La Nueva California

My students are reading and writing about the last chapter in Dr. David Hayes Bautista's book La Nueva California.The chapter's title is "Best & Worst Case Scenarios California 2040." In it he provides two very different California's of the future if today we were to start investing in Latino education and strengths. It is scary reading because presently we are two steps into the doorway of the worst case scenario.

In the worst case the new Latino majority of 2040 is uneducated, unhealthy and criminalized to the point of not even being able to be in public areas (like parks, parking lots, buses, or shopping malls) without federally issued ID cards.

As we discuss the issues in class I see the fear in my students that this horrible future awaits them. BTW we also saw "An Inconvinient Truth" in class.

It is scary to think about these futures where there is little hope for economic, social or even physical survival.

My hope is that in my students a new idea will come out that will save us. That they read and see how it is up to them, to us, to now do something that will change these futures.

The future is not written in stone, it is not guaranteed, but it is being elaborated on in books, the news, film and ideas of the end like 2012, Raptures, etc.

In order for us to reach La Nueva California we need more dreamers on the other side of this. We need writers, thinkers, filmakers and activists that are creating a viable, sustainable future. That describe in detail what we will be doing in this positive, loving future. We need some hopeful sci fi.

I once read: If you can imagine it, it will happen.

WE really need to start imagining a loving, peaceful, sustainable, egalitarian, hopeful future, otherwise we have no other options than to become extinct.