Draining America Into Poverty

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wingman

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DRAINING AMERICA INTO POVERTY








By Frosty Wooldridge
January 20, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

You’ve all read about Mexico receiving $15 billion annually in wire transfers from illegal aliens working in America. It’s the second highest income for President Fox and his cronies. You’ve read about the $25 billion in wire transfers funneling into South America. To add insult to injury, another $16 billion vanishes into Asia.

In the meantime, you’re forced to educate illegal aliens’ children numbering 1.1 million at a cost averaging $7,000.00 per child per year for 18 years. Do the math—it’ll make you sick. You’re also forced to give illegals free health care, food stamps, housing assistance and other welfare benefits—all to the detriment of your own family and standard of living.

Every day, America grows poorer because our senators and congressmen, and corporations--aid, abet and encourage illegal alien migration into our country. When those illegals send back our money to their countries of origin, those corporations make a killing not only from the cheap labor, but from the wire transfers. The latest ploy for banks is lending mortgage money to illegal aliens so they can move into our neighborhoods.

But the real killer arrived in the news this month with a report that the underground of illegal aliens, numbering over 15 to 20 million, cost the IRS $311 to $400 billion annually. Additionally, a recent report by Visa stated wire transfers to Mexico last year reached $40 billion. Who do you think makes up for all that money? You do! In any event, this country suffers unthinkable financial hemorrhaging via our corporations such as Western Union, First Data Corporation and others who eagerly become the transfer panderers for all those money transfers.

As America plunged to an all time $7.4 trillion debt and the dollar is about to be replaced by the Euro as the world’s currency standard, how can this illegal alien factor of the "jobs Americans won’t do" be ignored as a monumental aspect in the return to fiscal responsibility?

Robert Justich, a senior managing director at Bear Stearns Asset Management in New York is quoted in a Barron's January report, "The report also points out the cost of the underground economy of illegal aliens working in the U.S. is costing the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid income taxes and could lead to a higher impact on taxpayers if President Bush's amnesty proposal is passed into law."

Jim McTauge in the Barron's piece wrote, "The underground economy is undermining the effectiveness of the Internal Revenue Service, which is highly dependent on employees' withholding taxes. If the IRS could collect all the taxes it says that it is owed from the underground economy in a given year, then the current budget deficit would disappear overnight. And if the IRS could collect these taxes every year, then the nation would have surpluses as far as the eye can see. The IRS has estimated that its tax gap * the estimated amount of taxes owed minus the amount collected * is around $311 billion in any given year. The agency will produce a new estimate in 2005, and it could be as high as $400 billion, says former IRS Commissioner Donald Alexander."

Barron’s noted, "The sheer growth of the underground economy in the U.S. is cause for concern. If Justich's estimate of illegal immigrant workers is correct, the underground economy may now be growing at a markedly faster rate than the legitimate economy. Justich, working with Bear Stearns colleague Betty Ng, an emerging-markets economist, says he's found evidence of a larger illegal immigrant population by analyzing data on construction and on remittances sent from the U.S. to Mexico and other countries. He also had conversations with over 100 immigrants from Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, China and Tibet. And he interviewed local business owners, real-estate sales people and police." Each of us must understand this is an aspect of Third World Momentum growing like a cancer in our country. It sidesteps the rule of law. It undermines our functioning society. It’s THE reason Third World societies fail. It’s the reason our society will fail if we don’t stop the illegal alien invasion. We import millions of people who will not and do not invest in citizenship in our country—but in fact, manifest THE reason for our destruction in the arenas of language, health, education, crime, diseases, hospitals, balkanization and national cohesion.

"President Bush proposes temporary amnesty for illegal aliens already in the country, allowing them to obtain permits to work legally for three years and stay longer if their jobs otherwise can't be filled by native-born workers," writes McTauge. "But if there are, in fact, 20 million illegal aliens, the Bush proposal could engender a situation not unlike the German unification of the 1990s, which triggered huge demand for social services in East Germany. Unanticipated costs here could be enormous."

The relative ease with the reunification of Germany stems from the fact that they were all Germans and compatible with respect for their country.

The problem with Mexico, Central and South America stems from the fact that they don’t like our culture, our language or our laws. They do not respect us as they invade us. What happens when the thousands of bumper stickers in Los Angeles that read, "F**K YOU! THIS IS MEXICO" show up all over the country?

What does Mexican-American author Lillian Gonzalez say about illegal aliens? She has lived in Mexico and America for a first hand look: Few Mexicans come to this country in hopes of adopting a new and better culture.

Mexicans believe their beliefs are superior to American beliefs. Mexicans make fun of Americans’ love of pets and view it as a flawed value system.

I believe that by allowing the mass entry of illegal aliens from Third World countries like Mexico, we are setting our country up for a setback.

A California caller on the Mark Edwards radio talk show in Las Vegas said, "I saw a sign hung over a Mexican panel truck, which read 'We're taking over --- get ready to get out'!"
 
A California caller on the Mark Edwards radio talk show in Las Vegas said, "I saw a sign hung over a Mexican panel truck, which read 'We're taking over --- get ready to get out'!"
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Heh Id like to see some illegal Mexican try and "kick" me out. Thats the funniest thing ive heard all day..

Relax man the mexicans arent going to take over, they simply cant. The vast majority just want some hard earned money to support their families back home because their own country is incapable of fixing its problems.
 
Wingman, what are your thoughts on the Minuteman Project? Do you know anything about the group and if it is legit? Do you think it will serve a purpose? Been reading about it. Just curious as to what you think.
 
The vast majority just want some hard earned money to support their families back home because their own country is incapable of fixing its problems
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How much you willing to pay to fix there problem.?



what are your thoughts on the Minuteman Project
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I know very little about it, however most of these groups will fail, we
need to vote our way out of this and I believe it will be a major issue
in the next election.
 
Waterfronts

357;
I suspect you do not live in a border state, I have spent almost all my life in one.
In the '60's, I made the statement" They got whipped twice trying to stand up and fight, so now they are planning to take it all back lying down and making babies"
I was more accurate than I would like.
Just look at the unemployment, welfare and birth rates in counties on the border.
The Hispanics, which includes a bunch of different countries, are past the welfare blacks on growth and are rapidly closing in on the crime rates, some places they are surpassing them.
I believe every Texas county on the border has had some high officials sent off to the pen in the last few years, one town in South Texas, the police dept., from the Chief to the last patrolman and even the dog catcher went to the pen for covering drug runners from Mexico. All were Hispanics.
Mexico has a centuries long tradition of constant criminal activity by all officials, "La mordida" is just a way of life in Mexico.
Fox, the big buddy of Bush, has stated that he dreamed of violating the border and all the US laws on entrance into the US when he was younger.
Mexicans are just not adapted to laws, any more than Arabs are adapted to democracy, or a reasonable facsimile there of.
Bush is going to sell us down the river for the monetary benefit of the businessmen, just wait and see!
Don :barf:
 
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we'd better wake up!

Borders, Priorities Blur Along the 'Wild Frontier'
Illegal immigrants and drug traffickers stream to New Mexico to avoid patrols elsewhere.
By David Kelly
Times Staff Writer

January 23, 2005

COLUMBUS, N.M. — Frustrated by security crackdowns in Arizona, thousands of illegal immigrants and drug traffickers are flooding once-quiet New Mexico, making it the newest frontier in America's struggle to control its southern border.

Border Patrol agents who once caught handfuls of immigrants a day here now arrest 140 or 150 a night. Armed confrontations are increasing, high-speed chases have become routine and officials say they lack the resources to hold the line. At the same time, Mexican crime syndicates using two-way radios and sophisticated cellphones have American law enforcement under surveillance.

"They will call in our agent locations and spy on us at our base right here," said Colby Morgan, an intelligence officer operating out of the Deming Border Patrol Station, the largest in the state. "We haven't seen that before. They are getting at us from both sides of the border."

Palomas, Mexico, just across from Columbus, is a hub for smuggling cartels that view New Mexico as the easiest way to move people and drugs into the U.S.

And Deming, about 35 miles north, has become a distribution point.

The cartels' clout was evident last year when Palomas authorities tried to arrest a drug kingpin. Gunmen shot up the police station, torched the cars and sent eight officers and their families fleeing to Columbus in search of political asylum.

"We are a potential flashpoint on the border," said Rick Moody, patrol agent in charge at the Deming station. "There has been a gradual shift from Arizona to here. We have illegal vehicle crossings every day; fences are being torn down; our cars are getting hit with rocks. Ten years ago, this was one of the least active areas on the border; now it's the wild frontier."

In 2003, New Mexico arrested 48,633 illegal immigrants; in 2004 the number rose to 61,374. The Deming station saw apprehensions jump 26% last year, while the Lordsburg sector 60 miles west had a 109% increase. Border checkpoints like the one at Antelope Wells in far southwest New Mexico once averaged a single drug seizure a year. In 2004, it had seven. This month, border agents found 4,400 pounds of marijuana inside a pickup truck.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said the clampdown in Arizona was making his state "the preferred alternative for drug trafficking and human smuggling." He has requested more agents, vehicle barricades and cameras along the border. The Department of Homeland Security is looking into shifting resources to New Mexico.

"We have to increase staffing and security efforts all across the border," Bingaman said. "The idea that we can put our resources in one place and not see the problem move somewhere else is clearly wrong."

Others say such efforts are futile until there are better jobs in Mexico and stiffer penalties for those hiring illegal immigrants.

"New Mexico is the last frontier. The same cycle that occurred in Arizona is likely to repeat itself there," said Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Studies on Immigration at UC San Diego. "Supply and demand must be reduced; otherwise whatever we do is just a symbolic show of force."

For years, New Mexico's 180-mile border has been the least defended in the Southwest. Immigrants once preferred crossing into Texas and California, closer to major cities and transport centers. But crackdowns there funneled many into Arizona, now the busiest illegal crossing point in the nation, with 500,000 arrests last year. The state recently received $10 million in federal aid, unmanned surveillance aircraft and 200 new border and customs agents — bringing its total to 2,000 for about 370 miles of border.

New Mexico has 425 agents to patrol 14,000 square miles. Much of the border is unmarked and open — no fences, boundary lines or roads to show which side is which.

The Southwest New Mexico Border Security Task Force, a group of New Mexico and federal law enforcement agencies, issued a report in 2003 saying it didn't have the resources to adequately protect against drug dealers, illegal immigrants and "potentially weapons of mass destruction" crossing the border.

Border agents say they have run into heavily armed Mexican soldiers inside the U.S.

"I have found up to 10 Mexican soldiers in a Humvee on our side of the border," Moody said. "We don't know what they are doing here. They usually say they got lost. When that happens, we confront them and escort them back."

Some officials here think elements of the Mexican military are involved in drug smuggling.

The border is a quiet patchwork of farms, mountains and small desert towns. Federal agents depend on helicopters, underground sensors and camera towers to help cover the region.

Illegal immigrants often know the cameras' visual range, and cross where they can't be seen. Spotters sit atop hills in Mexico with cellphones to report which way cameras are pointing.

Life for the Border Patrol is increasingly hectic and dangerous. On a recent night, calls poured in from all over — groups of 30, 25, 10 migrants, coming from all directions. Only a third of those who cross are caught, agents say.

"A few years ago it wasn't so bad," said Border Patrol agent Jack Jeffreys. "Now you come to work and think, 'Maybe I won't be going home tonight.' "

Jeffreys was plowing through prickly pear in his Chevrolet Blazer, trying to catch a group of migrants outside Columbus. He jumped out and joined two other officers walking with flashlights.

They quickly found eight men, one woman and a 5-year-old boy hugging the ground. Their bags held Mexican passports, a cellphone with global positioning coordinates and water bottles full of raw garlic.

"They think garlic keeps away snakes," said agent Harry Brown. "A lot of these guys come from tropical environments and know nothing about the desert."

They were taken to a cramped processing facility in Columbus, fingerprinted and checked for criminal records. If the reports came back clean, they'd be released the next morning into Palomas.

"I came this way because it's easy," said Carlos Bueno, 35, nabbed while trying to reach Los Angeles. "There are too many police in Arizona."

The surge in illegal immigration here hasn't produced the vigilantism seen in Arizona, where armed citizens sometimes round up migrants. One reason is the relative dearth of people living along the border. The other is fear.

James Johnson helps run his family's 160,000-acre ranch with 15 miles bordering Mexico. Over the last few years, they've had their fences cut and their trucks stolen and seen smugglers ferry drugs over their land.

Vigilante groups have called offering their services.

"If we did that, it wouldn't be three weeks until one of our throats were slit," said Johnson, 29. "A lot of these vigilantes don't live on the border; they live in cities or towns where the people crossing don't know them. But these people know us."

Two years ago, he confronted some men in a truck on his property. "I asked what they were doing there," he said. "They pulled a gun, aimed it at me and said they could do whatever they wanted."

His father was robbed of his truck at gunpoint by men who fled to Palomas.

"I think 90% of the public thinks of the border as Tijuana or El Paso or the Rio Grande," he said. "They don't realize most of the border has no fence — no markings at all."

The biggest border community on the U.S. side is Columbus, a town of about 1,700 people three miles north of Palomas. It's a place of sandstorms and trailer homes, with a tiny downtown that quickly melts into the surrounding desert. The local police department — the chief and a pair of patrol officers — operates out of a rented two-room office.

Chief Clare May sees cars blow through town at 100 mph with border agents in pursuit. Stolen vehicles litter the roadsides, and drug and immigrant trafficking is rife among those in his community. Calls for assistance, often related to illegal immigrants, jumped from 450 in 2003 to 900 last year.

"We have drop houses here that will charge illegal immigrants $50 a night and house 15 of them," he said.

Locals can earn $1,500 to $3,000 transporting 100 pounds of marijuana to Phoenix, or $1,500 to smuggle an immigrant, he said.

May has taken his M-4 automatic rifle out on calls to back up border agents.

"The federal authorities know we are inundated, but their focus is on Arizona," he said recently. "This doesn't have to be another March 9, 1916," he said, referring to a raid here by Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa that left 18 Americans dead. "But if they get by me and get by the Border Patrol and customs, then they're coming to you."

Across the border in Palomas, men and women huddled under trees in the plaza, waiting for nightfall. Many had arrived in buses from other parts of Mexico.

"All these people want to do is work and to fill the jobs the Americans don't want," said Rodolfo Vazquez, owner of a barber shop overlooking the square.

Five young men with backpacks sat on a broken park bench. One had been caught the night before by the Border Patrol and released in the morning. He grinned as he swigged tequila from an old motor oil jug.

"Tonight I will try again," he said confidently. "This time I'll make it."

Word was out, the men said: Arizona was too tough to cross, and New Mexico was easy by comparison.

...
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
 
Drinks
Actually I do live on a border state "Texas" and although I am certainly not for Illegal immagration I dont see any real threat "maybe its just me I dont know". Of course there are the bad apples but most of these guys really are just trying to make a buck to live. Think about it though, if it wernt for them who would blow leaves, mow lawns be the garbage men and all the other stuff that we dont want to do?
 
resist the Kool-Aid

Just trying to make a buck...? Illegally. Small detail. And one even our President seems to wish to ignore.


Yes, most--but not all--are just trying to make a buck. And so will the next billion who come across.

"Compassion," especially when it masks venal motives, has its limits. Illegal immigration is not about a few desperate people working as dishwashers. That day is long, long gone. Illegals have spread across America and into all kinds of trades and professions. They and their offspring are a major financial drain. And they are changing the core culture of America. If you care about preserving the values that got us here, you should be concerned.
 
Code: 
who would blow leaves, mow lawns be the garbage men and all the other stuff that we dont want to do?

How do you think us older guys made money while we were growing up? As a teenager, I had several regular customers and I mowed, trimmed, raked leaves, shoveled snow and what have you.
 
Think about it though, if it wernt for them who would blow leaves, mow lawns be the garbage men and all the other stuff that we dont want to do?

From the age of 8 to about 14, I mowed lawns every summer, pulled down $7-$9 a job, and made about $30-$50 per week among my neighborhood clientele. They hadn't invented consumer leaf blowers yet, so I used a rake.

The problem is, some jobs aren't worth $5 to $7.50 per hour - also known as "minimum wage" - and so it's illegal to hire anyone to do the jobs at the actual value of the labor. Not to mention the child labor laws that sought to "protect" me from exploitation by my lawn-mowing customers who I sought out and solicited.

When it's illegal for an employer to hire someone to do a job and pay them what the job is actually worth, and it's illegal for a particular individual to work, it's just common sense that they'd wind up together.
 
Time to wake up and smell reality people.

They should be deploying the National Guard down at the border. What kind of country are we if we can't defend our citizens from bandits who'd step all over them?
 
For what it's worth, you know that there exists LEGAL immigration into the U.S., every year, every country is alloted xx amount of people, and it's quite abit of people..that, if anything, should be your "beast of burden". It's all these damn ILLEGAL ALIENS, who in turn, once they get right (mere technicality..akin to cutting in line and being hailed a hero)then sponsor their dear old dad,mom,sister, brother, family dog, their distant cousin's family dog, and aid and abet, smuggle their buddies, etc...I don't see where the financial reward is for the country, by that I still mean the U.S. It's astounding people don't see that. Only the rich guy is making the buck, regular guys are getting the squeeze. I try not to think about this stuff anymore...couldn't do a damn thing about it when I was paid to chase them...another joke in itself.
 
Jim McTauge in the Barron's piece wrote, "The underground economy is undermining the effectiveness of the Internal Revenue Service, which is highly dependent on employees' withholding taxes. If the IRS could collect all the taxes it says that it is owed from the underground economy in a given year, then the current budget deficit would disappear overnight. And if the IRS could collect these taxes every year, then the nation would have surpluses as far as the eye can see.
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Awwww, poor useless IRS bastiges. They just need even more authority don't they? They should create their own super secret police agency to spy on the American people and combat this abuse!! Well some would argue that they already have that..Too bad that Jim McTauge doesn't realize that the government would figure out a way to spend the "surplus" within a day and have us back into debt.

"President Bush proposes temporary amnesty for illegal aliens already in the country, allowing them to obtain permits to work legally for three years and stay longer if their jobs otherwise can't be filled by native-born workers," writes McTauge. "But if there are, in fact, 20 million illegal aliens, the Bush proposal could engender a situation not unlike the German unification of the 1990s, which triggered huge demand for social services in East Germany. Unanticipated costs here could be enormous."
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I voted for Badnarik. My hands are totally clean of this mess on a personal level. But I will continue to try my best to educate those who gave their votes to the corporate parties.
 
Funny 357MagFan, I mowed alot of grass painted alot of fences and cleaned up alot of trash, not to mention a whole ton of other unsavory work during my teenage years up until I was 20. In fact I painted the fences of an entire trailer court of 5,000 people all by myself over one summer when I was 16. I don't fault you for being brainwashed by the John McCain republicrats, but I do fault you for actually posting that garbage for us to read.

Seems we have garbagemen here who aren't Mexicans as well.

So, we're on the brink of economic collapse? I wasn't aware of that. ;)
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Well every man woman and child in America carries the burden of our debt to the Federal Reserve to the tune of $27K apiece currently, with that amount rapidly rising. But that's nothing........ ;)
 
"Mexicans are just not adapted to laws, any more than Arabs are adapted to democracy".

Are you trying to imply that all Mexicans are criminals? That's a pretty offensive argument considering that I'm of Hispanic heritage myself. I'm sorry, I've lived by the laws of the U.S.A. my entire life. I'm not trying to take over the country. I agree, we need to enforce our borders better but lets not insult an entire ethnic group of people. I do feel that the immigration problem is getting out of hand.

MrBill, What do you mean by sponsor? Just because someone legally becomes a legal citizen doesn't mean they can bring their entire family. That is just simply untrue. It only applies to the person's spouse or children, not their cousins, aunts, and dogs. Also in general, the quota for legal immigration generally works but you have some countries, like Mexico as well as SouthEast Asian countries where the people trying to get vastly outweighs the amount of people allowed to legally apply. An average Mexican citizen can wait for years before they will have the opportunity to apply. So most just ignore it and cross illegally. I'm in no way justifying their actions. They are participating in a criminal act. Its just important that we see things in reality.
 
Cost of illegals to California $10.5 billion
Analysis shows burden of native-born residents $1,183 per household

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 21, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern



© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

An analysis of recent census data indicates that the presence of illegal aliens in California is costing the state's taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration.

The report, written by the Federation of American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, states that even if the tax contributions of illegal aliens are subtracted, state government outlays still amount to nearly $9 billion a year.

The $10.5 billion figure translates into a burden to native-born residents of $1,183 per household.


FAIR notes that the results of the report take into account only state of California costs and do not include the cost of illegal aliens born by the federal government.

The report breaks down the costs of the three main areas of services, education medial care and incarceration.

Based on estimates of the illegal alien population in California and documented costs of K-12 schooling, Californians spend approximately $7.7 billion annually on education for illegal-alien children and for their U.S.-born siblings, says the report. Nearly 15 percent of the K-12 public school students in California are children of illegals.

The report shows uncompensated medical outlays for health care provided to the state's illegal alien population amount to about $1.4 billion a year.

The cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in California's prisons and jails amounts to about $1.4 billion a year. That figure does not include related law enforcement and judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of the crimes that led to their incarceration, the report notes.

FAIR says the total of taxes paid into the system by illegal aliens can be estimated at about $1.6 billion per year.

States the report's executive summary: "The fiscal costs of illegal immigration do not end with these three major cost areas. The total costs of illegal immigration to the state's taxpayers would be considerably higher if other cost areas such as special English instruction, school feeding programs or welfare benefits for American workers displaced by illegal alien workers were added into the equation."
 
And these illegals contribute to strengthening International Marxism.

Stanford Review

Editorial
MEChA: Social Justice Group or KKK?
by Editorial Board

So what exactly is MEChA? A social justice group that coordinates efforts in the fight for the rights of the underprivileged and unrepresented? An ethnic identity group that provides Chicanos/Latinos a place to feel welcome and opportunities to fraternize and take pride for who they are? Or a racist organization that advocates revolution and segregation?

In fact, MEChA is all of these things. MEChA is in many ways the modern day Ku Klux Klan of Chicanos. While you may initially believe this statement to be hyperbole, a further examination will lend credence to the comparison. Before proceeding, note that the parallel is between the modern day KKK and MEChA, which is a much different organization than the KKK of the past. We are in no way suggesting that MEChA is an organization that lynches and terrorizes other races in the manner the KKK has in the past, nor has MEChA been the cause of intimidation, pain, and anguish as has the KKK. Where the comparisons are familiar, however, are in the present day ideologies of the organizations.

El Plan de Aztlán, first presented in 1969, is the most heinous fundamental document associated with MEChA. This document is where the statement "Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada" ("For those in the race, everything. For those outside the race, nothing") comes from. During the Recall campaign California Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante came under much fire for not denouncing this blatantly racist rule. In addition, this plan calls for a revolution to return control of the lands of their forefathers to Chicano control. "Aztlán belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans." So, in essence, any actual attempt to adhere to the tenets of this plan would not only be racist, but treasonous (which makes the fact that the Lt. Governor of California refused to denounce it even more frightening).

The sentiments expressed in El Plan de Aztlán are not that different from some of the goals of the modern day KKK. For instance, the Klan calls for recognition that "America was born as an extension of White European heritage." So while the KKK calls for the complete assertion of White European control of America, MEChA calls for the assertion of Chicano control. Both organizations call for segregation of the races, which is something that should have been left far in the past.

To its credit, Stanford MEChA does not recognize El Plan de Aztlán beyond its historical relevance. However, the national organization, with which Stanford's chapter is becoming more involved, still recognizes the plan as "essential to the philosophy of MEChA."

El Plan Espiritual de Santa Barbara, while not as atrocious as El Plan de Aztlán, is still a revolting document. Moreover, Stanford MEChA, rather than dismissing this Plan as merely historical, actually has this document on its website. El Plan Espiritual de Santa Barbara denounces the ideal of America as a melting pot, claiming that Chicanos must resist this dilution of their culture. This sentiment is very similar to that of the KKK, which feels that nonWhite cultures are polluting American society.

However, what is perhaps the most injurious is the disenfranchisement of Hispanics advocated in El Plan Espiritual de Santa Barbara. As opposed to the Chicano, "The Mexican American or Hispanic is a person who lacks selfrespect and pride in one's ethnic and cultural background." Therefore, this Plan does not even recognize Hispanics who choose not to emphasize their differences from other Americans due to race as being part of MEChA. This emphasis on racial pride sounds eerily familiar to one of the mottos of the KKK: "White Pride, World Wide."

Now, because there are similarities between the KKK and MEChA it does not suggest they are the same organizations by any means. The point of the comparisons was to illustrate the similarity concerning ideas about race. Both MEChA and the KKK advocate separatism of the races because they believe their respective races are being contaminated through interracial interaction. The KKK believes America was a White nation founded on White principles, and the influence of all of the other races has led America astray from its illustrious roots. Meanwhile, MEChA believes Aztlán belongs to Chicanos, and America and its capitalist system has stolen Aztlán from its rightful owners and, even worse, is destroying Chicano culture. It is for these reasons that the former Grand Wizard of the California Klan, Tom Metzger, endorsed the candidacy of Cruz Bustamante.

Attributing all of these positions to Stanford MEChA is not fair. Indeed, I would hope the leadership of MEChA at Stanford would officially denounce these racist and segregationist principles on which MEChA was founded. However, since Stanford MeChA skipped an appointment for an interview with the Review, we cannot say for sure what they would or would not endorse. But when one of the Plans is posted on the Stanford website, and given that MEChA was founded upon these principles, the very existence of MEChA at Stanford lends tacit support for its racist agenda.

The primary purpose of the Stanford MEChA organization, however, is not to promote separatism, according to some members. First and foremost, Stanford MEChA serves as a network of Chicano students designed to promote social activism for progress in the area of issues affecting the Chicano/Latino community and their education. Besides that, they are typically your normal ethnic liberal social activist group, getting involved in issues such as workers' rights, antiwar protests, and ethnic celebrations.

While we at the Review often disagree in the position MEChA takes on many issues, we do not challenge their right to exist on campus nor do we want them to stop their efforts of social activism. A large majority of Stanford MEChA members probably have no idea that MEChA is anything more than a social activist and cultural identity group, which is why they got involved in the first place. If they knew the history behind their organization, they may think twice about attending the next meeting. But people have a right to express whatever views they wish, and a healthy discourse on issues is something is healthy to the Stanford community and much preferable to the predominant apathy on campus. However, these goals of the Stanford MEChA organization could be better accomplished without the baggage that being part of MEChA brings with it.

Stanford MEChA currently receives more than $40,000 per year in special fees from Stanford students through the ASSU. We wonder what percentage of the student body that voted MEChA special fees knew of the racism embedded within its founding documents. The purpose of our investigation into MEChA was to expose the true nature of the organization so that students can make an informed decision on whether to support it in the future. What we found was that Stanford MEChA's goals do not coincide with the separatist goals of the national organization, yet there's a hesitance to denounce these policies on the leaderships' part of Stanford MEChA. We call for the leadership of Stanford MEChA to renounce its affiliation with the national organization, rather than continuing to increase affiliation. This bold move would make a firm statement against racism and for racial reconciliation, and would grant more respectability to their social justice activities. If such an expurgation is not possible, then we call on the leadership of Stanford MEChA to officially denounce these policies of the national MEChA organization which do nothing but spread and worsen the hateful racism that so many people and organizations have fought so hard against for so many years. Take a progressive step, MEChA leadership. Renounce racism.

Page last modified on Friday, 24-Oct-2003 05:09:11 EDT.
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BTW, check out chicano.org.
 
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