Posted on Sat, Oct. 20, 2007 05:01
La Raza pulls its KC convention
By DEANN SMITH
The Kansas City Star
The National Council of La Raza’s board voted this afternoon to yank its 2009 convention from Kansas City in protest of a park board appointee belonging to a group it believes is hostile to Hispanics.

The board followed the recommendation of local La Raza affiliates, who had asked the board to pull the convention. Two months ago, the head of La Raza, Kansas native Janet MurguÃ*a, told Mayor Mark Funkhouser that if his appointee, Frances Semler, didn’t step down from the park board, La Raza would likely pull the convention.

The convention had been expected to fill more than 5,000 hotel rooms, with an economic impact to the city of more than $5 million.

Today’s vote came after a federal mediator was unable Friday to resolve the differences between Funkhouser and some local Hispanic leaders. Funkhouser, citing his principles, was unwilling to consider asking Semler to step down from the park board or the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

Local Hispanic leaders said their principles would not allow them to reward economically a city that supports a group that conducts armed patrols of the Mexican border and that they believe uses hateful speech toward Latinos, both illegal and legal.

Semler and Minuteman members say she belongs to a law-abiding group that is not racist and her political views should have nothing to do with her service on the park board.

Funkhouser will now turn his attention to retaining the NAACP convention. NAACP officials have said they would have to strongly consider La Raza’s decision before deciding whether to pull their 2010 convention from Kansas City.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking ... 25903.html