The Failure of National Latino/Mexican American Organizations

Rodolfo F. Acuña

With all of the hype around Latinos these days, how could Arizona have happened? I thought we had power. One-third of Arizona is Latino and its neighbor California is the land of milk and honey – the favorite destination of politicos of all colors. Over fifty percent of Los Angeles is Latino; its mayor is Mexican American as is the mayor of San Antonio, Texas.

Arizona’s war on Mexican Americans does not make sense, especially in the light of the growth of the Latino population that now numbers 50 million. This nightmare seems out of place.  Alabama maybe, but Arizona?

It is time that we try to find answers and admit our weaknesses. The most obvious flaw is that Arizona has exposed a weakness in Latino and Mexican American organizational infrastructure.

A partial answer as to why Latinos are so ineffective is that the Latino population is having growing pains. It has grown dramatically in the past fifty years, going from a regional to a national phenomenon. This transformation has out stripped the capacity of traditional organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens and the American GI Forum to  deal with this change.   

Presently there are only two organizations that could be called national and they came about in 1968 with the founding of the Southwest Council of La Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.   

Senate Hearing; Arizona 1070

Arizona Right Wing leader Pearce goes down to defeat

Citizens in Mesa's very conservative District 18 elected Russell Pearce six straight times. He was virtually untouchable, and when the nation pivoted to the right in 2010, Arizona went over the edge. Voters elected "Headless Bodies" Jan Brewer as governor, they gave her a veto-proof House and Senate, wingnuts Tom Horne and Ken Bennett were elected Attorney General and Secretary of State, and then legislators installed Russell Pearce, chief architect of SB 1070, as President of the Senate. Talk about a mandate!

The media dubbed Pearce "the most powerful politician in Arizona." That was one year ago. Tonight Russell Pearce can't say he's never lost an election.

Jerry Lewis, a political neophyte who was outspent greatly in the historic recall of Senate President Russell Pearce, sailed to victory tonight as the vast majority of votes have been counted in the west Mesa special election. Arizona Capitol Times

The Arizona boycott continues

TONATIERRA

Press Release

La Huelga del Pueblo!
Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

"Hay conciencia: Somos Pueblo Unido - y va ver consecuencias."

September 11, 2011

In violation of the dignity and spirit of solidarity with the most affected members of our collective community, an announcement was recently made by the National Council of La Raza and business interests loyal to the economic elites of the state of Arizona, both Anglo and Hispanic, that the boycott of Arizona would be canceled by their organization and affiliates.

Two points of contention that immediately arise form this public statement:

1) There was no absolutely no process of consultation with the most affected communities who have suffered the harshest impact from the assault of the AZ SB1070 pogrom of persecution.

2) The reasons given by NCLR for calling off the boycott are not valid by any measure of community impact of the original reasons for the call to boycott of Arizona, and that NCLR would claim to take credit for the success of boycott actions is a blatant misrepresentation of the history of La Huelga del Pueblo and the Boycott of Arizona.

Therefore, at the weekly meeting of the Council of Representatives of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio, with instructions to the Boycott Commission of the CDB on Sunday September 11, 2011 the clarification is made to each and all once again:

!LA LUCHA SIGUE !
!Ya Basta!

Message:
To those who would attempt to dismantle the Call to Justice by attempting to co-opt, corrupt and denigrate and divide the movement to achieve Social Justice and Human Rights in Arizona for all, !!El PUEBLO ESTA EN HUELGA!!

The Boycott of Arizona Continues
until AZ SB1070 is repealed.

Contact: Salvador Reza 602 446-9928
Date: September 11, 2011
Phoenix, Aztlan - (Donde vive el espíritu de la verdad)

Boycott of Arizona is not over

Boycott Against Arizona Is Not Over, Say Grassroots Groups

By Valeria Fernández

The decision by the Hispanic advocacy group National Council of La Raza to call off a year-long boycott of Arizona for its passage of one of the nation’s toughest anti-immigrant pieces of legislation is being met with opposition by grassroots organizations determined to keep up the pressure.
“This is a decision they took without consulting all the people affected,” said Salvador Reza, organizer of PUENTE, a pro-immigrant rights movement. “SB 1070 still affects us and it is disrespectful not to consult with the community.”
SB 1070, passed by state lawmakers last year and approved by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, sought to criminalize undocumented immigrants by making it a crime to remain in the state without proper papers. A federal judge blocked that and other key provisions of the bill, however, in response to a legal challenge from the Obama administration.
Activists like Reza argue that despite the injunction, local-police are still enforcing aspects of the law and that the overall effect has been to create a hostile climate towards undocumented immigrants in the state.
Some SB 1070 Opponents Urged Decision

Recall Arizona Senator Pearce

Jeff Biggers

Pearce, whose ultraconservative immigration views have won him national attention and who will face a historic recall election in his Arizona district on Nov. 8, associates himself with the work of a fringe character.

For several years, media outlets in Arizona and at the national level have explored links between Pearce and extremist groups, and in 2006 he was caught circulating a Holocaust-denying article from a West Virginia-based white supremacist group. In issuing an apology, Pearce claimed to not have known about the National Alliance's views.

Racist and Neo Nazi ties examined.

Many states draw back from Arizona SB 1010

A Year On, States Draw Back from SB 1070 Legislatio

Posted on 01 August 2011

By Valeria Fernandez
New America Media
A year after SB 1070 took effect, states nationwide are turning away from similar bills, fearing the financial and political fallout seen in Arizona and the consequences that anti-immigrant legislation could have in their own backyards.
“Arizona was a wake up call for other states,” said Elena Lacayo, field coordinator with the Immigration Policy Project at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest advocacy group for Hispanics.
Lacayo, who has followed the effects of SB 1070-type legislation in other states, said that despite the far reaching nature of some of the bills, it was the economic backlash in Arizona after SB 1070 that helped other states realize the costly consequences of anti-immigrant laws.
Latinos across the country have naturally come out against “the new Jim Crow laws,” she added, because they feel threatened. The response has been aggressive, she said.
To date, five states have passed anti-immigrant legislation modeled on SB 1070: Alabama, Indiana, Utah, South Carolina and Georgia. While such moves have encouraged groups opposed to undocumented immigration, like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the fact that 27 states opted against similar bills suggests a far greater reaction against it.
SB 1070 took partial effect in Arizona on July 29 after several controversial parts of the bill were enjoined by a federal judge, including provisions that would allow local police to check on the immigration status of individuals and requiring immigrants to carry their paperwork with them at all times.

Recall Arizona Senator Pearce

RECALL Arizona Senator PEARCE UPDATE –As of this morning, 15,609 signatures have been processed – 9,414 ARE VALID!  With 1,339 signatures left to process, and at a 60% validity rate, we are on track to hit approximately 10,217 valid signatures. 

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Citizens demand more from their leaders when it comes to addressing real problems like the budget crisis, job losses, foreclosures, funding for public education and health care for those most in need.

Because of our effort Russell Pearce will be the first State Senate President to be RECALLED in the history of the United States!

Now is not the time to rest, wait or declare victory. Now is the time for bold ACTION and we need your support to launch our next phase of the recall campaign.  PLEASE contribute $25 or more today.

http://recallpearce.com/

Oprah promotes Arizona, progressives boycott Arizona

Oprah Winfrey from time to time makes media exposure contributions to civil rights efforts.  She has also made extensive contributions to the fake “school reform” crowd of Bill Gates, Michele Rhee and others.

Today she had her Best Friends show.  All the members of the audience received a trip to an Arizona spa.

Apparently she does not know that many in the labor and Latino community are boycotting Arizona in protest of the anti immigrant, anti Latino legislation passed there.  That is unfortunate.  Perhaps you should send her an e mail and tell her of her contributions to the anti Latino campaigns.

Solidarity works when we work together.

Boycott Arizona  http://www.boyhttp://www.boycottarizona1070.com/cottarizona1070.com/

Groups that announced travel boycotts of Arizona:

•                                Service Employees International Union

•                                United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

•                                National Council of La Raza

•                                Asian American Justice Center

•                                Center for Community Change

•                                League of United Latin American Citizens

•                                National Puerto Rican Coalition

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

You can leave comments to the Oprah show  here: http://www.oprah.com/index.html

Save Ethnic Studies in Arizona

For the past four years, Arizona Superintendent of Public Schools,

Tom Horne, and the Arizona State Legislature have relentlessly attacked the Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Mexican American Studies Department (MASD). Tom Horne and the Arizona State Legislature have accused that Mexican American Studies classes are: “promoting the overthrow of the United States Government; promoting resentment toward a race or class of people; designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group; and advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals ”

This past May 11, 2010, AZ Governor Jan Brewer, signed into law AZ HB 2281, the anti-Ethnic Studies law, which will in effect eliminate TUSD’s MASD on December 31, 2010. A major provision of the law calls for a 10% withholding of the State of Arizona’s monthly allotment to TUSD if MASD continues to teach Chicano Studies classes.  Speakers for the teachers, Sean Arce and Curtis Acosta said  after exhausting our efforts through lobbying, community activism, and public relations, we are left with no other option than to 

 file a federal injunction in the Federal District Court in Arizona to stop AZ HB 2281.  They are currently suing the state and the school district. (photo. Curtis Acosta)

The Ethnic Studies program in Tucson was developed with the input of university students, community members and local teachers.  Together they developed a Mexican American studies curriculum focusing on culturally relevant and historically relevant materials to overcome the persistent high drop out rates and the lack of college going by Raza students.   This program has become the largest Mexican American studies program at a high school level in the U.S. And, it is under attack by Republicans in Arizona.

The program is the focus of a soon to be released film, “Precious Knowledge.” Teachers from the school program are available for speaking opportunities around the nation.  The two speakers at the Sacramento event –Sean Arce and Curtis Acosta-  were clear, articulate, knowledgeable, inspiring and engaging.  

Tea Party Politics seek to establish Arizona 1070 in California

The California Secretary of State's office today authorized a signature drive to place an Arizona-style immigration law before California voters.

Called the "Support Federal Immigration Law Act," the proposal was submitted to state authorities in September by Michael Erickson, a Tea Party activist in in the Bay Area city of Belmont and former chair of the Sonoma County Republican Party.

Erickson said  that he's tried to draft his proposal -- which also makes it a state crime to hire illegal immigrants -- to avoid constitutional pitfalls. The Arizona law now faces challenges that it is unconstitutional and an overreaching of state law into federal responsibility for immigration enforcement.

Initiative supporters must gather at least 433,971 signatures of registered voters by April 21, 2011, to qualify for an election. Erickson said he'd aim to put the measure before voters during the 2012 election cycle.

The effort will rely largely on volunteers from California's Tea Party network, Erickson said.

The California proposal would make it a state crime for undocumented persons to seek work while hiding their immigration status, and a state crime for employers to "intentionally or negligently" hire an illegal immigrant.

I understand the  people so full of fear that they support such measures. The purpose of the effort is to generate fear and bigotry. Remember, California was once part of Mexico. It was taken by force. In the 1850's newly arrived Irish and German immigrants drove Mexican and Chinese miners from the mines with the foreign miners tax. Then the Anglos came and took the land. Anti immigrant campaigns have a long history in the California; 1878 Constitution was anti Chinese, 1911 Anti Japanese, 1930's-1950's, Anti Mexican. 1940's anti Japanese. 1994, Prop.187. It will take hard work, but reasonable people will be able to defeat these fear filled campaigns. Immigrants are not the cause of the economic crisis- it was Wall Street. But, Tea Party folks want to protect Wall Street by focusing fear on immigrants.

Movimiento Tea Party empuja proyecto antiinmigrante

LOS ANGELES - La secretaria de Estado de California autorizó el martes que se empiece a recolectar firmas para proponer a los electores locales una ley de inmigración similar a la polémica legislación de Arizona, SB1070, tiene como propósito criminalizar a los indocumentados en ese estado fronterizo con México.

La propuesta, titulada "Apoya la Ley de Inmigración Federal", fue presentada en septiembre a las autoridades estatales por Michael Erickson, un activista del movimiento ultra conservador Tea Party en la zona de San Francisco (norte de California y tradicionalmente liberal).