing and the market for human organs.

With White America quickly becoming Grey America, this will be a significant future revenue stream. I'm not saying this is true right now, but think of the possibilities!"

Opponents of Proposition 21 are at a loss to explain the rabid support of the measure by voters at a time when youth crime is at its lowest rate since 1987 and there is a 60 percent decline in juvenile murder arrests in California.

"Maybe it's because Pete Wilson spent one million dollars to push it," says Thierry Libertad, "Maybe White America was bitter that the Backstreet Boys were snubbed at the Grammys. Maybe it was a Puritan reaction against Jennifer Lopez's dress. I don't know. But we must do everything we can to repeal this evil Proposition."

Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera could not be reached for comment.

In a related story, Wilby Encarcelado, the leader of more than one hundred nonviolent student protesters who occupied the lobby of the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco, was arrested by SFPD and charged with multiple counts of trespassing, leading a gang, and inciting free speech.

"I grew up in the Oakland Ghetto," Encarcelado yelled to onlookers, "now I live in the Lodz Ghetto!"

Encarcelado was released and then later arrested for driving while Hispanic.

© 2000 Victor Payan

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