posted on August 28, 2003 05:16:22 PM new
Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2003
Bustamante's Campaign: Ties to Racist Group Are 'Non-issue'
Last week we reported about California gubernatorial candidate Cruz Bustamante's ties to the racist Latino organization MEChA. His campaign today told NewsMax this was a "non-issue" that nevertheless should be addressed.
We asked Scott Arjun of Committee to Elect Cruz Bustamante why his boss has not publicly denounced the radical doctrines of the nationwide movement, which calls for the annexation to Mexico of the entire southwestern United States from Texas to California and from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.
Arjun disclosed that he had just fielded 15 calls on the same issue from various media. Consequently, he said, "I advised them [the committee] this morning to address the concern.”
"Why hasn’t it been laid to rest before?” asked NewsMax.
"It’s more of a non-issue. The lieutenant governor, of course, does not believe in this annexation thing,” advised Ajun.
"Did the committee take your advice to see to it that the candidate clarifies his position?” asked NewsMax.
"I think they are going to address it,” responded Ajun. "You’ve got to understand that I’ve seen this guy in action – his Committee for One California, for instance. His emphasis is in bringing Californians together.”
More About MEChA
Meanwhile, here are more startling facts about the "bronze" supremacist group, which seeks to bring together only those of the correct skin color and ethnic background. According to California Coalition for Immigration Reform:
San Diego City College's chapter of MEChA declared that five southwestern states were no longer part of the U.S., lowered the American flag and raised the Aztlan flag in its place.
In May 1993, MEChA at UCLA spearheaded the riot that caused $500,000 damage when they occupied buildings and demanded full department status for "Chicano studies."
Miguel Perez of Cal State Northridge's MEChA said, "The ultimate ideology is the liberation of Aztlan." When asked his preference of government, he said: "Communism would be closest. Non-Chicanos would have to be expelled ... opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep the power."
Support From Clinton
At MEChA's California conference in November 1996, 1,000 students and parents were addressed with a focus on the fury about Propositions 187 and 209. Two "Anglo" members of the press were forcibly removed.
Dolores Huerta of United Farm Workers said at the conference: "We need a Chicano Bill of Rights! President Clinton spoke with me face to face and he said he'll do away with the art of the new welfare reform bill that takes away welfare and food stamps from legal immigrants. You students can join us, and we'll train you to be organizers."
Cal State Northridge professor Rudy Acuna, adviser to MEChA and self-described socialist, said at the conference: "You are living in Nazi U.S. We can't let them take us to those intellectual ovens."
At MEChA's national conference at Michigan State University in April 1997, the program said: "We of the university are becoming a privileged few - we become part of the machinery that enslaves our nation. We must reject this and become a nation within a nation with a national plan of action as new soldiers in our struggle for national independence, and an emerging XICANO nation." Apparently Xicano is the new P.C. term for Chicano.
Not the Most Radical Racist
California Coalition for Immigration Reform notes that Bustamante says he "wasn’t the most radical Mechista" at Fresno State University. It adds, "As its critics might argue, to say you were not 'the most radical Mechista' is a bit like saying you were not 'the most radical Nazi.' Just to have been a Nazi, however 'moderate,' is radical, socialist and evil enough to warrant condemnation.
"Like Nazism, MEChA has acquired more than a tinge of racism. In their tactics to advance Latinos and 'La Raza,' many of its activists have directed racist attacks against not only white-skinned Anglos but also against blacks, Asian-Americans and Jews – in fact, against every non-Latino group."
The coalition says: "Again, Bustamante has refused to distance himself in any way from MEChA and its desire to return Aztlan to Mexico. Does he see himself running to become governor of one of the United States – or of the regained Mexican state of Alta California, as the Spanish called the upper counterpart to Baja California in Mexico? This is something he should be asked about by voters and the press at every public appearance."
posted on August 28, 2003 05:21:00 PM new
Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003
Malkin: Media Ignore Bustamante's Racist Ties
The media are again abetting the Democrats who have destroyed California.
"While Katie Couric complains about GOP candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger being 'the son of a Nazi party member' and international media outlets assail Schwarzenegger adviser Pete Wilson as 'anti-immigrant' and 'racially divisive,' the liberal press has been stone-cold silent on [Cruz] Bustamante's connection to one of the nation's most virulently racist organizations," columnist Michelle Malkin writes.
"As a student at Fresno State University in the 1970s, Bustamante was an active member of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or MEChA, which stands for the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan. Bustamante repeatedly denies having a 'radical ethnic agenda,' but he has refused to disassociate himself from his Mechista roots. In fact, Bustamante recently returned to Fresno State for a separate Latino commencement ceremony founded by two of his Chicano activist classmates."
Malkin says MEChA "operates an identity politics indoctrination machine on publicly subsidized college and high school campuses nationwide that would make David Duke and the KKK turn green with envy." Consider:
Its members at the University of California have rioted and editorialized that federal immigration "pigs should be killed, every single one."
Its symbol: an eagle clutching a dynamite stick and a machete-like weapon in its claws.
Its motto: "Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada (For the Race, everything. For those outside the Race, nothing)."
Its goal: to take over a huge area of the United States from Texas to California to Oregon and Washington and hand over the region to Mexico.
Its admitted agenda: "We do not recognize capricious frontiers on the bronze continent. Brotherhood unites us, and love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner 'gabacho' who exploits our riches and destroys our culture. With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture."
Malkin notes: "Substitute 'Aryan' for 'mestizo' and 'white' for 'bronze.' Not much difference between the nutty philosophy of Bustamante's MEChA and Papa Schwarzenegger's evil Nazi Party. To date, however, the only exposure Bustamante's MEChA history has received has been on the Internet."
The lieutenant governor's racism does not surprise the well-informed who know about his use of the term "nigger." Luckily for him the media establishment refuses to give Democrats the treatment reserved for Trent Lott and other Republicans.
posted on August 28, 2003 07:24:58 PM new
MeCha is a diverse association of student groups around the country. There is no central organization, only locally organized groups.Each adopts it's own platform and direction. Some are more radical than others. It is as unfair to characterize the entire movement by using one or two local groups as it is to characterize republicans by using Ann Coulter as the definitive example. I would suggest that anyone truly interested in MeCha do a google on it, rather than accepting as gospel what NewsMax says...august, unbiased news agency that they are not withstanding.
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on August 28, 2003 07:45:37 PM newCruz Bustamante's ties to the racist Latino organization MEChA. His campaign today told NewsMax this was a "non-issue" that nevertheless should be addressed.
And I hope it is. I'd love to see Bustamante say publically he doesn't support the more radical groups. He won't do it.
That's right profe....
truth = unfair to liberls. LOL
posted on August 28, 2003 08:00:57 PM newAnd I hope it is. I'd love to see Bustamante say publically he doesn't support the more radical groups. He won't do it.
I don't know whether he will or not, and I frankly do not care. My comment was directed specifically to NewsMax's characterization of MeCha, nothing more.
I don't understand your "truth=unfair to liberls..."
what are liberls, did I miss something?
"LOL"
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on August 28, 2003 09:17:40 PM newMy comment was directed ...at NewsMax
Well...it's on the list of the Political News Daily site, right along with all the others.
And this isn't the first time I personally read this information about this group that Cruz supports. It's been in the major papers too, around the time he was up for election.
So it's not a case of believing it's true or not based on which media tells the story, when several have reported the same thing.
News Links AP
CNN
Conservative News Service
Drudge Report
Fox News
Investor's Business Daily
Jewish World Review
New York Times (TimesWatch)
NEWSMAX.COM
NY Post
Reuters
UPI
US News
USA Today
Washington Times
WashingtonPost.com
World Net Daily
More...
Government U.S. Supreme Court
History of the Federal Judiciary
White House
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
THOMAS
Congress.org
Handbook for the 108th Congress
Election Atlas
Media LinksAccuracy in Media
Media Research Center
OpinionNew York Post
The New York Times
Townhall.com
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
The Washington Times
Political Links
Advocates for Self-Government
American Conservative Union
American Spectator
Conservative Caucus
Enter Stage Right
FEDERALIST
Free-Market.Net
Free Republic
FrontPage Magazine
Judicial Watch
Landmark Legal Foundation
Toogood Reports
TOWN HALL
Political NewsAll Politics (CNN)
American Spectator
AP
Congressional Quarterly
National Review
New York Times
Reuters
Roll Call
The Hill
Weekly Standard
Washington Post
Washington Times
Political PartiesDemocratic National Committee
Green Party
Libertarian Party
Reform Party
Republican National Committee
PolicyAmerican Enterprise Institute
CATO INSTITUTE
Center for Security Policy
Claremont Institute
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Empower America
Federalist Society
Foundation for Economic Freedom
Goldwater Institute
Heartland Institute
Heritage Foundation
Hoover Institute
The Independent Institute
Hudson Institute
Ludwig von Mises Institute
The Manhattan Institute
National Center for Policy Analysis
National Center for Public Policy Research
Pacific Research Institute
Project 21
Reason Foundation
Walter Williams
More...
Talk Radio Neal Boortz
Ken Hamblin
Sean Hannity
G. Gordon Liddy
Reagan Information Interchange
RUSH Limbaugh
Michael Savage
MiscellaneousAccuracy In Academia
American Council for Science and Health
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Free Market Medicine
Health Care Liability Alliance
junkscience.com
Libertarian.org
Local Victory
OpenSecrets.org
The O'Reilly Factor
Overlawyered.com
Paul Shanklin
PetitionOnline.com
Smoking Gun
United States Intelligence Community
Vote.com
ZOGBY POLLS
posted on August 28, 2003 09:21:28 PM new typical profe - go for the typo's whenever someone thinks differently than you.
As a matter of fact, it isn't "typical profe" Linda. I rarely "go for the typos" when someone disagrees with me. I apologize for the cheapshot. Having said that, I still don't know what your statement, That's right profe....truth = unfair to liberls.LOLmeans. Please explain, understanding that I do not know enough about Mr. Bustamante to support or oppose him.
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on August 28, 2003 09:31:35 PM new
profe - Apology accepted. Thank you. And you are right, it's not like you. Just so many here tend to fall back to insults rather than debate their position.
My short point there was because you said It is as unfair to characterize the entire movement.
So I was saying that unfair equals the truth to liberals sometimes.
I have no problem with anyone defending their position. Nor do I have a problem with anyone who disagrees with me.
But I have read about Cruz and he has, to this day, refused to say he pubically that he doesn't support these radical groups. I'm open to believing him, IF he would say so. But for years he won't.
posted on August 28, 2003 09:37:52 PM new
Linda, I'm not sure what that big list of yours is supposed to indicate. Are you suggesting that all of the organizations listed have reported the same about MeCha that NewsMax has? As I said originally, there is no general MeCha platform, as is suggested by the NewsMax article. There is NO overall MeCha webpage or policy statement, other than one which speaks to the education and betterment of the Chicano people. Specific issues are espoused by local groups only. It is unfair to characterize MeCha in general as wanting to annex any part of the US for itself, just because some radical local groups want to.It is also unfair to characterize MeCha in general as "racist". Go look for a general statement to that effect made by the MeCha parent organization, and indicating that it is a key issue with all MeCha groups. You won't find it. To elaborate on my previous statement. I don't give a pedito who wins in California. Californians, IMO, are reaping what they have sown. My only interest is the unfair characterization of MeCha as racist and wanting to take over the SW. My local organization, of which I have been a member for many years, thinks those few groups who espouse such things are a bunch of nuts, largely college kids who have too much time and not enough sense. My group is involved with scholarships, community service, aid to Catholic Social Services, and small business assistance to latino entrepeneurs. We don't have time to take over no steenking states.
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on August 28, 2003 09:41:46 PM new
Linda, to your last post: If Mr. Bustamante has allied himself with one of the radical factions which exist within MeCha, and does not take a position in opposition to the annexation of the SW that such a group proposes, he wouldn't get my vote either, I don't think.
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on August 28, 2003 09:47:24 PM new
LOL - I just threw in the list of sites that discuss political views. I happen to love politics and do read many of those often. They are click-able links when one searches on "Political News Daily". It just puts them all together making it easier to read, rather than hopping from one site to another.
-----------
Trying to be clearer here. I have seen programs on TV and on the news where the most radical of these groups have, themselves, stated their desires for the state of CA when interviewed.
I wouldn't be surprised if their main website doesn't speak to the most radical views. Just as a liberal or conservative group wouldn't put their most extreme groups views on their sites.
What I am saying is for me personally, there has been a long term accusation made and Cruz will not, personally, deny it. Until he does, I'm going to believe he continues to support this radical 'take over' of CA. That's all. If someone reported a story about me that wasn't true....I'd immediately be speaking out about how incorrect they were. He won't.
posted on August 28, 2003 10:05:52 PM new
profe & all - please forgive me for this long copy and paste.
profe - Do a google search entering the words MECHA radicals and then read what you come up with. These are only the recent news reported on this group.
From the Hoover Institute
...Thus Rodolfo Acuńa's Occupied America claims the Southwest for Mexicans. Chicano activists (Chicanismo) push not only for civil rights for illegal Mexicans but also for the return (reconquista) of the lost provinces to form Aztlán. Chicanismo demands Spanish language and culture education, not English or American cultural schooling. The Movimiento Estudiante Chicano de Aztlán (MECHA) in 1970 formed a political party, La Raza Unida, won control of Crystal City, Texas, and tried to make it into a Chicano city. The party split and has had little political impact since but could easily revive in California or Texas.
More....
The Latest on the MEChA scourge......
Mechista
Fox News -- August 28, 2003
Bustamante praises Ku Klux Klan-like group (MEChA)
California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the grandson of Mexican immigrants who counts improving race relations among his biggest pursuits, refused Thursday to renounce his past ties to a little-known Hispanic organization considered by critics to be as racist as the Ku Klux Klan. -- Instead, Bustamante, who is running to be governor of California, praised the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan, or MEChA, and said he still supports it.
Governor?
Fox News -- August 27, 2003
Bustamante under fire for involvement in racist group
Critics are wondering why Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who is running to be governor of California, hasn't renounced his association to a little-known Hispanic organization that they say is as racist as the Ku Klux Klan. -- "Joining MEChA was a right of passage just like if a black student joined a black student union. And if you didn't join, you weren't Chicano. The question is why hasn't he renounced it now. It is racist organization," said radio talk show host Larry Elder.
Fox News Channel spills beans on Cruz's MEChA involvement
Report on Cruz Bustamante aired on August 27, 2003.
Watch
Mechista
Rush Limbaugh -- August 21, 2003
Bustamante Fondled Racist Group, Terms
In the audio and news link below, I share a story headlined "Who's Cruz?" in Wednesday's Investor's Business Daily. It makes me wonder when the mainstream media will explore Cruz Bustamante's background, record and views. The paper calls Bustamante "the most famous unknown candidate in the race," and cites two stunners about the Democrat. [Audio link on page - 5 min., 23 sec.]
Michelle Malkin
Townhall.com -- August 20, 2003
Bustamante, MEChA and the media
Now that Democrat Cruz Bustamante is California's gubernatorial recall front-runner, we can look forward to in-depth media investigations of the Latino candidate's long-held ties to the racial separatist group MEChA, right? -- Ha. -- While Katie Couric complains about GOP candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger being "the son of a Nazi party member" and international media outlets assail Schwarzenegger adviser Pete Wilson as "anti-immigrant"...
We Get E-Mail -- June 8, 2003
Got MEChA?
At high schools and colleges across the United States, chapters of this revolutionary group are up and running. MEChA is an acronym for "Movimienta estudiantil de Chicano de Aztlan," the student movement of Aztlan Chicanos. The primary goal of this group is to liberate and return to Mexico the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The true objective of this group is hard to believe, but don't take it lightly...
Statesman Journal - Salem, Oregon -- April 30, 2003
Chicano/Latino students, leaders to be honored
..."These people are the ones that make a difference and care about our future," said Rudy Rodriguez, the co-chairman of MEChA, which will host the event. -- The goal of MEChA is to strive for educational, cultural, economical, political and social empowerment within the Chicano/Latino community in order to liberate their people [they're fifth columnists, in other words].
Linda Bentley -- Sonoran News -- April 3, 2003
Paving the way to Aztlán with propaganda, politics, racism
...The myth of Aztlán is heavily promoted through MEChA club meetings at college campuses across the nation, rapidly gaining acceptance at high school campuses as well. MEChA stands for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán. Their logo depicts an eagle holding a stick of dynamite.
Salt Lake Tribune - March 6, 2003
Latinos Rally for Immigration Reform
The Latino student group MEChA claimed the steps of the Utah Capitol on Wednesday after marching from the Federal Building to protest what they say is harassment of Utah Latinos [read: illegal alien criminals] by federal immigration officials. --- Karla Motta, co-chairwoman of MEChA, thanked the crowd of Latinos, Anglos, students and businesspeople for coming. "Chicanismo is a state of mind. Anyone can be part of us."
The Daily -- U. of Washington - Seattle -- January 23, 2003
MEChA rallies for cheap tuition for lawbreakers
A new state legislative bill may recast everyday tuition as a symbolic measure of social justice by qualifying undocumented and immigrant students in Washington state for resident tuition. -- Around 25 students and other UW denizens turned out in rainy weather for a rally, sponsored by the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), in support of the bill late yesterday morning.
Elected to Congress on November 5, 2002
Arizona, meet your new Mechista Congressman
Arizona congressman-elect Raul Grijalva is a former MEChA member, according to a 1997 article in the Arizona Daily Wildcat. Did voters know that Grijalva is or was involved with an anti-American seditionist organization? Will he denounce MEChA now that he's headed to Washington? Will he represent MEChA interests or the interests American people when he gets there? -- Grijalva also isn't happy about "civilian patrols" whose members are seeking to deter illegal immigration, and is in agreement with meddlesome Mexicans that an investigation is needed.
Download 11/26/02 17-minute interview of reconquista MEChA-boy Grijalva by Alex Jones (2 mb. May stream using some browsers). -- More on this questionable character.
ChronWatch.com -- Jim Sparkman - November 19, 2002
More Reporting on MECHA at U.C. Berkeley. Disturbing
Juan Carl Leal Solis, writing in the Cal Patriot, gives us another disturbing look at the MECHA group at U.C. Berkeley. This revolutionary group gets funding from compulsary student fees, and seems to fly in the face of the university authorities. Or, even more disturbing, MECHA peddles hatred and prejudice with university approval.
David Orland - Boundless Webzine - November 8, 2002
The Road to Aztlan
Radical politics have been part of the game on American campuses since at least the mid-1960s but have recently taken a new and disturbing turn. At colleges and universities across the country, the Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de Aztlan (The Student Movement of Aztlan Chicanos) - better known by its acronym, MEChA - is calling for the surrender of wide swaths of American territory to Mexico.
SDSU's Samano: Flag incident shows America's bias (9/23/02, Daily Aztec - SDSU)
...One could argue that calls were made because of the positioning of the flags -- the American flag below the Mexican flag -- but I would argue that it was simply because "Old Glory" wasn't hanging alone. [Now you're getting it, amigo.]
American flag display on campus ticks off
Mechistas (9/17/02, Daily Aztec - SDSU)
Hal Netkin vs. MEChA (Quality improved on this clip)
Hal Netkin, a candidate for city council in the possible new Valley City (north of Los Angeles), chats with Armando Cervantes, a MEChA leader on a show aired on the internet and on KUCI, Irvine, Calif., on Monday, July 15, 2002. (Alternate low-quality clip
------------
Profe - This is from just ONE site that came up with I googled "MECHA radicals"
That was my point in saying NewsMax isn't the ONLY media that has reported on this radical group.
The long list I posted with the media sites shows NewsMax is one of the accepted sites for political news coverage.
posted on August 28, 2003 10:16:38 PM new
Your point is taken Linda. I agreed with you that there are radical MeCha groups, and they are obviously more fun to report on than groups like mine which are involved in more realistic pursuits. Just as the Klu Klux Klan is more fun to write about than the local Methodist Women's Auxiliary, yet both are self avowed "Christian" groups.
I also see your point about NewsMax not being the only agency to report on MeCha. I do have to wonder though, how many of the others called MeCha a "racist" organization out of hand?
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on August 28, 2003 10:21:06 PM new
Profe - If Cruz only supports the position you took, with your group, and if he denounced what the radicals are calling for....that would be different. But when he doesn't it leaves the issue up-in-the-air. A simple answer, such as yours, could move mountains.
posted on August 29, 2003 06:46:08 AM new
MeCha=Mexican KKK
Now that is funny....
Thanks for posting those links Linda.
However, people change, that is why I do not take into consideration past afiliations as a requirement of my voting for someone, it is what they are going to do and what they are doing NOW to achieve it.
The true mission of MEChA from official MEChA chapters
Univ of Oregon-"As the official voice of Chicano/a students at the University of Oregon, MEChA's main objective is to provide a feeling of community and security, while increasing the recruitment and retention of Oregon Chicanos/as."
Stanford-MEChA "works towards progressive changes in the Chicano/Latino community by advocating for educational equality. Our organization strongly believes in the right to a fair and adequate education. Education, we believe, is the key to improving the social and political situation of the Chicano/Latino community."
University of Texas - Austin-MEChA's goals are " To increase the number of Chicano students in higher education and to ensure that all necessary assistance if offered for successful completion." amd "To take part in the direction of the movement towards Chicano self-determination or control over one's destiny."
UC Berkeley"El Plan exhorts Mechistas to preserve Chicana/Chicano culture in this culturally diverse society, both in community and on campus. Thus, a Chicana/Chicano Nation is a necessity defined as an educational, socioeconomic, and empowered Chicana/Chicano community...the term Chicano is grounded in a philosophy, not a nationality. Chicanismo does not exclude anyone, rather it includes those who acknowledge and work toward the betterment of La Raza."
Yale UniversityWe MEChA de Yale, recognize the history of Chicanos at Yale that have brought us here today. We realize that we are faced with circumstances that are unique to our region. MEChA de Yale seeks to foster, empower and strengthen a community in the Yale - New Haven area, through communication and cooperation while respecting all segments of our community. MEChA de Yale seeks to promote social, cultural, political and educational empowerment and awareness.
It was 1970 and, inspired by the times, cultural identity and the push for civil rights generally, a bunch of students at my high school formed United Chicano Students, UCS.
We were inspired also by a fledgling college group, MEChA, which stands for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán and is still around today. Translated, MEChA means Chicano student movement of Aztlán. Aztlán is the mythical kingdom of the Aztecs, thought to include much of the Southwest including California, New Mexico and Arizona.
Who knew? We were racists.
At least that's the conclusion some are reaching as they draw attention to California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's past MEChA affiliation. And, of course, the only reason they are bothering to do this is because he is Latino and an early favorite to succeed Gov. Gray Davis in that state's coup attempt . . . er, I mean, recall.
The problem: If you identified yourself as Chicano, had a political conscience and attended a college or university, chances are very good that you, too, were a MEChista. I wasn't, but that had more to do with my journalism aspirations and a notion that reporters, even those in college, shouldn't belong to activist groups that they might have to cover.
Among the prominent MEChistas hereabouts is John Loredo, the current Arizona House minority leader. I wouldn't be surprised if most Latino political leaders nationwide were MECHistas.
So why are they racist? Well, according to the Web site for American Patrol, an anti-immigrant group, it stems partly from MEChA's constitution, Article II, Section I, which says: "General membership shall consist of any student who accepts, believes and works for the goals and objectives of MEChA, including the liberation of Aztlán, meaning self-determination of our people in this occupied state and the physical liberation of the land."
But Article II, Section I of the MEChA national constitution I downloaded didn't say that. Instead it talked mostly about educational, cultural and political empowerment, responsibility for retaining identity and cultural awareness, and getting Chicanos into higher education.
There is indeed a phrase in there that says, "in order to liberate nuestra gente (our people) . . . ." And the preamble talks about liberating Aztlán.
But this really means liberating as in empowering, not as in giving the Southwest back to Mexico.
But let us acknowledge that MEChA was born in the racial turmoil and rhetoric leading up to 1969. Its founding historical documents, El Plan de Aztlán and El Plan de Santa Barbara, contain incendiary language.
But the truth is, few joining even back then were thinking of overthrowing government. They were talking about changing society, for the better.
"We all understood the history of MEChA," says Loredo, a MEChA president at Phoenix College in 1987. "We took it in the context of the times, 1969 (the founding year)."
To liberate Aztlán, Loredo and other MEChistas pushed to get more Latinos into college and performed community service. Many, like Bustamante, entered public service.
MEChA elsewhere also led walkouts and protests to form Chicano studies programs and to push for more Chicano faculty hires.
Activists? Certainly. Radicals? OK, if you'd prefer. But if this makes them racists, then all those hippies who were protesting the war are still communist-sympathizing anarchists.
Back in high school, we formed UCS to give Latino students a voice in their own education. In many quarters, they call that civic engagement.
If California's recall should succeed, Bustamante, whose path I've crossed a few times as a journalist, would make a fine governor.
No. 1, he didn't vote, as Schwarzenegger did, for anti-immigrant Proposition 187 in California, nor bring one of its chief supporters, Pete Wilson, on as a campaign chair. No. 2, he actually has governed and knows how the legislative and political process works. And No. 3, he has discernible views and stances that rise above celluloid celebrity.
Some are calling for Bustamante to repudiate his MEChA past. Making this demand are folks, bereft of historical perspective, who think it racist to use such words as self-determination, empowerment and cultural identity in the same sentence.
But frankly, these folks could find racism and a Mexican plot to reconquer Aztlán in a bag of tortilla chips.
posted on August 30, 2003 06:47:06 PM new
Somehow I find it hard to envision an elected official of the state plotting to succeed from the union as the Confederate States did in the 1860's. Although California was in the Confederacy...go figure.
edited to add:
But just in case how many Peso's can I get for a dollar!
Friends don't let friends vote Republican!
[ edited by davebraun on Aug 30, 2003 06:48 PM ]
posted on August 31, 2003 08:32:27 AM new
Timeswash: [i]The LAT's Matea Gold defends the MEChA identity-politics group in a news article that quotes only MEChA supporters. She downplays "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan"--which contains the controversial slogan "For the Race, Everything; For Those Outside the Race Nothing"--suggesting it's just a historical broadside some MEChA sites
link to[/i].
Still, several MEChA Web sites link to a document called "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan," which was written at the National Chicano Youth Conference in Denver in March 1969, a month before MEChA was created.
...
MEChA's motto is "La Union Hace La Fuerza," which means, "Unity Creates Power." MEChA members said another slogan that translates as "For the race, everything. For those outside the race, nothing" is not the group's motto, as reported by some news organizations, but was used by Chicano activists before MEChA was founded.
[i][Emphasis added] Hmmm. Here http://www.sjsu.edu/orgs/mecha/index.html is the current Web site of the San Jose State University MEChA chapter. You'll see that "El Plan de Aztlan" is a full, separate page on the site, billed prominently on the home page,republished in the site's text and format. This isn't a "link." It's an embrace.......And here's
the "Plan" page itself[/i] http://www.sjsu.edu/orgs/mecha/elplan_aztlan.html. Note that the controversial slogan appears at the end of the first section in italics. ...
[i]Is it only the San Jose
MEChA site that embraces the "Plan"? Nope. It's also here (Cal State Fullerton)...L.A. County, which identifies it as one of "MEChA's Founding Documents[/i]," http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Dunes/6098/ElPlanDeAztlan.htm...
[i]Is the L.A. Times a) "objectively' reporting on a campaign controversy or b) bending over backwards to exonerate Latino activists, either out of political correctness, or because it's terrified of alienating a large group of potential readers, or as part of its near-monolithic Bustamante-boosting coverage? You make the call[i/]! ...
Would the Times show similar tolerance for, say, an anti-bilingual site that reprinted a document containing the slogan, "For Anglos, Everything. For non Anglos, Nothing"?" ...
[i]P.S.: Some MEChA chapters do seem to omit the "Plan de Aztlan" (e.g. Cerritos). [b]But about half the ones I looked at on this
list feature it[/b][/i]
[i]The issue of Cruz Bustamante's refusal to distance himself from Mecha,the creepy Chicano identity politics student group-raised most insistently by Michelle Malkin--appears to be getting some traction in the California recall. On tonight's L.A. evening news it got equal billing with the Scwarzengangbanger story. But while the latter scandal could fade quickly, the Mecha story won't, because Bustamante's response
has been so revealingly pathetic. ... Mecha may or may not be separatist, secessionist or irridentist--here's a pro-Mechista denial of any such thing--but it's at the least still an extreme expression of a distasteful and discredited identity politics. It's not only opposed to assimilation but it seeks to make ethnic identity and "nationalism" the
fundamental basis of politics. (Many American Jewish groups fight against assimilation too, but I haven't seen any with a slogan equivalent to "For the Race, everything. For those outside the race,
nothing." ... I'm not saying Bustamante has to condemn Mecha as the equivalent of the KKK, as Malkin and Republican candidate Tom McClintock seem to demand. [b]But you'd think he could at least say "I was a student
then. I don't agree with that anymore. I think it's wrong[/b]." Instead, his defense (as televised) was basically that many of his Mecha student colleagues have gone on to become college graduates and professionals.
Great! I'm sure Mecha is a powerful upward-mobility networking machine on California's campuses. But can't college graduates and professionals be racialists and separatists? Are there no, say, college graduates in Quebec who want to secede from Canada[/i]? ...
P.S.: The Mecha issue is also a test of character for Bustamante. Who is it he's scared of offending and why? Donde esta la Hermana Souljah? ... P.S.: Bustamante is posing these days as a left-wing Democrat, but he's been a Lieberman supporter. Maybe some mischievous, bored journalist covering the Democratic presidential campaign should ask Sen.Lieberman what he thinks of Bustamante's Mecha support. It might break up the monotony. ...
Until Cruz states that he isn't in agreement with "The Liberation of Aztlan" then the press will continue to make an issue of it...as well they should, imo.
posted on August 31, 2003 01:30:27 PM new
Sounds kinda racist to me. Change a few words and it could easily pass as a Ku Klux Klan manifesto.
El Plan De Aztlan
In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal "gringo" invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlán from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny.
We are free and sovereign to determine those tasks which are justly called for by our house, our land, the sweat of our brows, and by our hearts. Aztlán belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans. We do not recognize capricious frontiers on the bronze continent.
Brotherhood unites us, and love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner "gabacho" who exploits our riches and destroys our culture. With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlán.
posted on September 2, 2003 08:55:51 PM new
Tuesday Sept. 2, 2003; 1:01 p.m. EDT
Bustamante Won't Denounce Supremacist Slogan
California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante refused over the weekend to expressly denounce the racist-sounding slogan of Latino-supremacist group MEChA, which preaches to its members, "For the race everything. For those outside the race, nothing."
Asked about the slogan no fewer than four times on Saturday by Fox News Channel's Tony Snow, Bustamante first responded that he loved his culture and would represent all Californians if he became governor.
"My politics ... have grown to a point where I'm a very inclusive individual, and all you have to do is look at the politics I've shared and the kind of politics that I've had," the California recall candidate tap-danced.
When pressed for a more direct answer, Bustamante said, "Racial separatism is wrong," but he declined to explicitly condemn MEChA or its message.
"You have to look at what people do, not just what they say, and I think I've demonstrated my ability," he protested.
Bustamante's defenders say his politics are actually far more moderate than MEChA's, to which he belonged during his college days at Fresno State in the 1970s.
But Los Angeles radio host Larry Edler wasn't buying it.
"What is a moderate member of a racist organization?" he asked his KABC audience last week.
"'I was a moderate member of the Klan'? I mean, imagine what would happen if a Republican were to make that statement?"
posted on September 2, 2003 09:00:08 PM new
More Democrat racism...
Monday Sept. 1, 2003; 12:37 p.m. EDT
Kerry Praises 'N'-word-using Colleague as 'Eloquent'
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry had words of praise on Sunday for Sen. Robert Byrd, calling the former Ku Klux Klansman who recently used the "n"-word during a nationally televised interview "eloquent."
"I have enormous respect for . . . Robert Byrd, who's one of the most eloquent, capable people in the Senate," Kerry told "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert, who had asked about Byrd's opposition to the war in Iraq.
But among African-Americans, the West Virginia Democrat is best known for his ham-handed attempt to explain why he thought white people could be just as bad as black people.
"There are white niggers," he told "Fox News Sunday" in March 2001. "I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time; I'm going to use that word."
Kerry, along with most other Democrats, failed to condemn Byrd's use of the anti-black slur.
.