Open to Letter from Dr. Anthony Ratcliff (Pan African Studies Department)

An Open Letter to all Scholars:

I believe by now that you're aware of the amazing turn out on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at the walkout, rally and march against budget cuts in California and around the nation. Here at California State University Northridge thousands of students participated in the walkout, and the culminating march was attended by upwards of 5,000 students, faculty, staff, K-12 teachers and people from the community. As the march circled the campus, a couple hundred students spontaneously decided to stop on Reseda and Prairie streets and close down an intersection in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. While the majority of the marchers had gone home, many of those students who remained, sat down in the intersection--which had already been closed due to the march—and continued to chant, "stop the budget cuts."

The crowd consisted of students and professors from diverse ethnicities and class backgrounds. However, when the police decided to push them out of the intersection and back towards campus (down Prairie) the main students they seemed to target were Black and Latino/a. In somewhat "typical" police fashion, they began swinging their billy clubs, injuring a number of the protesters and arresting two African American students. Then, as the police pushed the protesters back even further, they attempted to pull other students from the crowd (who they deemed to be instigators) and in the process knocked down Dr. Karren Baird-Olson, a 73-year-old professor of Sociology and American Indian Studies, and broke her arm. Her injuries were so severe that she spent the weekend in the hospital. Moreover, as she was being helped back to her feet, the police arrested her and two Latino students assisting her. In all, six students were arrested--now referred to as the "CSUN 6"--for allegedly failing to disperse at the scene of a "riot” and they are supposed to go to court in late March. They each face up to three years probation.

Unfortunately, the President of CSUN rushed to judgment by releasing a statement that labeled the students as unruly and irresponsible, even though it was the LAPD and CSUN police that did the pushing, shoving, and hitting with their clubs. The students did nothing violent to the police--except raise their voices and refuse to be intimidated--there were no bottles thrown, sticks swung, cars overturned or set ablaze, or destruction of property. Nonetheless, a negative light has been directed at the students rather than the actions of the police. There has also been some discussion on California Faculty Association listserves that seeks to paint the student protest as "spoiling" an otherwise excellent day of action. But I think the students who decided to "disobey" the orders of the police to disperse were merely asserting their first amendment rights to peacefully assemble on a PUBLIC street and protest the state's lack of commitment to funding public education.

Before we condemn the actions of the students, we should be reminded that civil rights activists 45 years ago in Selma, AL, were considered unruly and irresponsible by the Alabama authorities. However, history shows that their willingness to stand up to injustice through civil disobedience helped push forward the Voting Rights Act, as well as dismantle Jim Crow. Similarly, it was through the direct action and civil disobedience of committed students that our Pan-African Studies and many other Black and Chicano studies departments throughout the nation were even founded.

Therefore, it is my sincere hope that all concerned faculty members, departments and independent scholars will speak out in support of these students and Prof. Baird-Olson. The Chicano Studies department and Central American Studies program at CSUN have already secured lawyers for those arrested and they met on Friday, March 5 to discuss other ways to show solidarity. I believe that other scholars could do something similar, by at least writing letters of support for the CSUN 6 and also supporting the list of student demands, which you will find linked below.

http://inarratefrommargins.blogspot.com/2010/03/official-statement-released-by.html

In addition to supporting these demands, we should also remind our colleagues and students about the importance of continuing the struggle against budget cuts. On Monday, March 22, there will be a rally in Sacramento called the “March in March.” This will be an opportunity to once again demonstrate a massive show of solidarity between students, faculty, and staff from throughout the state; but on this occasion we will be able to voice our concerns directly to the California Legislature. In the meantime, it is imperative that we stand in support with those students and professors who the police assaulted and arrested for fighting the deterioration of our education system through civil disobedience.

In solidarity,
Anthony Ratcliff, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Pan-African Studies
anthony.ratcliff@csun.edu