DEAR FRIENDS: FOLLOWING IS DRAFT II OF PROTEST LETTER ON L.A. BEATING. CIRCULATION IS GOING VERY SLOW. PLEASE SEND TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW NOW!!!!! THOSE OF YOU WILLING TO CONFIRM YOUR SIGNATURE PLEASE RESPOND, WITH PROPER I.D., TO RUBEN62@AOL.COM STILL NEED TIPS ON FUNDRAISING (TO PUBLISH LETTER IN L.A. TIMES). THIS IS GOING TO DIE IF WE DON'T GET OUR ACT TOGETHER. RUBEN MARTINEZ

TO THE RIVERSIDE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, AND TO THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE WORLD:

We the undersigned artists, writers, academics and concerned citizens from varied walks of life, were shocked and saddened-as were people the world over-when we viewed the videotaped images of two Riverside, California Sheriff's deputies brutally club Alicia Sotero, Enrique Funes and Jose Pedroza with their batons at the end of a chase that eerily recalled the Rodney King beating five years ago.

But we were not surprised.

Such incidents are all too common in many of our communities. There are many African-Americans in Los Angeles and other parts of the country who can testify to "abuse of authority under the color of law" firsthand, as there are Asian-Americans, gays and lesbians, practically anyone considered an "outsider" by the "mainstream" of America.

The fact that Sotero, Funes and Pedroza were undocumented immigrants en route to what they believed would be a better life in California merely highlights one of several segments of our society that lives in the shadows of social, political, cultural or economic "legality."

For that's precisely how people like Sotero, Funes and Pedroza are usually referred to by our politicians and media-as "illegals." There are an estimated two million "illegals" living in California today, several tens of thousands more in practically every corner of the United States. Most of them are from Mexico and Central America.

Just what crime did the beating victims, and the nineteen other immigrants with them at the time of the beating, commit? They crossed the border between the U.S. and Mexico looking for work. They were among the immigrants who labor daily in the picking fields of California, Washington and Pennsylvania, clean hotel rooms in Dallas, toil in the canneries of Alaska, sell flowers on street corners in New York City. In practically every case, the immigrants make life easier, prettier, and less expensive for those of us who have the luxury of calling ourselves "legals."

But who are the "illegals" now? Besides the two deputies, we would like to point out those who fostered an environment which pitted "legal" against "illegal" and exacerbated ethnic tensions, leading many Americans to believe that the undocumented are our enemies.

Among them are politicians such as Governor Pete Wilson of California, Republican primary presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, as well as the majority of Democratic members of Congress, such as California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, all of whom have proposed, supported, or voted for legislation that symbolically blames the "illegals" for our economic and social problems.

This incident is about much more than two sheriff's deputies who crossed the line between civilized and barbaric behavior. It is about the fear and division caused by power-hungry politicians willing to exploit our worst instincts. It is about the wave of discrimination against Latinos caused by Proposition 187 in California, it is about the iniquituous and destabilizing effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Ultimately, it is about the choice between tolerance and intolerance, humanity and inhumanity in the new global era.

We do not believe that the majority of Californians who voted in favor of Proposition 187 were consciously supporting a campaign of intolerance and violence. And yet, the evidence that 187 has become a vehicle for some in our society to vent their ethnic hatred is undeniable. Something must be done.

We demand that the American legal system work in favor of those it usually casts in the least favorable light, and punish the guilty in this case.

In this election year, we ask that politicians of all parties desist from waging campaigns steeped in the scapegoating of any "outsider."

We ask that members of the House of Representatives reconsider their passage of House Resolution 2202, legislation which mirrors in several aspects California's Proposition 187, and that members of the Senate reject the similar Simpson bill.

We call on the governments of the U.S. and Mexico to deal directly with the core economic issues that have left workers on both sides of the border desperately searching for gainful employment.

Finally, we call on the citizens of the Americas to look beyond our painful, conflictive history towards a new world where everyone-whatever the color of our skin, whatever our sex or sexual orientation, whatever tongue we speak-is afforded the opportunity for a job, a future, a life with dignity. The very dignity that was so brutally denied Alicia Sotero, Enrique Funes and Jose Pedroza on April 1, 1996.

Sincerely,

[[CONFIRMED SIGNATORIES AS OF THIS MAILING]]

Ruben Martinez, author
Elia Arce, performance artist
Mandalit del Barco, journalist, National Public Radio*
Raul Villa, professor, Occidental College*
Guillermo Gomez-Pena, performance artist
Rafael Perez-Torres, professor, University of California, Santa Barbara*
Ofelia Cuevas, Chicano/Latino Policy Project, University of California, Berkeley*
Luis Leon, graduate student, University of California, Santa Barbara*
Rita Cano Alcala, professor, Scripps College*
Marco Vincio Gonzalez, journalist, Radio Bilingue*
Carolina Gonzalez, instructor, University of California, Berkeley*
Los Illegals, musicians
Pedro Meyer, photographer
Sandy Close, editor, Pacific News Service*
Richard Rodriguez, author
Johnette Napolitano, musician
Lalo Alcaraz, cartoonist
Lalo Medina, artist
Hector Alvarez, Upward Bound, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo*
Oscar Marquez, programmer, analyst II, University of California, Berkeley*
Lisa Flores, assistant professor, Arizona State University*
Neo Martinez, scientist, University of California, Davis*
Jose Luis Rodriguez-Nodal, poet, University of California, Berkeley*
Kimberly L. Tejada, University of California, Berkeley*
Roberto Sifuentes, performance artist

* for identification purposes only; does not signify an institutional endorsement.