[CW-Grad] CWPA students react to UC Regents Protest

Thu Jan 26 13:06:14 PST 2012

Rachelle and Andrea,

Add me too. Very succinct and well-written letter.

Best,
Brian

On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 1:00 PM, David Lopez <dlope015 at ucr.edu> wrote:

> Rachelle and Andrea--
>
> By all means, please include my name on the letter.  Thank you for
> being proactive on this matter.
>
> David Lopez
>
> On 1/24/12, Tanya Frank <tanfrank at me.com> wrote:
> > Mine too comrades!
> >
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > On Jan 24, 2012, at 12:23 PM, David Campos <dcamp009 at ucr.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> Please add my name to the letter.
> >>
> >> Instead of marching around the students to take their positions, the
> >> officers marched directly through the crowd as if they wanted to
> >> incite violence. I was there, afraid, as I saw them using their batons
> >> to push students out of the way. One Sheriff, the name tag read
> >> Martinez, stabbed one student in the chest with his baton just to get
> >> him out of the way. I was further terrified when, six to seven feet
> >> away from me, the police started firing paint balls. At that moment I
> >> ran away unsure what other methods they were willing to employ. I do
> >> not believe these tactics were necessary.
> >>
> >> Add my name to the letter,
> >>
> >> David Campos
> >>
> >> On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Joe Powers <Joe.Powers at sbcglobal.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>> Sounds like a movie about Kent State . . .
> >>>
> >>> bottom line it is not okay . . .
> >>>
> >>> you have my full support . . .
> >>>
> >>> good letter . . .
> >>>
> >>> all for now . . .
> >>>
> >>> Joe Powers
> >>>
> >>> Personal sites:
> >>> http://web.mac.com/codypowers/joepowers
> >>> http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-powers/12/73a/392
> >>>
> >>> Cody Powers Films:  http://www.codypowersfilms.com/
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: Rachelle Cruz
> >>> To: Mfa Listserve
> >>> Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 9:37 PM
> >>> Subject: [CW-Grad] CWPA students react to UC Regents Protest
> >>>
> >>> Dear CWPA students, alumni, faculty and staff,
> >>>
> >>> Andrea Gutierrez and I have drafted a letter to Chancellor White in
> >>> response
> >>> to last Thursday's UC Regents Meeting and protest on campus.
> >>>
> >>> We would love your feedback, support, signature, and/or anything else
> to
> >>> strengthen our voice and concerns regarding police presence and
> brutality
> >>> at
> >>> UCR, students' rights to assemble, and the Occupy Movement on campus.
> >>>
> >>> The letter is both attached to this email and pasted below.
> >>>
> >>> Thank you!
> >>>
> >>> Best,
> >>> Rachelle Cruz
> >>> Andrea Gutierrez
> >>>
> >>> ***
> >>>
> >>> January 22, 2012
> >>>
> >>> Dear Chancellor White,
> >>>
> >>> As graduate students and teaching assistants in the MFA Program for
> >>> Creative
> >>> Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts, we are deeply disappointed
> >>> and
> >>> ashamed by the actions taken by the University this past Thursday.
> >>>
> >>> Many of us participated in the campus-wide action of students across
> the
> >>> UC
> >>> system, faculty and staff outside of the HUB, while the UC Regents
> >>> continued
> >>> their meeting in privacy.  This day-long action was indeed an
> expression
> >>> of
> >>> outrage over rising tuition and depreciating quality of education.  It
> >>> was
> >>> also a celebration of community and solidarity.
> >>>
> >>> We witnessed our students chanting or engaging in discussion about the
> >>> grim
> >>> future of UC Riverside and their disappearing classes; for many of
> them,
> >>> this was their first political protest.  One of our students, a mother
> of
> >>> two, brought her three-year-old daughter.  This student lamented
> >>> forgetting
> >>> to dress her daughter in her Highlander shirt.  She wanted her daughter
> >>> to
> >>> bear witness to the fight for her future education.
> >>>
> >>> We witnessed UCR students and community members dressed in black
> bearing
> >>> colorful, lifesize banners depicting the book covers of liberatory
> texts.
> >>>   These books envision equality and freedom and question privilege and
> >>> cultural hegemony, such as Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth,
> bell
> >>> hooks’ Feminism is for Everyone, Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy for the
> >>> Oppressed,
> >>> among others.  The book bloc remained at the front of the line, facing
> >>> the
> >>> staggering number of riot police at the HUB exit and protecting
> >>> protesters
> >>> from police violence.  We couldn’t help but recognize the clear
> metaphor
> >>> in
> >>> all of this.
> >>>
> >>> Despite what your Friday Letter states, there were more than just a
> “few”
> >>> individuals at this action.  We witnessed hundreds of students,
> faculty,
> >>> and
> >>> staff who merely wanted to engage in an open discussion with the UC
> >>> Regents.
> >>>  As police helicopters circled above us, we witnessed our students
> (your
> >>> students) pushed, shoved and humiliated by riot police because of this
> >>> desire to converse and be heard by the Regents.  We witnessed members
> of
> >>> our
> >>> community shot by riot police with pellet guns; one young man was
> knocked
> >>> to
> >>> the ground by the shock and force of the pellets.  We witnessed sheer
> >>> violence by your “co-workers,” the police who treated your students
> like
> >>> the
> >>> Asian Citrus Psyllids plaguing the orange groves at UCR and throughout
> >>> Southern California.
> >>>
> >>> The “few individuals” who peacefully disrupted the UC Regents Meeting
> >>> represents more than a handful of marginal opinions.  These “few
> >>> individuals” exercised an essential act of civil disobedience and
> >>> represent
> >>> many of us in the UC Riverside and UC community who are fed up with
> >>> business
> >>> as usual.
> >>>
> >>> We urge you to provide opportunities for students to engage in dialogue
> >>> about last Thursday’s events and the implications behind police
> presence
> >>> as
> >>> the University’s response to student assembly and protest.  We urge you
> >>> to
> >>> take responsibility for putting your students’ safety on the line.  We
> >>> urge
> >>> you to ensure their safety and right to express their discontent with
> the
> >>> UC
> >>> system by supporting future student actions.
> >>>
> >>> Sincerely,
> >>>
> >>> Students of the MFA Program for Creative Writing and Writing for the
> >>> Performing Arts
> >>>
> >>> Rachelle Cruz
> >>> Andrea Gutierrez
> >>>
> >>> *****
> >>> Rachelle Cruz,
> >>> Host of "The Blood-Jet Writing Hour" Radio Show
> >>> www.thebloodjet.wordpress.com
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ________________________________
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> CWgrad-announcements mailing list
> >>> CWgrad-announcements at lists.ucr.edu
> >>> http://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/cwgrad-announcements
> >>>
> >>>
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> >>>
> >>
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-- 
Brian Marcelo
brianmarcelo at gmail.com
408-966-2436
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