Let’s start with the person who is not my Californian of the
year: Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. For a guy in his mid-20s who isn’t even from
California, Zuckberg has gotten too much attention already.
But that
doesn’t mean that the Californian of the Year (an august title that comes with
a cash prize of nothing) can’t be a young person, or come from the technology
world, or be an immigrant to our state. California is a place where different
people and different cultures are married together, so my four runners-up are
like a marriage gift.
– Something Old: Jerry Brown and his
(much younger) wife Anne pulled off the political feat of the year, turning
back Meg Whitman’s $160 million campaign.
– Something New: The Democratic
consultant Jude Barry and the founders of the Silicon Valley start-up Verafirma
developed and pushed an electronic signature technology that could open up
politics by making signature gathering for initiative petitions and voter
registration easier and cheaper. The state’s political elite, which doesn’t
want a more inclusive and inexpensive politics, is fighting back, particularly
its labor movement, which foolishly put on Barry on a list of the banned.
– Something Borrowed: Arnold
Schwarzenegger, borrowed by California from other pursuits seven years ago, had
a pretty good year accomplishment-wise, at the end of a difficult governorship.
– Something Blue: John Burton, the
gloriously foul-mouthed new chair of the Democratic Party (so he’s blue in a couple
of ways), should take a victory lap after his party had a historic clean sweep
of statewide races – and stopped the national Republican wave here.
But none of
these are winners. Who gets the nomination? If it weren’t for my personal
conflict of interest, I would give the nod to my former LA Times colleagues
who, bravely and boldly, dug out test scores and used statistical analysis to
do what the LA Unified School District and its hopelessly out-to-lunch
teachers’ union have refused to do: figure out which teachers and which schools
are making the most progress with their students. Their ongoing series is the
best thing I’ve read in an American publication this year.
And I was sorely tempted to name
Nicky Diaz Santillan, Meg Whitman’s housekeeper. Whether you thought she was a
person who stood up for justice – or was simply manipulated by larger political
forces, she was the best story the year produced. However, upon further review,
I had to disqualify her – for being represented by Gloria Allred. Sorry, we
have to pretend to have standards here.
Instead, my
nomination goes to Pedro Ramirez. Never heard of him? Ramirez is the president
of the student body at Fresno State. He’s also an undocumented immigrant,
though he didn’t even know he wasn’t a citizen until he was a senior in high
school.
That’s
because his parents – a maid and a restaurant worker — hadn’t told him. They
brought him to the U.S. when he was 3. He worked hard in school, went to
college, and has done well there. He’s American in every way, except the legal
one.
The success of Ramirez – and the
courage of undocumented students who came forward to declare their status this
year – deserves praise and recognition. These undocumented students are
fighting for passage of the DREAM Act, sensible legislation to provide legal
status to undocumented immigrants who came as children and go to college or
serve in the military. People like Ramirez should fill us with great hope that
this state, for all its challenges, has a bright future, because it has so many
young people who are working to educate themselves.
But Pedro
Ramirez’s predicament – he will soon be a graduate but unable to work and
contribute in his country, which is our country, because of the law – unhappily
illustrate what’s fundamentally wrong with our politics and government. The
country’s political leaders have prosecuted endless wars. They have made a hash
out of the economy and the financial system. But they can’t manage to pass a
law to make promising young people such as Ramirez full legal participants in
our country’s future?
Some political sins are forgivable,
but not this one.
Memo to the generation that rules
California and the country: we younger folks long ago realized you lack the
interest and ability to find solutions to the country’s profound problems. But
can’t you at least stay the hell out of our way?
Here’s to a happy new year for
Pedro Ramirez, and all Californians who are taking risks to make a better
future.