CSRC Open House October 17 2002

Keynote Address by Hon. Marco Antonio Firebaugh
Assembly Majority Floor Leader and Chair, Latino Legislative Caucus

Note: The CSRC Annual Open House on October 17, 2002, marked the thirty-third anniversary of the Center as an Organized Research Unit in the University of California system. It also marked the transition from Professor Guillermo Hernandez (1993-2002) as director to Professor Chon Noriega. The Hon. Marco Antonio Firebaugh provided the keynote address for the event. He was introduced by Chancellor Albert Carnesale.

I have an entourage this afternoon, my kids. They actually know the university well - their mom is just finishing a Ph.D. here at UCLA. Thank you, Chancellor. I appreciate the welcome. I, too, want to celebrate a great tenure by CSRC Director Guillermo Hernandez, many years of wonderful service, not just to the university, not just to several cohorts of students and now leaders of this great state, but also to the people of the state of California. Guillermo, you should be really, really proud of what you have accomplished over the years. I hope and I know you are not going away. Know that you have our love and our support and our confidence. And I look forward to collaborating with you further.

So … the 33rd anniversary of the Chicano Studies Research Center. What an amazing achievement; and the Center has been approved for fifteen more years, right, Chancellor? It strikes me that that kind of longevity and that kind of confidence in this institution speaks not only to the quality of the faculty and its research and how its scholarship has impacted our state, but it really speaks to how important and how valuable the study of Chicanos and Chicanas in this state has become. I remember the days not so long ago when we struggled with this whole question of re-initiation, re-funding-when we talked about whether or not the study of such a big portion of our population ought to have its own independent standing and its own independent funding. Whether such scholarship had a valid place here at one of the greatest universities in the world. I'm so pleased to know that, in fact, the question has been answered in the affirmative and that we stand with the support and with the embrace of the Regents of the University and of course the Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles. So thank you to the university for the wisdom to support this program and thank you for the hard work over the years.

Let me say that I was faced with a very pleasant surprise when I walked in the door. In addition to seeing so many great friends-really, so many great friends from art and culture and scholarship and friends of the family-I also have my mother here today. [Applause.]

Chon Noriega, as the incoming director you have big shoes to fill-big shoes, indeed. It strikes me that, today, it's more important than ever that we have absolute excellence in this work. We're delighted that the search committee of the University and the Chancellor did in fact have the wisdom to select you to lead this institution. You have our confidence and support, as you have had over so many years of hard work, diligence, and scholarship. Know that you can count on the support of the Latino Legislative Caucus, myself personally, and the legislature.

It really is a critical time for Latino voters. The Latino population is becoming ever-so-more important in the fabric of our society. What the Chancellor did not mention , but what I know he knows, is that improving the quality-of-life for our communities remains a challenge. The fact is that in our neighborhoods, a disproportionate number of people don't have health insurance. The fact is that kids from Southeast L.A.-from Southgate and Huntington Park, Cudahy, and Maywood-drop out of high school in rates way too high for us to be content. They don't go to college in numbers high enough to create the kind of professionalism and support that the future of California demands and needs. So the work of the Chicano Studies Research Center today-today more than ever-remains critical for the future of our state.

The Chancellor mentioned that I'm the incoming chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus-an organization that has twenty-two members today, and with your help and support, twenty-five come November. [Points] There's my professor from the Law School, Laura Gomez-she was about to clap-go ahead, clap! [Applause.]

You know, as we develop our policy agenda, we often say that it is a Latino agenda. It is an agenda focused on the special needs of kids who go to school without speaking English, for kids who go to school without health insurance, for kids that come from families where they're the first in their families to go to college, for kids who go to schools that are over-crowded and that have too may non-credentialed teachers. It is an agenda focused on that work. But you know what? If we can resolve the challenges that face our community as Latinos, then we can resolve the challenges that face our community as Californians. After all, the challenges that we set and pose today are really challenges that afflict all of our kids and all of our communities, all of our families. Our California agenda, our Latino agenda, are one and the same.

And so the work of the Chicano Studies Research Center-the work of this University and the work of the many, many fabulous faculty and students who work here everyday-it becomes a part of the work of the state. It becomes not just an appendage to our thinking-to our scholarship, to our research and our policy development-but actually becomes integrated into the everyday work of California. It means that we'll be able to find those policy solutions-and the leadership for that really begins at places like this. It begins at the Center for North American Integration and Development with my friend and brother, Raul Hinojosa. It really does begin at the Law School. It really does begin at the Film School with the great work of José Luis Valenzuela and others. It really has to be integrated. So the embrace of this University for the Chicano Studies Research Center, the embrace of this University for the César Chavez Center, and the embrace of this University for the faculty and the students who make up such a big part of our state and make up the fabric and the future of California-I think speaks well to the future of California altogether.

The Chancellor was briefly alluding to how often we get to work together, and sometimes we disagree. But it's really a disagreement about the "how much," "where," and "how often," because I think that the Chancellor and myself, and the Caucus, and so many of you really share an absolute commitment to the University of California and to its place, not just in the realm of scholarship-in terms of new knowledge, new information, new ways of doing things-but its place in terms of the life of California and how it has to be accessible to all of our kids in every corner of the state. And today it isn't. We're not there yet. We're not there yet. We have work to do.

And so if I could leave you with a couple of thoughts. First, we have to maintain our commitment to the University of California even in difficult times. It's now when we have to make those tough priority choices because there's never enough money, there's never enough support, there's never enough to go around for everyone. It's in these difficult times that we have to lock arms and insure that resources continue to flow to public universities. By the same token, we have to maintain that pressure-that subtle, respectful pressure on the University at the Board of Regents, the President's Office, and the Chancellor's Office. We must continue to focus and stay on track with the kinds of programming-the kinds of support-that's going to open these doors. UCLA and Berkeley, and the University of California generally, have done a great job in this area when you consider the events of the last five years-when you think about when Proposition 209 was approved and SP1 and SP2 and the decimation of the quality of this University. Because when you lose Black and Latino kids, you lose quality at the University level. [Applause.] And we're doing better! We're doing better.

The numbers are better than they have been in five or six years, and they're going to continue to improve, but only if we maintain that vigilance, that focus, that attention. So Chancellor, I want to thank you for your leadership in that work because you have been a leader, but I want to ask you to stay with us in these difficult fights because we're going to fight for the research budget of the University, but not at the expense of the outreach budget. We're going to fight for the research budget of the University, but not at the expense of funding for the César Chavez Center, the Chicano Studies Research Center, the Center for African American Studies-not at the expense of scholarship in ethnic studies. And so, we think that it's a matter of priorities and we think that if we work hard, and we work long, that we'll find the resources to fund all of these priorities, because they have to be co-equal priorities.

We are on the cusp of, I think, a new period in California. The Latino Caucus is going to go from twenty-two to twenty-five. The next Speaker of the Assembly is going to be a Latina. The next President Protem of the Senate-keeping our fingers crossed-is going to be a Latina. You're going to see Governor Davis be re-elected, and that is a good thing. [Laughter.] You'll see the re-election of Cruz Bustamante as Lieutenant Governor. We'll see a much more diverse legislature that includes more women, more Asian Americans, more African Americans in positions of leadership. We're truly turning the corner in this great state of California and it can only be good for California. But that means that we ought to stay engaged. You know it doesn't happen by accident that these changes occur. It means that we all have to stay focused and engaged and participants in our democracy. A couple of weeks ago you may have heard that the Latino Legislative Caucus refused to endorse Governor Gray Davis's re-election. We stand by that decision and we think it was the right decision. We think that the Governor needs to do some work in some very important policy areas. We think that all Californians deserve the right to drive to work and to drive their kids to school and to drive to church and the supermarket. We think that if they meet the requirements that all the rest of us do that they too have the right to drive. You know, it took us awhile to get the Governor to come to the right policy conclusion with regard to high school students who were undocumented, and with your help we'll get him to that policy conclusion with regard to workers who are undocumented.

It means that we have to stay engaged. Now, Governor Davis, I think, deserves to be re-elected. Governor Davis has done some good and positive things. He signed AB540 for undocumented kids; he expanded Healthy Families for the working families of the state. He funded the Outreach Program like we asked and demanded of him. But, we have to maintain that pressure because it's only us, together-it's only when we vote, it's only when we raise our voices, it's only when we insure that our kids go to college, it's only when we participate, and lean on people and make our voices heard that we truly can make a difference.
I promise you that if you stick with us, we'll stick with you to make sure that this great state, California, has a space and place for everybody. Thank you for your time.