3月31日LY通过网络和加州AD28区州众议员共和党候选人Chuck Page进行了一次访谈，通过访谈给广大网友提供了一个全面了解Chuck Page的机会。
4月17日LY再次网络访谈同为AD28区的另一位州众议员民主党候选人Barry Chang(张昭富)，你可以<a href="http://www.chineseamerican.org/a/757" target="_blank">点击这里</a>阅读和Barry Chang的访谈。
访谈录中的LY是湾区一名学者Li Yu，他在基本人权和华人关心的问题上有深入的思考和积极的行动。由于访谈录篇幅较长，我们将分几次登出。下面是Chuck Page访谈录的第三部分。
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Section 5: Campaign Outlook
LY
This is easy question -- How much money you need eventually to defeat Evan Low? And what's your projected chance in primary and final election? You understand that "independent" Chuck Welsh lost by big margin challenging Paul Fong in last election.
Chuck
I don't raise money for the sake of raising money. I think I'm m about $30-40K. My goal is to raise $150K by the end of next week. Def. going well, I could sure use more, though. Sooner I get it I. The sooner I get to the next phase
OK - realistic and practical view of the elections:
Nov election - Page vs Low - low will have lots of money. Will still have a lower Dem turnout because it's not a presidential election and there are lots of issues - millions still without healthcare, still increasing cost of individual health insurance, corruption. In Dem party at state level., many Dems affected by those issues in AD28 are very fiscally conservative and the candidate that shows that had very good chance of winning. I do not spend extravagantly and detest the amount of $$ spent on elections. Something needs to change. I can win in Nov with $350K, more media coverage the more I get above that. Voters in this election really need to be thinking - and voting - for the candidate that can beat low in Nov.
Section 6: Discussion about Affirmative Action, Union.
Chuck
In the 80's & 90's, I was a manager at IBM and Microsoft. We had affirmative action plans at IBM because people of color had not been provided the same management & promotion opportunities as whites may have been. So the company tracked it. And you know what? IBM was a better company when we had a more diverse management team. The same thing does not apply as relates to education. I will never vote to enable discrimination in our public schools.
Did anyone see the Cesar Chavez movie? I encourage you to. I'm sure that there was as much suffering by Asian people who built US transcontinental railroad, but no one organized them to get fair pay.
I'm no cultural expert but the Asians and Latinos that I know share some very same values - hard working is essential to success, strong family values and take a lot of pride - in a good way - for achievements & accomplishments.
Latino farm workers were organized in bargaining with the grape growers so they could get decent wages. United Farm Workers union was created. I know the RR was built by smaller numbers, but pain and suffering occurred
There have been times in America and other places where collective bargaining and unions made sense. I have very different feelings about govt unions, but that is a lengthy discussion. Maybe another day.
Section 7: Affirmative Action in SCA5 circumstance (education), protection of minority or not? Also insight to share on resolving issues between Latino and Chinese? [This part is late clarified and went through modifications to remove the confusions]
Chuck
The Latinos I've spoken with detest he idea of getting a handout in the form of admission I college or high school or anyhow else. Nearly every one that I've spoken with agrees that if the problem is that a large number of Latinos are not graduating, then we have to address the problem much earlier - pre-K through 3rd grade, typically. And, where family value & education is missing, create programs to educate the parents about the process so they can understand it and teach their kids.
I was at La Raza Roundtable meeting in Friday - ethnically based Latino org holds monthly meetings with speakers and discuss issues that the community has. Most issues they work on resolving some need help from state & county. They ask and get attention. We need to do same for Asian community. And, if Latino - Asian issues exist, I will be happy to lead a meeting of leaders to speak together (preferably over food) to find where specific differences are and work to resolve them.
I don't have all answers as to where the perceived problem originated, but I'd bet dinner that it's not the people - it's the politicians. Some lobbyist may have brought some bad statistics to a legislator and he ran with it because it didn't "feel" right.
When logic prevails, solutions can be found. That doesn't mean that compassion is ignored, but a real solution will be one that addresses the problem in a compassionate, understanding way. Does that make sense?
I personally believe that AA applies when specific groups are discriminated against & not provided with the same opportunities to succeed as others are. That is not the case here (in education and particular at college level and above). If the stats used by Hernandez were correct, then I think he makes a perfect case for public school vouchers - let the schools compete for students by improving the education they provide.
LY
Chuck, I need you to verify my understanding "If the stats used by Hernandez were correct, then I think he makes a perfect case for public school vouchers - let the schools compete for students by improving the education they provide." So your goal is throwing money on it (K-12 voucher) till we have racial composition in university matches population? If Latinos is 40%, should the stats show Latinos has 40% enrollment, plus/minus certain range? I'm not totally getting all your thoughts.
Chuck
NO, admittance into college is based on a lot of factors - grades, test scores, extra-curricular activity, etc. If any college is 100% reflective of the demographic makeup of its community, it is more by chance than design. Most colleges strip off all demographic info incl names when evaluating students for acceptance.
Admittance into college is merit based - considering lots of factors. I don't believe that Hernandez' stats are correct. And the way Jerry Hill and Rich Gordon describe the issue, it isn't even about admittance but it's about them not graduating. If that is truly the problem, you can't fix it by admitting more Latinos into college. You've got to figure out why they aren't graduating - that has not wen done by any of these people from what I've seen.
Again this is about determining what, if anything, is the real problem.
School vouchers do not equal to massive amounts of money. Vouchers to students who could use them to choose their schools (there are limits to this - location among then) means that the schools would have to improve their educational offerings so that kids & parents want to go there. Schools get paid by the number of kids enrolled & attending. Bad schools - no kids, no money. They will improve in order to get more students.
Remember SCA 5 enables discrimination in any PUBLIC EDUCATION entity not just college.
The best thing about this being a constitutional amendment is that it would come before the voters before becoming law. And, since we now know that even voter approved laws can be overturned, that wouldn't be the end of it. I highly doubt that it would get approved in an election.
I do not think that there should be stats used to ensure that each public school or college has a specific ratio of demographics in it.
LY
Then how to we (measure and) ensure "equal opportunity" (without using statistics)?
Chuck
Educational equal opportunity means ensuring that every student has an equal opportunity to achieve success. It does not mean promoting any one group over another.
In my opinion, educational opportunity does not start at college. It starts in elementary school and before. Students earn their acceptance into college. And they earn their graduation from college.
You cannot put a quota on those in my opinion.
The stats that Hernandez used really don't matter. I don't know the basis of his reasoning for bringing this forward. I thought that his data is probably old and may not actually apply at all bases on the statistics I've seen about college acceptance demographics.
We must ask those elected fighting for SCA 5 to tell us exactly what the problem is. I have not heard a single answer to that. And there has to be a defined problem before anybody amends our constitution to fix something that isn't there.
My position is that SCA 5 is WRONG. The people that back it have provided no single reason for it - they need to. That still won't make it acceptable - SCA 5 is still wrong.
But if they answer we will learn if they actually have specific reasons for it or if they are (as I suspect) all over the map - no 1 specific reason - just "feelings"
I never have and never will (support using the statistics Hernandez way to justify SCA5).
I do not believe that there should be SCA5 in public education admission policies. There should be an equal opportunity for ALL students to learn such that they can achieve admission into any college that they work hard enough to meet the admission qualifications.
Absolutely. No Discrimination. Ever.
Update I:
[April 2, 2014] Chuck Page would like to reiterate that he will support and defend the Equal Protection Clause in the constitution as well as California Constitution Proposition 209. Sepecially Chuck will oppose any and all actual or attempted discrimination against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting; such discrimination includes, but is not limited to, any proposed or actual implementation, explicitly or implicitly, by state institutions of higher education of considerations related to race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in student recruitment or selection programs.
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