- HOME
- About
- Topics
- Angelides
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- California Attorney General Race
- California Congressional Races
- California Democratic Party
- California Governor Race 2010
- California Legislative Races
- California Lt. Governor Race
- California Secretary of State Race
- California State Budget
- California State Controller
- Campaign Finance Reform
- Campaigns
- Cell Phones
- Children and Families
- Consumer Rights
- Corporate Accountability
- Criminal Justice
- Death With Dignity
- Disaster Preparation
- Discrimination and Civil Rights
- Education
- Elections and Voting
- Electoral College
- Energy
- Environment
- Farm Animal Cruelty Ballot Measure
- Flood Control
- Food Safety
- Gas Prices
- Governor's Election Race
- Gun control
- Health Care
- Health Insurance
- Hiram Johnson's Corner
- Housing
- Human Rights
- Humor
- Immigration
- Infrastructure
- Initiative Reform
- Insurance Commissioner Race
- Labor
- Language and Politics
- Legal System
- Media and Communication
- Minimum Wage
- Open Government
- Pharmaceutical Companies
- Politics
- Preschool
- Presidential Election 2008
- Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act Prop
- Prison Reform
- Privacy
- Privitization
- Prop 11-Redistricting/Reapportionment
- Prop 1A--High Speed Rail
- Prop 2--Treatment of Farm Animals
- Prop 3-Children's Hospital Bonds
- Prop 4 Waiting Period and Parental Notification
- Prop 5--Non-violent drug offenses
- Prop 7 and 10-Alternative Fuel and Energy Bond
- Prop 8 and-Marriage Equality
- Prop 85 Parental Notification
- Prop 86 Tobacco Tax
- Prop 87--Alternative Energy
- Prop 9 Parole
- Prop 90
- Prop 91--Transportation Funding
- Prop 92- Community Colleges
- Prop 93--Term Limits
- Props 94-97--Tribal Gaming
- Props 98 and 99
- Racial Disparities
- Responsible Lending
- Retirement Benefits
- Site of the Day
- Solar Initiative
- Structure of California Government
- Taxes
- Toxic Chemicals
- Transportation/Transit
- Water
- Westly
- Workers' Compensation
- Stories
- Cavala: A Constitutional Convention for California?
- Eight Years From Bush v. Gore to Palin: The Bridge to Nowhere
- California Proposition 11: Redistricting Commission – YES
- What Does a Republican Running in an Increasingly Democratic District Do? Why Aghazarian Wants to Make Legislative Races Non-Partisan
- Prop 1A and High Speed Rail's Role in Fighting Dependence on Oil and Sprawl in California
- Schwarzenegger Vetoes Bill Recommended By Autism Commission
- Governor Schwarzenegger Can Put a Dent in Auto Repair Fraud and Protect Consumers by Signing AB 2825
- California Assembly District 26: Republican Refuses to Debate Eisenhut in Close Race Democrats May Pick Up
- Bankruptcy Relief and the Bailout
- A Renewed Call for Mortgage Reform in California
- Preschool Legislation Aimed at Closing the Achievement Gap in California Becomes Law
- Debate: Opening Advantage Obama
- Directory
- Donate
- Contact Us
RSS Advertise Here
Deliver your message to thousands of readers every day.
Our readers are influential opinion makers - politicians, journalists and activists.
Our latest headlines
- Cavala: More Fallacious Arguments on Prop 11 – The Governor’s Redistricting Scheme Debunked
- Seeing Through the Blue Shield Smokescreen: Drug Switching Most Certainly Does Place Minorities at Risk
- California is Not Alone in Budget Crisis and Credit Crunch Caused by National Economic Meltdown
- Proposition 2: Views Fit to Print
- Cavala: L.A. Times Columnist Wrong About Public Input into Legislative Redistricting
- Coalition of “EVERYONE” Launches No on 10 Campaign
- High-Speed Rail: Californians and Americans Just Don’t Know What We’re Missing
About Us
The California Progress Report is published by Frank D. Russo, a longtime observer of and participant in California politics.
About Frank Russo.
About California Progress Report.
Got a news tip? Want to write a guest column? Contact Frank here.
Sponsors
Books
Are We Witnessing a New Nativism in California?
By Kenneth C. Burt
Seeking to enjoy a sunny weekend day, I traveled to Jackson, one of the larger towns in California’s historic Gold County. A region made famous by the influx of miners during 1849 from all over the globe, including Chile and Mexico.
Reading the local paper, the Ledger Dispatch, over lunch at the WOW! Bakery and Café, I was startled to read reporter Jennifer Gee’s July 27 commentary, “Where is the diversity?” It seems she was assigned to write a story on the state’s changing demographics, but found the locals afraid to talk.
“When I approached a prominent businessman, county official and minority group leader about the story, they declined to be interviewed, saying they’ve found when it comes to subjects like diversity, it’s best to stay under the radar.”
This came a couple of days after the Sacramento Bee ran a story on the legislative efforts to better care for a languishing monument dedicated to Latino World War II veterans. That story provoked a number of racially tinged reader reactions.
Add to this the fact that conservative talk radio took credit for killing the federal immigration reform bill with a zest not seen since Pete Wilson and Proposition 187.
Is this the final birth pains of a new California? Or is something else developing?
The new anti-Latino drumbeat is disturbing even as there is cause for optimism. Polls have shown that Californians have largely come to terms with diversity, and voters are electing a record number of African Americans, Asians and Latinos to public office. Moreover, three of the last five Assembly Speakers have been Latino, with the fourth being an African American, and the fifth being a Jewish man married to a Latina.
Still, the fear on the part of Amador County leaders to talk about diversity, and the hostility to veterans’ memorial dedicated to Latinos across from the State Capitol, is disturbing. Let’s hope that it doesn’t portend a New Nativism.
Kenneth C. Burt is author of The Search for a Civic Voice: California Latino Politics, with a foreword by Antonio Villaraigosa, now available on-line at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders. For more information, go to www.KennethBurt.com.
Burt is the political director of the California Federation of Teachers. A graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard University, Burt worked for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and is a board member for the Pat Brown Public Policy Institute.The author of a number of books and articles on California history, Burt may be reached at KennethBurt.com.
Comments
Post a comment
Get Email Updates
Want the California Progress Report by email? Once a week, we'll send you the latest and greatest headlines.
© 2008 California Progress Report Our copyright and fair use policy.
Powered by Mandate Media. Logo design by Jane Norling.
