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Senator Barbara Boxer
Statement on the Nomination
of Congresswoman Hilda Solis
January 9, 2009
Good morning Chairman
Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi, and Committee members.
Thank you for the opportunity
to introduce my good friend and colleague from California, Congresswoman
Hilda Solis, President-elect Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Labor.
Mr. Chairman, too often over
the past eight years, the voices of working men and women in this country
went unheard.
But in selecting Congresswoman
Solis, President-elect Obama has sent a clear message that America’s working
families will be heard.
Congresswoman Solis has a
strong understanding of the everyday struggles of working families, the
challenges facing our economy, and the need for change to jumpstart the
economy and create jobs.
This change could not come
a moment too soon.
This morning we received
more sobering news about the current state of the labor market.
Last month the economy lost
524,000 jobs, and in 2008, 2.6 million jobs were lost – the most in one
year since 1945. Unemployment continues to climb – in some areas of our
home state of California, the unemployment rate is over twelve percent.
And wages for many in the middle class have actually decreased over the
last eight years.
We are in the midst of the
greatest economic challenge this country has faced in a generation.
And I can think of no one
who will take on the task of jumpstarting our economy and bolstering the
middle class with more energy, creativity, and integrity than Congresswoman
Hilda Solis.
Throughout her entire career,
Congresswoman Solis has been a forceful advocate for working men and women
in California and throughout the nation.
Born and raised in Southern
California’s San Gabriel Valley, she was instilled early-on with the values
of hard work. Her father emigrated from Mexico and worked various jobs
before becoming a Teamsters shop steward. Her mother came to the US from
Nicaragua and worked at a local toy factory. From them Congresswoman Solis
learned about the importance of union membership, and the sacrifices many
parents make to provide opportunities for their children.
As the first Latina elected
to the California State Senate, Congresswoman Solis worked tirelessly to
pass progressive laws to strengthen our economy and build California’s
middle class.
In addition to her many other
legislative accomplishments, she led efforts to pass a much-needed increase
in California’s minimum wage.
In the 1990’s, when Congresswoman
Solis discovered that toxic sites were disproportionately located near
minority and low-income neighborhoods, she wrote an environmental justice
law to guarantee protections for these communities.
For her dedication to this
cause, she became the first woman honored with the John F. Kennedy Profile
in Courage Award.
From the time she was first
elected to represent California’s 32nd Congressional District in 2000,
she has focused on solutions to strengthen our economy. In 2007 she secured
passage of a bill to establish an energy efficiency and renewable energy
worker training program.
Knowing Congresswoman Solis
as I do, I am confident that as Labor Secretary, she will turn the many
challenges we face into new opportunities for the American people.
As Secretary, she will continue
to promote policies that will invigorate our economy, protect American
jobs, re-train our workforce for a sustainable energy future, ensure safe
working conditions, enforce wage and hour laws, protect against worker
discrimination, and strengthen the middle class.
Congresswoman Solis is truly
the new face of the American dream, and as Secretary of Labor, she will
continue her life’s work to help millions of Americans secure their own
American dream.
Thank you.
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Time for historical lesson
on Mexican migration into U.S.
By Arturo Villarrealand
Charley Trujillo
Article Launched: 08/06/2008
01:34:15 AM PDT
Immigration is driven by
historical and economic necessity on both sides of
the border. There are times
when the United States needs Mexican labor, such
as during World War I and
World War II, that migration is encouraged. During
economic downturns, migration
is discouraged. Repression is directed toward
this population, such as
during the Great Depression, the economic recession
of the 1950s and the present
downturn.
Perhaps by analyzing and
understanding history, we can change our
perspective on the issue
- not by building a fence across the border but by
building a bridge between
two countries that share a long history. It is
difficult to comprehend
that a physical barrier across the border will fence
in history.
Most discussions of Mexican
migration into the United States lack a
historical perspective that
lead to characterize it as a spontaneous and
recent phenomenon. However,
people of Mexican origin are descendants of one
of the six original world
civilizations and whose ancestors help lay the
foundation for the development
of the present-day Southwest and other
regions.
The melting pot theory of
assimilation and its assumptions are most often
used by journalists, politicians
and citizens who don't believe Mexican
immigrants, legal or not,
are productive members of society. At best, this
theory is applicable to
ethnic immigrants of European heritage. Unlike
European immigrants who
had to traverse an ocean, this theory does not apply
to Native Americans or Mexicans
who are indigenous to America.
The first significant contact
between whites and Chicanos led to the Texas
revolt of 1834-36 when the
symbolic battle of the Alamo occurred. Many of
the whites in the Alamo
were undocumented because Mexico barred further
white immigration into Texas
in 1830. Armed with a strong military and the
ideological doctrine of
manifest destiny that deemed the United States as
people chosen by God to
rule from sea to shining sea, the United States
invaded Mexico in 1846.
Mexico lost the war and signed
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
Mexico ceded California,
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and parts of Nevada,
Utah and Wyoming for $15
million. Under the treaty, remaining Mexicans
became U.S. citizens with
all rights of property, language and religion.
However, the provisions
were ignored; or, in the case of property, it was
taken by legal and extralegal
means.
Violence against Chicanos
by vigilantes and law enforcement officials was so
severe that scores left
for Mexico. Violence faced by those remaining was
comparable to what blacks
faced in the South. By the early 1900s, cheap
Mexican labor was needed
for work in the mines, railroads, agriculture and
other industries. During
this period, Mexicans also migrated to the Midwest
and Northwest. The Mexican
Revolution and World War I also contributed to
push and pull factors that
brought migration of Mexicans into the United
States. It is estimated
one-eighth of Mexico's population legally moved into
the United States during
this period.
Mexican labor has been instrumental
in the development of infrastructure and
capital accumulation in
the United States. However, with the economic
depression of the 1930s,
Mexican labor was no longer necessary. Hundreds of
thousands of Mexicans were
deported. This deportation included U.S.
citizens, a practice that
continues.
Racial categorization in
the United States is the confusion of race,
nationality and ethnicity,
whereby people of Mexican origin are always
suspect of being foreign,
regardless of legal status. To the dominant
society, however, they are
all indistinguishable. Unlike European immigrant
groups who are removed geographically
from home countries, Chicano culture
and language are reinforced
by new arrivals from Mexico. Unlike immigrants
from other countries who
can forge a new place for themselves, migrants from
Mexico have a ready-made
niche for them because of historical circumstances.
Historical perceptions and
stereotypes of Mexicans precede them as they
venture into other parts
of the United States. Hopefully, by understanding
our shared history, we can
refrain from stereotyping and scapegoating
Mexicans.
ARTURO VILLARREAL is a professor
at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose.
CHARLEY TRUJILLO is a writer
and publisher in San Jose. They wrote this
article for the Mercury
News.
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Please feel free to distribute
this information.
**************************
Monterey Hills Federation
Meeting
Tuesday, January 20,
2009
7:00 PM
Marshall Villas Community
Room
4225 Via Arbolada
Los Angeles CA 90042
The Monterey Hills Federation
was formed in order to help promote the
interests of the Monterey
Hills community and its' residents. We work
directly with HOA's, the
Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles
City Council, and POST Security.
All Monterey Hills Residents
and Homeowners are welcome to attend
monthly meetings held at
the Marshall Villas Common Room. Once yearly,
appointed representatives
from each association elect officers which
then serve for one year
terms.
**************************
DONE Town Hall
Saturday, January 31, 2009
8:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Barrio Action Youth and
Family Center
4927 Huntington Dr. Suite
200
Los Angeles, CA 90032
DONE will be hosting three
regional town halls to review the proposed
MOU between Neighborhood
Councils and the Department of Transportation,
the Neighborhood Council
Funding Program, the 2010 City Clerk elections,
and the City budget among
other items. Please plan to attend to learn
about important updates
affecting your Neighborhood Council and to
network with DONE General
Manager, BongHwan Kim, your local City
Councilmembers, and other
City departments.
**************************
City of Los Angeles
Regional Budget & Finance
Committee Meeting
February 23, 2009
6:00pm to 8:00pm
El Sereno
4927 Huntington Drive North
Los Angeles, CA 90032
As the Budget and Finance
Committee begins the planning process for
Fiscal Year 2009-2010, we
invite you to help us understand your
priorities by sharing thoughts
on creating a balanced budget that
addresses the fundamental
issues of our city, while remaining fiscally
responsible.
*************************Please
feel free to forward to your networks.
If you no longer wish to
receive these e-mails, please kindly reply to
this e-mail and indicate
please remove from mailing list on the subject
line.
Best,
Erick Martell
Field Deputy
Councilmember José
Huizar
Council District 14
4927 Huntington Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90032
P: (323)226-1646
F: (323)226-1644
http://www.lacity.org/council/cd14/
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