If you missed Gustavo Arellano's speech on immigrant rights tonight, you missed out. The O.C. Weekly's "Ask a Mexican" columnist speaks as well as he writes. He used humor and personal anecdotes in a discussion on historic and current immigration issues at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach on Atherton and Bellflower. The event was sponsored by the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition. So-called AB 540 students, those who are allowed to pay in-state tuition at CSULB even though they are not legally in the country because their parents brought them here as children, took to the stage afterward to thank Gustavo for his stereotype-busting columns in the Weekly and on the op-ed page of the L.A. Times.
In the audience were Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, LBCC College Trustee Roberto Uranga, Harbor Commissioner Mario Cordero and CSULB Sociology Chair Norma Chinchilla. I introduced Gustavo at the event. Good thing I didn't have to follow him.
