The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
By Jeff Horwitz
Contributing Writer

Tuesday, February 22, in front of an audience of four students and one retiree, two candidates for Claremont City Council outlined their campaign platforms.

Despite poor attendance, both candidates, Jackie McHenry and Peter Yao, spoke eloquently about changing Claremont, and both are well qualified to do so. McHenry, a community activist, is a long time advocate for local democracy and a member of the California First Amendment Coalition. Yao, the director of engineering for a Fortune 500 company and resident of Claremont for 40 years, decided to run for public office because he believed the city did not respond properly to the shooting in which Claremont Police Officers killed Irvin Landrum on January 11, 1999.

Only four students heard these candidates speak about how Claremont could be a different and better place. Only four students listened to proposals to end the perennial police shutdown of Harwood Halloween, to end racial profiling in Claremont, and to protect some of the last open space in Claremont.

Four students. If that's all that care about what happens in Claremont, we, as students, are in a lot of trouble. The Claremont Colleges are, to be fair, not always politically inactive. At crucial moments we have mobilized, and have had a profound impact on our own campuses and on the city.

In the spring of 1999, we used civil disobedience to bring an end to the illegal union-busting tactics occurring in our own dining halls. In 2000, we joined the community in blocking the appointment of a police chief with an atrocious civil rights record. In 2001, we succeeded in protecting some (if not all) of the Bernard Field Station from destruction.

These were all proud moments for us. We stood up for what we believed in, and if we didn't win every time, at least we were heard. If we do not take an interest in the March 12 Claremont City Council Election, we will lose that voice. You can scream and shout as much as you want at a protest, but if you don't vote, nobody's going to listen. As Jackie McHenry noted, the Claremont City Council is counting on us not voting. The four thousand odd votes on these five campuses would, after all, provide a serious challenge to a city council that is currently being run for the benefit of Claremont's rich retirees.

As Claremont College Students, every one of us is eligible to vote in the upcoming election. All you have to do is register as a Claremont resident. Even if you want to remain a legal resident of your home state and city, you can still register to vote in Claremont and then change your registration back on March 13.

Democracy entails a responsibility to educate yourself. There will be other candidate forums in the coming weeks, and there's still plenty of time to brush up on the candidates and the issues. For your opinion to matter, however, you have to register, and you have to vote.

With newspaper headlines counting down to a major war in the Middle East, it is sometimes easy to forget that there are important events going on in our own backyards. Our backyard is Claremont, and who is on our city council does matter to us.

Vote because you want to protect Claremont's open space, or because you want an all-night diner in the village. Vote because you wish the cops didn't shut down our parties, or because you wish your friend hadn't been pulled over on Indian Hill for Driving While Black. Just make sure you do vote.

The deadline for registration is February 14, this Friday. You can pick up the forms at the post office, in Honnold Library, or at Claremont City Hall.