Is \o7 la migra\f7 on your back?

Does the sewing factory refuse to pay minimum wage?

Want to become a U.S. citizen and cast your ballot against Proposition 187?

If you live in the Pomona Valley and have answered yes to any of these questions, chances are that sooner or later you will cross paths with Fabian Nunez.

In a community where Latinos--many of them poor and undocumented--make up more than half of all residents, Nunez is something of a folk hero: a labor organizer, immigration activist and businessman.

"We are in a struggle for justice for a segment of the population that has been marginalized and disenfranchised," thunders Nunez, who favors the fiery rhetoric of the civil rights movement. "We're tired of being scapegoats. We want to be part of the mainstream of American society and we want the door to be open to us as people who give more to the system than they take."

But the fast-talking, 28-year-old Mexican American also has become a lightning rod for controversy among some who believe his methods are manipulative and his voice shrill.

Last month, after helping students at Ganesha High School organize a walkout in opposition to Proposition 187, the initiative that would deny education and most social services to undocumented immigrants, Nunez drew the wrath of school officials.

"I'm not against any of his political activities," said Cassandra A. George, Pomona Unified School District's assistant superintendent of secondary schools. "But adults who use schoolchildren as a ticket to publicity for their own personal political agendas are harming the education of children who need it the most."

With days to go before the election, Nunez has even drawn criticism from more conservative Latino leaders who prefer a more low-key approach and think that mass demonstrations and the waving of Mexican flags will raise the hackles of white voters.

Nunez disagrees.

"I tell them that our people have been taking a conventional approach for the last 502 years and look where it's gotten us," Nunez fumed. "As a community we haven't prospered. So it's time for a different approach."

But sometimes, Nunez's tactics can lead to a bigger reaction than even he anticipates.

When he helped the students organize the walkout against Proposition 187, the teens marched to City Hall, where they slammed Pomona Unified for failing to take a stance against the measure, even though the school board had already adopted a resolution opposing it. The lead speaker and organizer of the protest also used derogatory terms for homosexuals.