大约11点30分左右,周本立议员在警察及其工作人员的簇拥下,走出办公大楼,和请愿人群见面。他看上去是一个彬彬有礼的儒雅的学者形象,但可惜对政治家,我们只能看他能怎样用实际行动维护我们的利益,而不能考虑其外在的风度。周议员招呼大家到办公楼边的山坡下(估计是为了不影响办公楼其他人员的进出),然后用英语向请愿人群表述他的立场。他说,SCA5目前还需要经过州众议院(Assembly)相关的committee审核后,才有可能交付州众议院表决,但目前还没有到这一步。他还说,他已两次向媒体表示,明确反对SCA5 “in its current form”。当被问及他是否认为SCA5公平与否时,他说这涉及到Affirmative Action,大家可以就此辩论很久,他今天无法就此表态。他还说,他是律师出身,注重的是证据,他还需要进一步研究相关数据,才能得出自己的结论。在周本立议员离开后,请愿人群中还有人站在山坡上,按着事先准备好的稿子大声地演讲,气氛很热烈。请愿活动在12点半左右结束。
附一:下面是微信群里的“老二”给出的应对媒体采访的英文模板:
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1. We are here to protest against sca5 that is bringing racial discrimination back into our State Constitution.
2. We are here to seek Assemblyman Mr. _____'s commitment to vote against SCA5.
3. SCA5 violates our rights for equal protection that were granted to us by the Constitution of the United States.
4. We are here to speak up for our kids for equal rights to higher education.
5. SCA5 distracts people from the real social issues that the politicians have failed miserably to solve.
6. SCA5 unfairly targets young Asian students and we want our state governmening body to accept that it is wrong and must unconditionally withdraw the bill.
7. The politicians have the audacity to blame social issues on a particular race, just like what Hitler did to the Jews. We want to appeal to the conscience of all races to stop this crime against humanity.
8. We gather here today to appeal to the conscience of Assemblyman Mr. _____. We hope, and we demand, that he/she give us assurance that he would vote NO against SCA5. Mr. ______ and his colleagues must take caution in exercising their judgement.
9. We are here because we feel betrayed by the politicans. SCA5 is a racist bill and it is beyond comprehension why it was passed in the senate in the first place. We will fight, district by district, politician by politician. Time is on our side. American poeple's conscience is on our side. MLK Jr's ideal is the foundation of our movement.
10. The passage of SCA5 has seriously undermined our confidence in the Democratic party. We have always stood behind the Democrats in every major election. This SCA5 bill changes everything. The day it was passed was the day of ultimate betrayal. They will feel the pain in all future elections if they do not hear our protest.