The ACLU reports that a teacher gave Cineo Gonzales’ young daughter a pamphlet in Spanish about HB 56. When Gonzales, a Birmingham taxi driver, went to the school’s principal to ask why it was given to his daughter specifically, the principal told him that the school handed out the pamphlets to students “who looked like they weren’t from there”:

GONZALES: I asked her why they give this paper to my daughter. What was the reason they give this paper to my daughter, and her answer was that they give this paper to all the children that appear like they are not from here. […]

Far as I can see and far as I can feel, my daughter is being singled out and racial profiled and discriminated because of her color and race and origin from where they think she is from.

Alabama’s anti-immigrant law, the most harmful in the nation, has opened the door for racial profiling like this by targeting those who look like undocumented immigrants. And the issue pushed its way into schools because the law required schools to ask the citizenship status of newly enrolled students, a provision which has since been blocked by a federal appeals court. Thousands of Hispanic students skipped school when the law went into effect, fearing that they or their parents could be deported just for going to school, and many are not returning to class even though the Eleventh circuit blocked the policy.

While students still avoid classrooms across Alabama and some of those who remain are racially profiled based solely on their appearance, state Attorney General Luther Strange is arguing that the Justice Department shouldn’t be able to ask Alabama school districts for data about the student absences since the state’s immigration law went into effect. He argued on Monday “that the Justice Department wants to make Alabama an example because of its history going back 50 to 60 years ago.”

But just as separate schools for black and white children were found to be unconstitutional almost 60 years ago, the Supreme Court also has ruled that it is unconstitutional to deny a student a public education because of their immigration status. If Strange is so concerned about Alabama’s past history, perhaps he should protect students from being racially profiled like Gonzales’ daughter and let the Justice Department verify that students are not being denied their right to an education.

Harry Pachon died yesterday morning with family by his side. He was 66 years of age. Harry Pachon was battling Parkinson’s disease and had been confronted with many complications this past year. We all join in expressing ourcondolences for Harry’s family, his wife Barbara, and their children.

His colleague, Jack H. Knott, Dean of the School of Policy, Planning, and Development University of Southern California, observed that:

“Harry was a kind and generous person and a wonderful and beloved friend and colleague to many at USC and in the broader Latino Community. He will be dearly missed as a friend and colleague, and his legacy of extraordinary contributions to Latino politics and policy at a crucial period in the development of the Latino Community in America will be remembered always.”
Harry P. Pachon, Ph.D. was a professor of Public Policy at USC and joined the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) in 1993, as president. Roberto Suro is the current head of the TRPI.

He was a tenured Professor of Public Policy at SPPD.  Prior to joining the faculty at USC, Harry was the Luther Lee Professor of Public Policy at Claremont Graduate School.  He published 4 books and numerous book chapters and journal articles over the course of his career concerned with Latino social capital, educational opportunities, civic and political engagement, electoral behavior, and racial justice.  In addition, he served as the principal investigator on several million dollars of externally-funded research grants and contracts and was an effective and well-liked teacher who inspired his students.

Since 1993, he was the President of the nationally-renowned Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI), which moved from Claremont Graduate University to USC in 2003. Under his leadership, TRPI grew into a civic research organization with national visibility and impact, making major contributions in the areas of immigration, education policy, and Latino politics and policy. As director of TRPI, Harry had a tremendous impact on the Latino community, both locally and nationally. He testified several times before congressional committees, served on the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, and co-founded and served as chairman of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials Education Fund (NALEO). He also served on the boards of several local organizations, including the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, Southern California Public Radio and KPPC, and the Education Advisory Committee of the Rand Corporation.

In 1997, Dr. Pachon was appointed to serve as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Additionally, saluting his ongoing work on behalf of Mexicans living in the United States, the Mexican Government presented Dr. Pachon with the Ohtli (humanitarian) Award. He was a board member of the Haynes Foundation and Southern California Public Radio.

Dr. Pachon was a founding board member and past executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund. While at NALEO, he initiated a nationally acclaimed U.S. citizenship project that has been replicated on a multi-ethnic basis across the country and initiated the National Directory of Latino Elected Officials, which is now in its seventeenth year of publication.

Dr. Pachon had authored over twenty articles and journals, and co-authored three books on U.S. Latino politics and political behavior. He held academic positions at Michigan State University, Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, City University of New York, and held the Kenan All Campus Chair at the Claremont Colleges. He recently was a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California in the School of Policy, Planning and Development.

Dr. Pachon received his B.A. and M.A. in political science at California State University of Los Angeles, and earned his Ph.D. in government from the Claremont Graduate School. He has been awarded post-doctoral fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Association of Schools for Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA).

Funeral arrangements will be announced soon. For further information, please contact his close friend.

Gina M. Adams
SVP, CSR Market Manager
Bank of America
333 S. Hope Street, 20th Fl.
Los Angeles, CA 90071
Ph. (213) 621-7408
Fax. (213) 621-3674

Selected Publications

Co-author, New Americans by Choice: Political Perspectives of Latino Immigrants (1994), Hispanics in the United States (1985) and Mexican Americans, 2nd Edition (1974),

Co-editor, Latinos and U.S. Foreign Policy (2000)

with J. Lee, “Leading the Way: An Analysis of the Effect of Religion on the Latino Vote”; American Politics Research; Forthcoming

and M. Federman, “Addressing Institutional Inequities in Education: The Case of Advanced Placement Courses in California”; In Bringing Equity Back. New York, NY: Columbia University Press; Forthcoming

with M. Barreto and F. Marques, “Latino Politics Comes of Age in the Golden State”; In R. de la Garza & L. DeSipio (Eds.), Latino Politics in the 2000 Elections. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; Forthcoming

with E. Flores and J. Medeiros, “Equal Employment Opportunity or Enclave Employment? A Critique of the U.S. GAO Report of Hispanic Employment in Federal Agencies”; Tomas Rivera Policy Institute; 2006

with J. Lee, “The Path to Home Ownership Among Latinos of Mexican Origin”; Casa y Communidad: Latino Home and Neighborhood Design, edited by Henry Cisneros and John Rosales, Builder Books, Washington, D.C. pp. 155-176; 2006

with Louis DeSipio and Rodolfo de la Garza, “Awash in the Mainstream: Latino Politics and the 1996 Elections”; California Politics and the 1996 Elections. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; 1998