SACRAMENTO March 16, 2009 - Students and educators from public colleges all over the state converged on Sacramento on March 16th to demand that California fully fund higher education and not raise tuition. An estimated 6,000 students, teachers, administrators, and education workers converged on the State Capitol. They came to demand, “Keep the doors open,” “No budget cuts,” “Bail out colleges, not banks,” “Fund education, not war,” and “Money for schools, not prisons.”
Students from Los Angeles Mission College boarded buses before 3 am to arrive in Sacramento in time to march from Raley Field to the steps of the Capitol. Fully Story: College Students March on State Capitol to Protest Budget Cuts by Sharat G. Lin
Join The LA Indymedia Collective For An Overview Of Necessary And Useful Skills To Hit The Streets And Tell The Real Story!
Los Angeles Independent Media Center will be hosting a free journalism workshop on Saturday, April 4, 2009 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy (an adjunct of USC) The institute is located at 746 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90089. Guest speakers include: Bronwyn Mauldin, Indymedia On Air, KPFK and Frank Stoltze, KPCC
See the Calendar for more details
Update: The First LA Indymedia Journalism Workshop Was A Huge Success! by Anna Kunkin
The meeting, which was attended by hundreds of people, was fiery and impassioned and lasted for about three hours. The first two hours were open for public comment. Ultimately, the board voted 3-2 to retain the mascot, although two items, including a doormat with a “Native American” on it, will be removed. Everything else, including a bust at the school parking lot entrance and a large mural are to remain intact.
The months, weeks, and days preceding the meeting were intense. Eli, the instigator of this campaign, received death threats as did a child of a school board member.
. . . Many indigenous people who reside in Carpinteria expressed approval of the mascot. However, a Chumash man, while not a Carpiterian, said that this land was originally their's and that his people were and are peaceful, not warriors. “. . . We have to change the war mentality,” he said. “We are not warriors, we are peaceful people, and this planet needs peaceful beings. This is a local manifestation of a terrible global bind that we all live in. Injustice to one is injustice to all. The war culture must be eliminated.
“Your job is to teach to these young people. Teach them the ways of the Chumash by asking the Chumash. And I invite all the people in the lineage of the Chumash to come and practice the Chumash ways. We were never a warrior society, never. We're not warriors.“
Story and photos: Carpinteria to Retain Plains Indian Mascot by RP