Q MOVIE REVIEW City Times reviews the latest Coen brothers installment ARTS / PAGE 4
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Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
‘We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us’
Volume 63, Number 4
October 7, 2008
Get Moving
MeCHA members rally against Operation Gatekeeper Evonne Ermey City Times
“October 2 will not be forgotten,” was the theme of the rally hosted by MeCHA and Puente members in Gorton Quad Oct. 2 where people gathered to commemorate the 40-year anniversary of Mexico City’s Tlatelolco Massacre. Rally coordinators also used the day as an opportunity to protest the Operation Gatekeeper Act, implemented by the government in 1994, which they claim has resulted in the deaths of over 5,000 Mexican citizens. The rally showcased several speakers from MeCHA a speech by Christian Ramirez of the American Friends Service Committee and one by an eye-witness to the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre. It was on Oct. 2 in Mexico City when the Mexican military and police opened fire on students who had gathered in a city square to protest the government of then president, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz and the Industrial Revolutionary Party. The altercation resulted in the loss of between 200-300 lives, most of them students. “If we forget about these things they can happen again,” said Jaziel Rivas a City College student, MeCHA member and Oct. 2 event coordinator. The tone of the rally was point-
edly somber and reverent reminding people not only of the lives lost on Oct. 2 in 1968 but of lives still being lost at the Mexican border. Many attendees attribute these deaths to Operation Gatekeeper. “First our people were being massacred by the Mexican regime and now by the United States Government,” said Victor Montenegro, an engineering major at City College. Speakers and event coordinators attribute at least 4,000 deaths to the implementation of Operation Gatekeeper, which sealed off the Mexican/U.S. border from Imperial Beach to the San Ysidro station and is ever expanding. Using high tech tools like infrared and unmanned planes to deter illegal aliens at these once popular crossover sites has, according to Ramirez and Rivas, sent people illegally trying to cross the border into desert and mountain regions where they die in great numbers. “We want no more deaths. Operation Gatekeeper is death to our people and we don’t want anymore death to our people,” said Rivas. The rally ended with a protest of approximately 30 people walking from City College to Fourth and B Streets Downtown carrying signs protesting Operation Gatekeeper and chanting in Spanish, “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”
The 10th annual performance of the San Diego Trolley Dances took place on Sept. 27 and 28, with City College professor Terry Wilson stepping in as guest choreographer for the first piece, which took place in Mission Valley. Check out the full story on page 6. CARLOS MAIA City Times
Constitution Day speaker opens minds at Saville Shannon kuhfuss City Times On Sept. 17 the World Cultures program and the history and political science Departments co-sponsored “Constitution of the ‘Divided’ States,” a speech given by Ezekiel E. Cortez to the student body at Saville Theatre. “I will not tell you historic facts. I don’t want to talk like a professor because I’m not. I don’t want to talk down to you like a lawyer,”
Index
Take Note.................................2 News...................................... 3 Opinion................................... 4 Arts........................................ 6 Life..........................................7
said Cortez. Cortez is a board certified specialist in Criminal Law, a top five percent Career Criminal Defense Lawyer, and a City College Alumnus. According to Cortez, however, his biggest achievement thus far was getting his GED. Cortez attended San Diego High School for one year before being expelled due to his lack of respect for authority. He then worked at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
before being thrown in jail after standing up to a superior for an African-American co-worker’s and his own rights. It was then Cortez decided to get his GED and become a criminal defense lawyer. Cortez opened the floor to the opinions and views of the audience members, which included a mix of students, staff members and close friends. “I want to keep the atmosphere open-minded... I want to be a mid-
wife for thoughts and expression,” said Cortez. Cortez proceeded to explain that the country is deeply divided because, perhaps, we have forgotten who we are. “The Constitution of the United States is a political document made by white men from Europe who were driven here by greed,” said to Cortez. Why is a criminal defense lawyer saying such things about our country’s founding docu-
Inside
Q GET GREEN ON CAMPUS
San Diego’s first ever urban farm is well under way on City campus NEWS / PAGE 3
ment? Cortez wants to give knowledge of the front lines from a law enforcement officer with 30 years of experience. The debate about whether or not the Constitution is a living document or not has been questioned for years. According to Cortez, “It depends on what century you live in”.
See CONSTITUTION, page 2
Online
Q BOOK FAIR RETURNS
City Times covers Juan Williams at this year’s City Book Fair WWW.SDCITYTIMES.COM