Despite the passage of Proposition 187, my dispo-
sition remains the same. I will not, in any way,
play a role in willfully hurting another person.
I have sat at the back of the bus. I’ve had someone
tell me to get my “black ass” out of a hotel when
there were plenty of rooms available. I’ve skated at
the rink on special “Negro” days.
I know the hurt and humiliation that come with
being mistreated. So, needless to say, there is no
way on God’s green earth that I could ever treat fel-
low human beings with such disrespect that I would
ask them to prove to me their right to be in this cor-
ner of the world.
Who are we to make such demands? There is
nothing in my DNA that will allow me to, without
sensible reason, stand in the way of other citizens
oT the worla wno, as I ao every day, struggle to house and feed themselves and their fam-
ilies and to live in dignity.
And if I were to play the game, what am I,
as a school principal, to say to a family with
whom I’ve bonded, who happens to be here
illegally? Am I to smile and say something
like, “So long, it’s been good to know you”?
Am I to look a little child in the face and
say: “I really appreciate how you’ve
improved in your school work and how
you’ve been such a good citizen, but I’m
going to have to turn you in. It’s nothing
personal, you understand. Just remember
those high fives we used to give each other
and all the wonderful conversations we
used to have, and if you’re ever in
Guadalajara, I’d like you to say hello to
some friends of mine.”
A parent has already asked me, “What are
the children supposed to think if their principal
breaks the law?” I told him I feel that the law is
immoral, and I would have no problem explaining
to a child why I can’t honor an immoral law.
What a shameful and hurtful proposition 187 is.
When I reflect on it, I sometimes don’t know
whether to laugh at its absurdity or cry because of
its cruelty. I’ve done both.
The laughter comes spontaneously, like the time I
overheard an attorney saying to a peer: “We need
Proposition 187 because people are coming over
here taking our jobs.” Come on. How many U.S. cit-
izens are standing in lines for the back-breaking
work that lettuce fields have to offer?
Ernie McCray principal of Marvin Elementary School in Allied Gardens, is one of five San Diego public school principals
who, prior to the election, announced to the media that they would not enforce Proposition 187 if it passed. This editorial is
reprinted from the November 4, 1994 issue of the San Diego Tribune.
BY ERNIE MCCRAY
It’s after the rare but occasional laughter that the
sadness sets in and my eyes water. Tears caused by
the very reality that we live in a world where people
don’t know how to get along but pretend to do so
by creating hollow and shallow schemes like the
North American Free Trade Agreement.
If NAFTA tenders half the potential it has
promised, we won’t have an immigration problem
with our neighbors to the south. Do we really think
people want to leave the country of their birth, of
their ancestry, and split up their families, living on
the edge, facing a life of uncertainty?
The fact is, far too many Mexican citizens are living
lives of brutal poverty, some forced off agricultural
land that should be theirs, causing a breakdown of
their traditional way of living. They flee, and all we
can offer them as fellow human beings are frenzied and cold “light up the border” receptions.
How can we choose to hate and live in fear of
other citizens of the world when we, because we
are human beings, have the capacity to love and cre-
ate a hopeful existence? There really could be a world without borders if
we stopped pinning names on each other like illegal
immigrants. We can only do this by first accepting
deep in our hearts and consciences that all people
deserve to live in peace and dignity in a just world
and then pursuing, via all the avenues at our dis-
posal, making such a reality come true. To such principles I am bound. As a parent, a
grandparent, an educator and a contributing citizen of a most incredibly beautiful planet, it is my
responsibility to reach out from wherever I am with
as much love as I can muster. I will not take part in
the destruction of people’s hopes and dreams and
their struggles to maintain their dignity.
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