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Article published Jun 4, 2006
Aztlan under attack
Critics want activity center renamed; defenders say no
By KEVIN DARST
KevinDarst@coloradoan.com

More than 30 years after the city graced a community center with the name Aztlan, immigration critics want it removed.

Some members of Northern Colorado Immigration Reduction, or NCIR, have written City Council members and placed a call on the organization's Web site to change the name of the Northside Aztlan Center, claiming Aztlan is used as a rallying cry by groups that advocate "reconquista," or a takeover of the Southwest United States by native Mexicans.

The threat has quickly mobilized a broad group that vows to defend the Aztlan name, claiming notions of ties to reconquista are ludicrous and that stripping the name from the center would undo years of goodwill toward Fort Collins' Hispanic community.

"Why 30 years later does this become an issue?" asked Rich Salas, chairman of Defend Aztlan and assistant director of the El Centro Student Services Center at Colorado State University. "By attacking the name Aztlan, it's another way to marginalize, colonize and not allow these folks to have a voice.

"This attack isn't just happening with community centers; it's happening in other cities in our country."

City leaders are reluctant to enter the fray, citing a $6.8 million budget shortfall and other matters that need attention. They're also worried the controversy will overshadow the opening of a new $10 million center next year.

Yet City Councilwoman Karen Weitkunat says the city needs to have the debate.

This spring, NCIR members Peter O'Neill and Tim Wunsch sent e-mails to some city council members asking whether the center ought to carry the name. They sent links to other articles and said the term Aztlan should come down because it was used by Chicano separatist groups who wanted to reclaim the American Southwest, including Colorado - territory acquired by the United States in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican-American War.

O'Neill declined an interview request by the Coloradoan.

But in an e-mail to the Coloradoan, O'Neill said there is "NO organized campaign by NCIR or me personally to change the name of the Northside Community Center.

"Defeating Senate Bill 2611 is our overriding concern. The name of the Center has never been more than a side issue for me - the contradiction of a municipal government's seeming endorsement of a movement that advocates its overthrow and the need to point this out to government officials."

Carol Miller chaired the Northeast Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in the 1970s, the committee formed to advise the city about the development, design and name of a new community center in North Fort Collins.

The committee surveyed area residents, who selected Aztlan, a term Miller says meant "land to the north" and was used as a term of pride and positive community action by Hispanic residents.

"Before Aztlan was built, there were pockets of isolation the city wasn't serving very well," said Miller, a member of Defend Aztlan. "By building Northside Aztlan and putting that name on it, it's made them more a part of the city."

Mayor Doug Hutchinson said he's on an Aztlan fact-finding mission and hopes the city resolves the issue quickly. His initial thought is that the city's process 30 years ago was sound and that the city would need to think hard about revisiting the issue.

"I don't think that would be necessarily healthy to the community, and that's something we need to think about," Hutchinson said.

Weitkunat isn't sure, either, but she seemed to lean toward opening the issue despite a fear of "civil war."

"If the city's going to do it, the time is now," Weitkunat said.

But council member David Roy disagreed.

"I think there would be a divisiveness and xenophobia that's gripped the nation as of late," Roy said.

NCIR member Steve Yurash said the group just wants "to take away anything that could be used by either side." He said he came across the term on a series of communist Web sites in the context of reclaiming the Southwest.

Yurash, who suggested the center be named for an important Hispanic community member, was adamant the Aztlan name come down.

"We're part of America; we're not part of Mexico," Yurash said, urging the Hispanic community to "make a gesture of conciliation" and cede the Aztlan name.

"I think it's somewhat inflammatory," he said.

Defend Aztlan members, however, said "fringe groups" don't speak for the vast majority in the use of the word, which refers to a mythical place in Aztec history from which Aztecs began a southward migration.

Norberto Valdez, a CSU anthropology professor and a member of Defend Aztlan, said the notion of the Aztlan homeland was a response to the segregation native Mexicans experienced under American control. The notion of Aztlan runs contradictory to the idea of any sort of takeover, Valdez said.

"What we're saying is, 'I belong, too,'" Valdez said. "It's the integration, not the segregation."