16 | POLITICO | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019
SACR AMENTO, CALIF. — A chorus of
mostly white women sang the gos-
pel song “We Shall Overcome” in
the California State Capitol, an an-
them of the civil rights movement.
Mothers rallied outside the gover-
nor’s office and marched through
Capitol corridors chanting “No
segregation, no discrimination,
yes on education for all!” Some
wore T-shirts that read “Freedom
Keepers.”
But this wasn’t about racial
equality. In the nation’s most di-
verse state, protesters opposed to
childhood vaccine mandates —
many from affluent coastal areas —
had co-opted the civil rights mantle
from the 1960s, insisting that their
plight is comparable to what Afri-
can Americans have suffered from
segregationist policies.
The approach reflected the lev-
el of desperation among families
staunchly opposed to vaccinating
their children — a desperation that
peaked Friday night when an activ-
ist threw a menstrual cup with what
appeared to be blood at several state
senators during a floor session.
But the civil rights claim shocked
lawmakers, especially those repre-
senting minority communities that
have suffered generations of racism
and economic injustice. Democratic
Assemblywoman Sydney Kam-
lager-Dove of Los Angeles called it
“borderline racist” and said vaccine
protesters need to revisit their his-
tory books.
“This is misappropriation of a
movement that really is not over
and proves to be challenging to
overcome,” said Kamlager-Dove,
a member of the California Leg-
islative Black Caucus. “The whole
conversation around vaccinations
is actually one about privilege
and opportunity. It’s a personal
choice. It’s a luxury to be able to
have a conversation about medi-
cal exemptions and about whether
or not you think your child should
be vaccinated.”
Hundreds of vaccine protesters
were galvanized this month to op-
pose legislation that would crack
down on medical exemptions to
childhood immunizations. Four
years ago, California eliminated
personal belief and religious ex-
emptions, which had long been
the most common ways to avoid
vaccines and still enroll children
in school.
Now, California was taking aim
at the last option for families deeply
opposed to vaccinating their chil-
dren, following a wave of measles
outbreaks across the country. A
handful of doctors sympathetic
to their beliefs had been provid-
ing waivers that allowed parents
to keep their kids unvaccinated,
including Robert Sears, a member
of the famed Sears medical family
that had dispensed pediatric advice
to parents for decades.
According to the California
Department of Public Health, the
number of unvaccinated children
in homeschooling has skyrocketed
since the state banned personal
belief and religious exemptions
in 2015. Students with personal
belief exemptions in California
schools were predominantly white
and wealthy, according to a study
by the American Public Health
Association in 2015. Medical ex-
emptions, intended for children
with weakened immune systems,
have surged since then — and are
disproportionately white.
Gov. Gavin Newsom gave the
anti-vaccine movement a brief
window of hope in the penultimate
week of legislative session when he
demanded late amendments to the
main medical exemption crack-
down bill, Senate Bill 276. But the
governor ultimately signed two
measures to implement the law,
adding fuel to the anger of the
anti-vaccine movement. Protests
continued for four days after New-
som signed the bills, with rhetoric
growing ever more extreme.
Activists had earlier rolled out a
sign during bill hearings that said
“Welcome to Calabama, y’all” —
a reference comparing Newsom, a
liberal Democrat, to the late Ala-
bama Gov. George Wallace, who
was infamous for his defiance of
racial desegregation. After the bills
were approved, some held signs
stating, “Welcome to Nazifornia,”
complete with the Nazi symbol.
The new restrictions target
schools with an immunization
rate below 95 percent, the level
health experts consider necessary
to achieve “herd immunity.” Any-
thing below that percentage poses a
public health risk, making children
more vulnerable in the event of a
measles outbreak or exposure to
other diseases.
While leaders of the protest
movement insist that their ranks
are ethnically diverse, data suggest
that the schools likeliest to face
state scrutiny have a greater share
of white students than the Cali-fornia public school average. The
50 public schools with the lowest
kindergarten vaccination rates in
the state — all less than 50 percent
— are disproportionately white, ac-
cording to an analysis by POLITICO.
While less than 25 percent of Cali-
fornia public school students are
white, an average of 55 percent of
students are white across the state’s
50 least-vaccinated campuses.
At Valiant Academy of Southern
California, less than 5 percent of its
300-plus students have all their re-
quired vaccinations, designating
it as one of the “most vulnerable”
schools according to the Depart-
ment of Public Health. At the El
Cajon school, nearly 70 percent
of students are white, according
to the California Department of
Education.
Community Outreach Academy,
a charter school near Sacramento,
has one of the lowest vaccination
rates in the state, with less than
half of its students fully vaccinated.
There, 98 percent of students are
white.
Christina Hildebrand, president
and founder of A Voice for Choice,
condemned the protester who is
facing assault charges for throw-
ing the menstrual cup on the Senate
floor. But she defended those who
compare the issue to the civil rights
movement. She pointed to the gay
rights movement and women’s suf-
frage, asserting that this is about
bodily autonomy and parental
rights.
“The Legislature is equating it to
the black civil rights movement but
to me, civil rights movements have
happened throughout our history
in the U.S.,” she said. “To me, do I
think it is comparable to MLK and
the civil rights movement? I think
we’re probably in the beginning
stages of getting to something like
that.”Hildebrand pushed back against
those who see a lack of diversity
in the movement, saying that has
changed significantly since protests
began over a similar law in 2015.
“At that point, I agreed. It was
people that could afford to come to
Sacramento. The middle to lower
class can’t afford to take a day off,”
she said. “But now I’m surprised
they feel it’s white privilege. If you
look at the pictures of who came
and protested, there was every race
and every color there.”
Other political juxtapositions
have sparked outrage. After some
women were arrested, Republican
Assemblyman Devon Mathis of
Visalia joined protesters in com-
paring the issue to the separation
of immigrant parents and children
at the border.
Some protesters donned red
capes and white bonnets, borrow-
ing a tactic from abortion advocates
who compare themselves to char-
acters in “The Handmaid’s Tale”
— a novel and TV series depicting
a dystopian future in which women
have no rights.
Lawmakers wondered whether
reactions to the protests would have
been different if the participants
weren’t mostly white women. What
would have happened if, instead, it
was dozens of black men standing
on chairs, refusing to leave hearing
rooms and beating on the doors of
the Senate chambers? Democratic
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez
of San Diego wrote on Twitter she’s
“never seen so much privilege.”
“I just want to point out, if con-
stituents from my district waged
months-long social harassment
campaigns against a member,
threatened them with death, ha-
rassed and threatened their fam-
ily ... then came to the Capitol and
disrupted session for hours ... they
would definitely be arrested,” shewrote in another tweet.
In addition to being threatened
online and physically pushed by
an anti-vaccine protester, Demo-
cratic state Sen. Richard Pan of
Sacramento, a Taiwanese American
doctor who wrote the legislation,
faced racist slurs.
One Twitter post included Pan’s
headshot in a lineup of three other
Asian doctors who are pro-vaccine
with the phrase “Authoritarians
Unite!” “Notice anything else
about them?” the post read.
Actor Rob Schneider, one of
several celebrity vaccination op-
ponents, compared Pan to former
Chinese communist leader Mao
Zedong. “My congratulations to
the People’s Republic of Chinafor-
nia Chairman Mao Jr.,” Schneider
wrote in a tweet to Pan.
The California Asian Pacific
Islander Legislative Caucus con-
demned the attacks. “For too long,
Asian Americans and Pacific Is-
landers have been seen as perpetual
foreigners and generations of con-
tributions from our communities
have been ignored. We call on SB
276 opponents to publicly condemn
the racism expressed by members of
the anti-vaccination movement,”
said Democratic Assemblyman
David Chiu of San Francisco, the
caucus chairman, in a statement.
Pan said he and his colleagues
have faced escalating harassment
this year.
“It’s unfortunate that’s the kind
of tactics the opponents have de-
cided to resort to; perhaps because
they don’t have science and facts on
their side, so they resort to personal
threats and harassment,” Pan told
reporters. “I think it’s disappoint-
ing that that’s what they have to
engage in.”Angela Hart contributed to this
report.BY MACKENZIE MAYS
Vaccination foes compare themselves to civil rights era
The approach reflects
intensity of families
opposed to vaccinating
their children
RICH PEDRONCELLI/AP
Vaccination opponents at the California Capitol on Sept. 4 protest a measure cracking down on doctors who sell fraudulent exemptions for
vaccinations. The protests peaked Friday night when an activist threw a menstrual cup with what appeared to be blood at several state senators.