Stonewall Young Democrats

Title: Membership Meeting: Officer Elections / Legislative Updates
Location: Plummer Park 7377 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046
Link out: Click here
Description: Please join Stonewall Young Democrats for our Bi-Monthly meeting. This month we will be electing new officers for the 2012 year. We will also have local and adjacent elected officials give us a legislative update from Sacramento and Washington D.C.

Light snacks and refreshments. FREE event.

Speakers:
US Congressmember Adam Schiff (invited)
US Congressmember Judy Chu (invited)
CA State Senator Curren Price (invited)
CA State Assemblymember Mike Feuer (invited)
CA State Assemblymember Ricardo Lara (invited)
CA State Assemblymember Betsy Butler (confirmed as of: 11/3/11)
Start Time: 15:00pm
Date: 2011-11-13
End Time: 17:00pm

Warren Furutani

With more than 40 years of experience in education and public service, Warren Furutani has always been a staunch advocate for equal opportunity.

Beginning as a civil rights activist in the 1960s, Warren worked tirelessly to establish admissions programs for students of color at colleges and universities throughout the United States. He helped many campuses establish ethnic studies programs and was instrumental in UCLA and Long Beach State University adopting an Asian American Studies program. Warren’s activism at this time has been documented in the Japanese American National Museum’s exhibit “Common Ground.” He was also interviewed in the anthology, “Roots: the Asian American Reader.”

In 1969, Warren was one of the founders of the Manzanar Pilgrimage, an annual event to honor the 110,000 Japanese American men, women and children who were forced to leave their homes and were incarcerated during World War II. In 1970 Warren helped to create the Manzanar Committee that worked to get Manzanar designated as a national historical site. Today, thousands of people participate in the Manzanar Pilgrimage every year on the last Saturday of April.

In the mid-1970s, Warren worked as a counselor at the Central Continuation High School in Downtown Los Angeles. He later joined the Asian American Student Services Center at UCLA where he worked as an administrator and developed programs to recruit, mentor and tutor students as well as encourage them to be active in community projects.

In 1987, Warren was the first Asian Pacific Islander American to ever be elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education – the largest school district in California. In 1999 Warren was elected to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees – the largest community college district in the country.

During his time with LAUSD and LACCD, Warren was known as a problem solver and consensus builder. He brought parents, teachers, staff and the community together to develop “school-based management” which improved our schools. He was an early and strong advocate for the LAUSD and LACCD construction bonds, which directed billions of dollars into repairing and building new schools and remodeling and constructing new facilities on our community college campuses.

While a Board Member at LAUSD, Warren led the effort to grant honorary high school diplomas to Japanese Americans who were unable to finish high school because they were forced into internment camps during World War II.

In the California State Legislature, Warren was appointed Chair of the Public Employees Retirement and Social Security committee, where he introduced pension reform measures, including Assembly Bill 340 to end the abusive practices of pension spiking and double dipping. He is also Chair of the Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Workforce Development where he is focusing on preparing students with the training they need for 21st Century jobs. He also founded the Community College Caucus and is a member of the Higher Education Master Plan Review Committee.

Warren’s work in the Capitol includes legislation related to career technical education, community colleges, clean air quality, and support for small businesses. He has successfully advocated for State resources to help rebuild the Gerald Desmond Bridge in the Port of Long Beach, which is expected to generate 4,000 jobs in the community for at least five years.

In 2008, he authored Assembly Bill 37 which granted honorary college degrees to Japanese Americans whose education was disrupted due to their wrongful incarceration during World War II. Since the bill was signed, thousands of Japanese Americans have received honorary degrees from college campuses throughout California.

Born in San Pedro and raised in Gardena, Warren is fourth-generation Japanese American. His grandfather was a mechanic on Terminal Island in San Pedro who repaired motors on tuna boats. During World War II, Warren’s grandparents and father were forced to leave their home with only 48-hours notice and were sent to an internment camp in Rohror, Arkansas. Warren’s father was in high school at the time, and while at camp he met Warren’s mother who was from Elk Grove, California. Warren’s father was drafted into the military while still incarcerated. After the war, his parents returned to San Pedro to start their family.

Warren is a product of the Los Angeles public education system. He graduated from Gardena High School in 1965. He earned a liberal arts degree from Antioch University. He is married to Lisa Abe Furutani, and they are the proud parents of two grown sons.

When I was watching the morning news, I happen to turn to see Jamey Rodemeyer’s parents talk about how the bullying continued well after their son’s death. I wasn’t quite sure if I heard them correctly and unfortunately they clarified on how their daughter brought back the news from her dance about how they chanted about him being better off dead. As video played on about his life leading up to his suicide attempt, it brought back memories of elementary school and my own run-ins with bullies. And in the end, I look back at how the luxuries that life gives us bring out different outcomes. I had the luxury of having a mother who also is a lawyer in profession, the luxury of going to schools that had teachers and administrators who don’t tolerate any sort of harassment, the luxury of being surrounded by peers who weren’t closed minded. Not everyone though is afforded these luxuries in life.

When I referenced my own bullying in my first SYD newsletter as president, it reminded me of all the insanity that kids go through when growing up, trying to fit in, trying to belong. I just so happen to fit in with a lot of the girls in school back in the early 1990′s- figure skating with them on asphalt, singing A Whole New World and watching a ton of Disney films, and just acting silly. That definitely attracted a lot of animosity from the other guys in school for various reasons… and my lack of interest in boys hobbies didn’t help. It was one thing to fit the nerd stereotype back then, it was another to also not fit with the general stereotype of how boys should behave. That’s when the taunting started. It got to the point after a while that during the 4th grade class, I snapped in half and hurled a clipboard across the room and screamed. That’s when my mother ‘fixed’ the problem for me and the bullying stopped. And through out the rest of my time in LAUSD, that never re-surfaced in Middle or High School. I guess it helps to have everyone asking you for homework help and be surrounded by all the pretty girls the guys want to be close to.

I wondered sometimes what would have happened if my mother hadn’t intervened all those years ago or if the schools I attended didn’t have Project 10 available. I might not be writing this today, or I wouldn’t be the person I am today but some kind of damaged individual. At this point, I consider myself lucky as worse things could have happened. I’m one of the lucky ones to not completely travel down that path and towards a cliff, where many never return. Jamey didn’t have those luxuries aside from a family that accepted him no matter what. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to stop him from going over the edge in the early part of September. Sometimes, we need others to stop ourselves from falling off the cliff. We need to become those luxuries to others who don’t have enough from life to keep them from falling.

Resources for LGBT Youth facing bullying:

The Trevor Project (http://www.thetrevorproject.org/)

Project 10 (http://www.project10.org/)

Michael Colorge

President

Stonewall Young Democrats

Pictures from the 5TH Annual HERO Awards:

Title: Harvey Milk Day Celebration: Honoring GSA’s in LA County
Location: The Exchange 114 W. 5th Street Los Angeles, CA
Link out: Click here
Description: Join Stonewall Young Democrats and CSUN Young Democrats as we celebrate and commemorate Harvey Milk Day. We will honor 3 Gay Straight Alliances who have been at the forefront of bringing equality to their schools.

We’ve invited some speakers including George Takei, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard and Sen. Sheila Kuehl.

$50 – GSA Angel * $35 – General Ticket * Youth under 18 are free

All funds will be given to the GSA’s Chapters. Light Refreshments will be provided.

Sunday, May 22, 2011 1:00 – 3:00pm
The Exchange 114 W. 5th Street Los Angeles, CA

Contact(s):
Chris Hauck, Chris.Hauck@stonewallyoungdems.org
Ari Ruiz, Ari.Ruiz@stonewallyoungdems.org
Start Time: 13:00
Date: 2011-05-22
End Time: 15:00

Plummer Park, West Hollywood
4-6pm

We will be discussing endorsement recommendations for the following races:

- CYD Region 5 Director
- CDP LGBT Caucus

We will also be discussing two resolutions that SYD has written, one sent to California Democratic Party related to LGBT Homeless Youth and another related to Gender Neutral Bathrooms at LA Community Colleges.

In addition, we will kick off our letter campaign in support of FAIR Education Act (SB-48). The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act would amend the Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This bill would also prohibit discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials from being adopted by the State Board of Education.

Special Guest Speaker: TBA

RSVP ONLINE HERE

… to retain my seat on the California Democratic Party’s LGBT Caucus E-Board. I was able to make history by being the youngest member to be elected to the LGBT Caucus – a powerful arm of the CA Democratic Party. The election will be on Sacramento from April 29 – May 1.  www.cadem.org

I’ve been committed to progressive values since I was in High School from fighting for Education reform to electing pro-equality candidates. I’m currently involved in the following positions:

-City Commissioner, Appointed by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa
-Education VP – National Women’s Political Caucus
-Political VP – Stonewall Young Democrats

Thank you so much!
Ari Ruiz

Keep up with my campaign on Facebook and/or Twitter.

Disclaimer: This is a blog post, so it represents my views ONLY.

As we get used to the fact that it’s 2011, last year’s tragedies still linger in my mind. Most people don’t know that when I was in the Fourth grade, I had my parents intervene on the bullying I received from other classmates. I was being teased and bullied for doing asphalt ice skating with girls since it was the 1994 Winter Olympics. It got to the point where the bullying became so unbearable that I snapped and had a melt down in class in front of everyone. That’s when I knew it wasn’t going to get better and decided to get my parents involved. But most bullied students keep it to themselves… some, with dire consequences.

When I took office as president in November 2010, I wanted part of our annual goals this year to focus on themes of bullying and discrimination against LGBT youth, hence the adoption of the overriding theme “And the Kids Should be Alright” in all SYD political, social, and community outreach programs and undertakings.

Our hope is that by the end of our term this year, we can point to examples of LGBT youth and allies working together to protect kids from what I experienced myself. Because one man cannot summon the future, but a group of individuals working together have a better shot of making the future a lot brighter.

Michael Colorge
President
Stonewall Young Democrats