ALTA CALIFORNIA: Students protest
"immigrant bashing" by campus newspaper

by
Hector Carreon
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California, January 8, 2005 - (ACN) Mexican-American and other students at Southwestern College, located between the City of San Diego and the US/Mexico border, were extremely offended recently when the campus newspaper published a crude, vile, and xenophobic article directed against the large immigrant community served by the college. The racist article by "The Southwestern Sun" staff writer Nathaniel Pownell included the sentence, "It is time to burn the leeches (sic) off our society and crack down on these people . . ." and a quote from a non-existent Latina he named Marjorie de la Cruz that read " The government needs to . . .close our southern borders in order to protect its citizens . . . from disease these people bring". The irresponsible article that was published on December 8th of last year has resulted in a major headache for the insensitive college administration.

The college MEChA Chapter and a student group named Students for Community Action are asking that "The Southwestern Sun" publish a retraction or an apology but the campus newspaper, run by conservative bigots, have refused to do so. MEChA and Students for Community Action have responded by organizing a "Rally Against Racism" scheduled for this Thursday February 10th at 100: AM. A flyer being distributed by the students states, "The school administration, the newspaper and the entire city need to understand that this will not be tolerated! Hopefully this action will remind those who need reminding and teach those who have not learned: That this country was built on the backs of immigrants, that the land was stolen form the indigenous people who inhabited it before the immigrants arrived, and above all that THERE ARE NO BORDERS IN THE WORKERS STRUGGLE!" The flyer also urges participants to brings POTS AND PANS AND DRUMS TO BANG ON!

It is heartening to know that, at least on some college campuses, students are taking action against local, state and national anti-immigrant bigots who have conveniently forgotten the history of this nation. Anti-immigrant hysteria, especially in Alta California, is becoming increasingly intolerable and must be confronted accordingly. Students at Southwestern College in Chula Vista are showing the rest of us the way.

The college administration at Southwestern College are implicated in the racism published on their campus newspaper. The faculty advisor Max Branscomb is just as guilty as the junior bigot Nathaniel Pownell. It appears that there is an urgent need for an alternative campus newspaper that will provide a voice for the majority of students. "The Southwestern Sun" has become an exclusive organ for intolerance and a voice for racists and xenophobes. The college administration should divide the monies going to"The Southwestern Sun" and give at least half to an independent student newspaper run by a consortium of student groups that presently have no voice on campus.