Every child is entitled to small class sizes, a clean and safe learning environment, caring and respectful teachers and an equal and quality education, including multi-cultural curriculum the arts and athletics. Higher education must also be affordable and accessible to all. We support parent empowerment, community control and decent pay for teachers. And since the educational system has already failed large numbers of people, educational opportunity must also be extended to adult workers, the unemployed and those trapped -in the criminal justice system who seek job training and advancement, and intellectual and cultural enrichment. Drug and Alcohol Abuse Alcohol and drug addiction and abuse run rampant in our society, and threaten to destroy an entire generation of youth, particularly among peoples of color.
Addiction is a disease which preys on the poor and the culturally suppressed.
The drug economy brings mega-profits to a few while further destroying our communities. We reject the notion that the victims are the problem and that the solution lies in more police and more jails. We need a comprehensive approach that includes full employment, especially for youth, education, support for recovering individuals, families and communities, AIDS research and ethnically sensitive treatment and prevention efforts. The arts can express our greatest aspirations, deepen our understanding of the world and bring people together. We believe in cultural democracy, the right of a people to validate and celebrate their contributions to the larger human experience.