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Opinion
'Reconquistador' claims of MEChA bashers laughable
Our view: Secessionist myth obscures student group's work for Hispanic learning
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.27.2006
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Some of today's anti-immigration activists are subscribing to the old adage that the bigger a lie is, the more people will believe it.
Their target is specifically a student movement known as MEChA, but by association it touches illegal immigrants and those who support more rights for them.
Through rhetoric, Web sites and letters to the editor, activists have been saying that MEChA is working to have the Southwestern United States become part of Mexico. It's a statement that's been around for years, but it's been dusted off and rolled out again because of the immigration debate.
We believe the statement is a fear-mongering tactic meant to arouse anti-immigrant sentiment and patriotic fervor. It appears some people in our community believe it.
On Monday, the Star ran a short story and seven photos concerning the MEChA chapter at Tucson High Magnet School. In the following days, we received five letters that repeated the lie about secession. Those letters also called Mechistas, as MEChA members call themselves, racist and subversive.
Those are the same words used by groups like Sierra Vista-based American Border Patrol, which calls MEChA members and pro-immigration activists and politicians "reconquistadors," implying that they want to take over this part of the country again just as the Conquistadors did centuries ago.
Glenn Spencer, 68, president of American Border Patrol, said Mechistas are "subversives turning the Southwest into a jurisdiction of Mexico." He also said illegal immigrants are "an army that has invaded the United States, and now they're trying to consolidate their gains."
It would be a mistake to say everyone opposed to immigration reforms adheres to these beliefs. Many rational members of our community conscientiously argue against immigrant rights without resorting to untruths and exaggerations.
But we feel compelled to counter the misinformation about MEChA.
The attacks on the group stem, in part, from its name, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, which translates into the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán. Aztlán is the place where the Aztec people came from. No one knows for sure where Aztlán was, but a MEChA Web site says it seems to be somewhere in the Southwestern United States, hence the claims about retaking the region.
Darlane Santa Cruz, 22, a senior at the University of Arizona and co-chair of the school's MEChA chapter, said the group isn't interested in takeovers of any kind.
"I just laugh when I hear that we are trying to take over," Santa Cruz said. "As Mechistas, we're aware of our heritage and where we come from. We take pride in that.
"We say this is our land and this is where we belong. But we don't want to take over anything."
Mechistas' pride in their region is no different than Arizonans being proud of their state. It's no different than being proud or your neighborhood or your city.
MEChA bashers are twisting words by taking statements about "our land" literally and crying about a secessionist plot.
What MEChA is interested in is helping Hispanics advance in society. The 30 members of MEChA at the UA visit high schools to encourage students to attend college, and they hold events and fund-raisers to spread the message that education is the path to success in America.
Santa Cruz said MEChA members support the humane treatment of illegal immigrants. Mechistas took part in the big marches of April 10 and were part of the human chain that formed around flag burners at Armory Park, trying to keep the peace.
MEChA wants to make a difference in the United States, not Mexico. The group's critics are simply fear-mongering by suggesting a secessionist movement. Such an event is as unlikely as the claim is laughable.
_________________ TIME'S UP! ********** Why should only AMERICAN CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants, have to obey the law?!
Joined: Mar 13, 2005 Posts: 1409 Location: El Cajon, Mexifornia
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:51 pm Post subject:
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Through rhetoric, Web sites and letters to the editor, activists have been saying that MEChA is working to have the Southwestern United States become part of Mexico. It's a statement that's been around for years, but it's been dusted off and rolled out again because of the immigration debate.
Yeah, it's been spread through websites, the very ones that MEChA runs. How can these morons say this is rhetoric, it comes from their very own words? The Mechistas are the ones who were prpagating this Reconsquista crap, not the ones who are calling them on it. If you go to any MECha website, you see the same Plan de Aztlan still there for anyone to read, it's not being 'dusted off and rolled around', it is still there, as a part of their mission statement. If they did not want to be associated with this treasonous platform, why do they not remove it from all their websites? Why? Because they still believe in it. _________________ "We have got to ELIMINATE the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to KILL him." -Jose Angel Gutierrez
No one knows for sure where Aztlán was, but a MEChA Web site says it seems to be somewhere in the Southwestern United States, hence the claims about retaking the region.
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"I just laugh when I hear that we are trying to take over," Santa Cruz said. "As Mechistas, we're aware of our heritage and where we come from. We take pride in that.
dumbasses
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"We say this is our land and this is where we belong. But we don't want to take over anything."
Like to try? _________________ We are NOT a nation of immigrants!
Last edited by IndianaJones on Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Mar 13, 2005 Posts: 1409 Location: El Cajon, Mexifornia
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:04 pm Post subject:
I guess the AZ Star forgot to mention the parts where the Mechistas use the terms "gringos' and "gringo invasion of OUR territory". Yeah, right. _________________ "We have got to ELIMINATE the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to KILL him." -Jose Angel Gutierrez
Yeah, it's been spread through websites, the very ones that MEChA runs. How can these morons say this is rhetoric, it comes from their very own words? The Mechistas are the ones who were prpagating this Reconsquista crap, not the ones who are calling them on it. If you go to any MECha website, you see the same Plan de Aztlan still there for anyone to read,
Exactly, I thought y'all would really like this article!
Who's telling the 'big lie'
Watch these videos. Go to the 2nd link, then on the right upper side, Aztlan Video. Or choose some of the others.
Joined: Jun 25, 2006 Posts: 1442 Location: Indian Hills, CO
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:43 pm Post subject:
I have big news for these Mechistas. . . they can claim anything they want to but I am a Cheyenne and the "southwestern" American Indians who are my friends claim that land as theirs.
[/quote]"I just laugh when I hear that we are trying to take over," Santa Cruz said. "As Mechistas, we're aware of our heritage and where we come from. We take pride in that.
"We say this is our land and this is where we belong. But we don't want to take over anything."
We don't go around claiming all the land that was taken from us. We've all (well mostly) assimilated into the American culture. We keep our traditional culture in our homes and in our spiritual beliefs. We don't need to strut around a claim this is our land. It WAS our land, we lost it -- so Mechistas need to get over it.
Last edited by CheyenneWoman on Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
So why do these misguided advocates of the Reconquista believe that the US belongs to Mexico? It was the Spanish that explored the Southwest and established the missions – not Mexican explorers or missionaries. After several centuries of Spanish control, Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Then in 1848 Mexico ceded the Southwest US through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo when the US paid cash and assumed Mexican debt. At the time Americans outnumbered Mexicans about 5 to 1 in the area. Even without the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo sooner or later the settlers in the disputed territory would have followed Texas's lead and fought for their independence from Mexico just like Mexico fought for their independence from Spain 27 years earlier.
If we accept the Reconquista nonsense, should the US also surrender land acquired from France through the Louisiana Purchase and the Alaskan land purchased from Russia? Of course not! But the believers in Aztlan want to rewrite history, void the treaty and surrender the Southwest US to Mexico.
Aztlan was the legendary homeland of the Aztecas. But there is no evidence that indigenous Mexicans tribes populated the US East Coast, the Midwest, or the Southwest. So in reality Mexico has no claim to any land in the US. All this may come as a shock to groups like MEChA. _________________ All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. -Edmund Burke
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