The sweltering heat of mid-summer matched the heated mood of the protesters who rallied on July 15 in front California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office in Downtown Los Angeles. Many Asian Pacific Islanders, including Filipino-Americans, joined hundreds of outraged Californians who stand to be affected by the proposed cuts to the state budget.
The protest came as the governor continued to press for massive cuts that demonstrators said would kick Asian and Pacific Islander seniors out of the safety of their homes and leave struggling families homeless. During the conference, community members delivered to the governor personal stories of children and seniors deeply affected by his budget proposals. The governor and leaders of the California Legislature recently reached on agreement on a package of cuts in service and accounting manipulations — with no significant tax increases — to close the $26 billion deficit. The package is expected to go to a vote of the full legislature in coming days.
"Every time they prepare the budget and need to cut in some areas, they always target the weak, the disabled, the vulnerable, the elderly and the children," said Lilibeth Navarro, the founder and executive director of CALIF (Communities Actively Living Independent & Free). Speaking passionately from her motorized wheelchair, Navarro said that she has been joining rallies to speak in behalf of the weak and the vulnerable, especially the physically handicapped. A hardworking community activist, she became disabled after surviving polio as a child.
Among the other speakers in the press conference were recipients of Medi-Cal and participants in the CalWorks program, including Paul Lee and Yolanda James; Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc.'s Sandy Varga; Rabbi Jonathan Klein; and Lee Anne Holmes, a mother with a disabled son.
The demonstrators said that the governor's proposed solution to the budget deficit will bring drastic cuts to homecare assistance the state currently provides for the elderly and the disabled, along with various other programs that help low-income families.
"To refuse home-care assistance for the elderly and disabled is not only in violation of the 1999 Supreme Court ruling on the Olmstead case, (which allowed persons with mental disabilities to live in community settings rather than in institutions if certain conditions are met), it will also cost the state more money since placing them in institutions cost $65,000 per annum versus only $10,000," said Navarro. "A lot of people have given alternative sound solutions to address the budget deficit; such as increasing taxes on beer and cigarettes, which can easily be afforded by the big corporations. But the Governor chooses to target the defenseless."
Cynthia De Castro is a writer for Asian Journal.
Collage by LA Beez
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