THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA
www.cagreens.org
April 17, 2006
Released April 14, 2006
Contact: Sara Amir, 310.270-7106 saraamir@earthlink.net
Pat Driscoll 916.320-6430 patp@sonicfrog.com
Susan King 415.823-5524 funking@mindspring.com
Lt. Governor candidate, Donna Warren expresses sympathy for
youth who killed himself after he was threatened by school for organizing
an immigrant rights march
LOS ANGELES -- Green Party of California members, including
the Greens' Lt. Governor candidate, expressed their deepest sympathy this
week when hearing the news that an eighth-grade youth had committed suicide
after he was threatened by school officials for helping organize a march against anti-immigrant legislation.
"We are deeply saddened by the death of 14-year-old Anthony Soltero, who
was buried this week. His death is not only a loss to his family, but a
loss to our fight for equality and fairness," said Donna Warren, the Green
Party candidate for Lt. Governor.
Anthony shot himself in the head April 1 after he reportedly was told by
the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School that he was going to prison for three years because he helped organize a school walk-out to
protest heavy-handed federal legislation that would make felons of undocumented immigrants.
The school official also banned Anthony from attending his graduation, and
threatened to fine his mother for his "truancy" and participation in the
student demonstrations. Ironically, Anthony's civics class was focusing on
civic duties and civil rights in his eighth grade class.
"Anthony was exactly the type of leader our society desperately needs to
help lead us out of the unequal and disparate treatment our communities
endure. If Anthony had lived, if our society had allowed him to live, he
would have been a force the system could not defeat.
"Good night sweet prince, we will miss you," added Ms. Warren, an
African-American woman raised in South Central Los Angeles, and a veteran
of the civil rights movement.
