By CHRISTINE HOPKINS
Staff Writer
 

Yet, to Mr. Joaquin Avila and his clients, these incidents are the present, and they are the United States.

On September 10th in the Muskie Archives, Mr. Avila presented a unique and disturbing view of our nation entering a new century.

At present, we are "a frog climbing into a boiling pot of water, expecting a delightful spa, and dying due to an ignorance of the heat and pressure building in our supposed haven."

This "recipe for disaster," according to Mr. Avila, has simmered due to a number of political actions brought about by popular initiatives, the Supreme Court, and state legislatures.

The most recent infractions that Mr. Avila has witnessed in California include the lessening of affirmative action and Proposition 187 which takes away the benefits of legal immigrants.

Mr. Avila's activism sprouted before he began addressing audiences on voting rights under a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

While earning his B.A. at Yale University, Avila participated in the grape boycott of 1968 in order to support the rights of latino farm workers in America. He then received his J.D. from Harvard and decided to become the only practicing voting rights attorney in California.

As for the future, Mr. Avila is focused on the year 2012. At that time, there will be a presidential election just one year after the nation redraws the district lines. Since this only occurs once in twenty years, 2012 is the prime time for voting rights attorneys to open the political process as wide as possible by increasing registration and challenging racially polarized voting districts.

As the speech came to an end, the audience then questioned Avila on topics such as bilingualism, alternative types of elections, and the prospects for elected minorities.

Avila continued to advocate policies which resulted in people of all languages and backgrounds to vote, but to also become empowered by learning English or by participating in a minority district.

Avila did not venture to say that once election are open, the United States government will be completely representative or that a minority president will be elected. Avila concluded his lecture by emphasizing the message that all Americans have a substantial interest in assuring that no part of our nation is left in despair without an opportunity and interest to participate economically and politically in our country's future.