Oppose the Anti Immigrant California Recall

 

Oppose the California Recall 

by Duane Campbell 

The  California recall vote scheduled for Sept 14, is powered by a partisan, Republican coalition of national Republicans, anti-vaxxers, QAnon conspiracy theorists, anti-immigrant activists and Trump supporters. They seek to overturn Governor Newsom’s election, and their victory could threaten California’s economic recovery and Covid efforts.

From the Los Angeles Times: 

“Allied with radical and extreme elements… includ[ing] groups promoting distrust of government, science and medicine; peddlers of QAnon doomsday conspiracies; “patriots” readying for battle and one organization allied with the far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys.”

POLITICO reported how one of the co-founders and chief organizers of the recall- a former Yuba county sheriff,  suggested it would be a good idea to “microchip” immigrants, and anti-immigrant rhetoric has been central to recall organizers’ appeals to supporters.

The advocates  reveal their emphasis in the  official statement of reasons for the recall as printed for the voters. In their second sentence they say, 

“ Governor Newsom has implemented laws which are detrimental to the citizens of this state and our way of life. Laws he endorsed favor foreign nationals in our country illegally, over that of our own citizens….

And, the fourth sentence says, “ He has imposed sanctuary state status and fails to enforce immigration laws.”

Could they be more clear? These are anti immigrant dog whistles.  And they work with some voters. 

This campaign is a  dangerous repeat  of the 1994 campaign of California  Prop.187 which created 10 years of anti immigrant repression.  California  Prop. 187 was a hate crime.  It was a racists law, passed by 2/3 of California voters.  It banned over 600,000 immigrants from receiving needed food stamps, medical care.   Although overturned by a court decision at the state level in 1999, the elements of California  Prop. 187 became national law in 1996 as a part of the Immigration Reform and Control act of 1996 and the bipartisan  " Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193)."  during the Clinton Administration. 

 These laws continue as foundations of  some of the most punitive and cruel  aspects of our current immigration enforcement system.In the Summer of 1993, a failing economy and governmental retrenchment combined to make Republican  Governor Pete Wilson the most unpopular governor in recent history.  By November of 1994 Wilson won re-election with over 56% of the vote.  Two factors combined to deliver victory to Wilson; a mean spirited, divisive, and racist campaign directed against Mexican and Mexican Americans, and an inept campaign by Democratic Candidate Kathleen Brown. 

            The voters of California voted 62% to 38% in favor of Proposition 187, the Save Our State initiative to restrict illegal immigration.  A number of groups including FAIR, the Republican Party, and the Perot organization worked together to qualify the initiative. 

            In 1994 California has a population that is 56.3 % White, 26.3 % Latino, 9.4% Asian, 7.4 % African American, and 0.6% other.  However, according to exit polls, the voters in this election were 80% white, 9% Latino, 7 % African American, and 4 % Asian. Exit polls show that Latinos voted against Prop. 187 by 3 to 1, African Americans split their vote 50 -50, and the Anglo electorate passed the proposition by over 60%.

             

            On campuses the Chicano/Latino youth mobilized in unprecedented numbers. School walk outs and protests occurred up and down the state – but they could not match the power of mobilized voters.   

            

Make no mistake about it. This was an anti Mexican campaign.  While the Wilson said that he welcomed legal immigrants, the photos, the letters, the references, and the scapegoating clearly blamed Mexicans for the state’s economic crisis. 

The anti Mexican immigrant campaign had far ranging consequences.  For example, Proposition 186 on the same ballot would have provided a single payer health system for California, but it was defeated by the engaged voters.  In following years the same voter group passed Proposition 209 banning Affirmative Action in California, and Proposition 227 banning bilingual education programs among others.

 

            Now, this is the Republican agenda once  again. They are using the economic crisis and blaming the current governor for an endless series of problems related to the pandemic – and they are engaging and motivating the dangerous, armed white militarized organizations.  This mobilization grows the white supremacy movement in the state and advances Republican politics- the same people who sought to overthrow our democracy on Jan.6, 2020. 

 

    California politics changed in the decade after the passing of Proposition 187 in 1994.   The Latino vote grew from about 20% of the electorate to 30 %.  A new younger generation of Latinos have now become active and elected leaders.  The growth of the Latino vote produced a major shift as California “Turned Blue,”  https://newlaborforum.cuny.edu/2020/01/03/the-blue-ing-of-california/ .  However the harmful national legislation that derived from the Proposition campaign was never repealed.  It remains law. 

 

  But, bad racist politics did not go away.  In a substantive July 27, 2021,  poll, some 47% of likely voters would vote to recall Newsom, while some 50% oppose the recall.  And, the Republican right is much more engaged in the campaign. A September election will be a low turn out election, which usually means an increased percentage of White voters.

 This polarizing  recall campaign illustrates that California could turn Republican once again.

 

 

We must unite to defeat the recall.