|
|
|
|
|
N
E W S April 13, 2003 Thank you for joining us today. What do you call an American who wears a turban? You call them an American! As one of the most diverse places on earth, California has made many strides…socially, politically, and educationally. But, never have Californians faced such change. What we're doing today will help prepare us for this change. We must educate our youth about our cultural diversity. When 9/11 struck our nation, one of the first things I did was set up teleconferences with leaders from our state's ethnic communities. I'll never forget the conversation I had with the Sikh leadership… …They gave vivid details of blind-sided attacks on themselves, their spouses and even their children. All of this because their faith requires them to wear a turban. This is not what California is about… …We all come here to find a better place. A place to take care of our families. The first doctor to set-up on-site triages at ground zero was a Sikh man. It was the Sikh taxi drivers in New York who turned off their meters so that 9/11 victims could get back their homes and families. Yet they were being attacked because of ignorance and intolerance. Everybody on the conference call agreed that we had to begin an education program. A way to teach our children so that their judgements will not be based on images they've picked up from news reports or film. What we're releasing today, "The Boy with Long Hair",
teaches children in a simple easy-to-use format that: I went after the endorsement of the California Teachers Association and sought private funding for the initial phase of this distribution. I'm proud to stand with you today to announce that we are beginning the roll-out of this valuable tool. This is just one more step in our challenge to create "One California." I must thank the California Teacher's Association for helping the vision that I shared with the Sikh Community become a reality. Only a few months ago, the CTA also helped me reach out to the Japanese-American community through a "Manzanar" education kit aimed at California's high school students. …And I've also been meeting with Arab-American leaders about creating a similar project. Thank you for joining us today… …and by "us" I am not just referring to the two fine individuals by my side: " Mr. John Perez, President of the United Teachers
of Los Angeles …I'm referring to who they represent…50,000 Sikh-Californians and 330,000 California teachers. Together we're a pretty strong team! We're joined today by some beautiful children from the Los Angeles area. I'd like to be a part of the first lesson given through this teaching tool… Please join me. |