OntheWilderSide

News  Advisory
THE  GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA       http://www.cagreens.org

FOR IMMEDIATE  RELEASE
Thursday, July 20, 2006

Democratic  Party leadership accused of ‘race and class bias’ by black gubernatorial  candidate Barbara Becnel; She re-registers with Green Party

SAN  FRANCISCO (July 20, 2006) – Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate and  death penalty foe Barbara Becnel – the first black woman to run for governor in California – announced this week that she has left the Democratic Party  because the “Democratic leadership is allowing race and class bias to  dishonor the Democratic Party.”

With Green Party candidate for  Governor Peter Miguel Camejo by her side, Becnel signed a voter registration  form switching to the Green Party Tuesday night. She is second high-profile  person of color to switch to the Green Party of late – Nativo Lopez, state  and national president of the influential Mexican American Political  Association, has also re-registered Green, the failure of the Democratic  Party to address the concerns of Latinos.”

In a letter to  Democratic Party chairman Art Torres (available upon request), Becnel said  the Democratic Party “has transformed itself from Dixiecrats to Richiecrats –  money counts, equality of treatment does not. This is shameful. The message  to us everyday folks from today’s Democratic Party is that the votes of  black, brown, poor and middle class people matter to the Democratic Party  leadership only because the Party needs those votes. But…ordinary,  non-millionaire members of the electorate do not (really)  matter.”

She said the party refused to invite her to events, and  when asked to speak by the Progressive Democrats of America at the State Democratic Convention, she was later “uninvited” by the state party  leadership..”I can no longer support a party that doesn’t fundamentally support…issues that are important to people like me: ending the death penalty (and) three-strikes and the participation of California’s  National Guard in the Iraq war. I plan to tell my story of discrimination and bias to every person of color with whom I come in contact, encouraging them to leave this out-of-step Democratic Party and become a Green,” she  said.

“Barbara Becnel is a breath of fresh air in the Green  Party.  As a fellow activist and ‘sister,’ I welcome her with open arms,  knowing that with her know-how and commitment, the Green Party is better  equipped to fight for justice in the black community,” said Donna Warren, who  is black and the Green Party’s Lt. Governor candidate.

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