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Do not misrepresent MEChA!

Monday, November 21, 2005 10:26 PM MST

We are MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) - the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan. But what is Aztlan? Do not accept the relentless white supremacist attacks on MEChA and their false, and racist, claims that we are a separatist organization. As the former co-chair of MEChA, I write to set the record straight.

In 1968, there existed only nine (9) Latino/Chicano students at the University of Colorado-Boulder. MEChA was formed to combat institutional racist ideologies and actions that deemed Latino/Chicano students as not suited for higher education because socially, they were deemed “unintelligent, lazy, and not ready for strong academic work.� This ideology - forced upon Latinos/Chicanos in the United States - created a continued discriminatory policy to either push students out of high schools or track students into vocational/technical careers. Hence, the formation of student-led Latino/Chicano organizations in the mid-1960's on college campuses across the nation.

Our mission is to combat institutional inequities, denounce stereotypical notions of Latino/Chicano students, force schools to recognize and provide quality education in public schools, demand Latino/Chicano cultural education (Chicano Studies) and provide opportunites for the recruitment and retention of Latino/Chicano students in higher education.

MEChA was created to solidify a national solidarity movement that encompassed all Latino/Chicano organizational goals across the nation into one national organization. MEChA's goals were formed, and still exist, from the many Latino/Chicano organizational goals like that of UMAS, MAYO and MASA. “El Plan de Santa Barbara,� our sole formal constitution (please see websites for accurate information: http://www.utep.edu/mecha/, http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/MEChA) defining how MEChA is to operate, outlines these goals which include: the outreach, recruitment, and retention of Latino/Chicano students into higher education, non-violent political consciousness and mobilization, the function of MEChA, its voice for Latino/Chicano cultural education on campus and in Latino/Chicano neighborhoods, and primarily to create a place where Latino/Chicano students feel welcomed and share a sense of familia on oppressive college campuses.


Some people claim that MEChA is a separatist organization. But in reality MEChA and the belief in Aztlan as a homeland is not about reclaiming the US Southwest, but at most a belief that reinforces cultural pride and empowerment. “El Plan de Aztlan� is not a formal constitution of MEChA; it was in fact written before the formation of MEChA at the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference at Denver in 1968, yet was adopted for the strong message it implies solely on instilling cultural pride, cultural empowerment and establishing historical truths among Latinos and Chicanos.

Those who continue to believe that MEChA is a racist organization are not truly knowledgeable about the dynamic of institutional racism. Institutional racism stands as a power dynamic, and those individuals who do not wield the power to push Latinos/Chicanos out of schools, track Latinos/Chicanos instead into vocational/technical careers, incarcerate large numbers of Latinos/Chicanos due solely to prejudiced stereotypes, keep Latinos/Chicanos out of the realms of higher education and consistently deny Latinos/Chicanos basic human and granted constitutional civil rights.

MEChA stands as a culturally-centered organization, which must be respected for helping to foster cultural empowerment, pride, solidarity, and correcting historical inequities, all on a non-exclusive platform. It is important to note too that MEChA welcomes ALL who care about racial equality, social justice, and equity in higher education and communities of color.

We continue to ponder questions such as: “Why is there still not a large Latino/Chicano population in four-year universities or at CU-Boulder?� And

“Why not allow Chicanos/as to demand cultural pride, empowerment, and access into

higher education?� As such, UMAS-MEChA continues to confront cultural and racial intolerance and hatred where it begins across all borders and fulfill our main objectives.

With this, the members of UMAS-MEChA at CU-Boulder stand by our statement:

Come join us and our struggle for justice!

Federico L Rangel is the Senior Advisor for UMAS-MEChA at CU-Boulder. He is a post-Bachelor of Arts student in Secondary Social Studies at the CU School of Education.

The SORCE SPOT column runs Tuesdays in the Colorado Daily and allows diverse CU student groups to express themselves on issues of culture, diversity and campus life. It is sponsored by the Student Outreach and Retention Center for Equity, SORCE, and represents the views of that organization or of individual student authors and organizations, and not necessarily those of the Colorado Daily management or staff.