Thread: Mexican flag

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UNM will not tolerate acts of racism or xenophobia
By:
Posted: 9/19/07
Editor,

We wish to respond to the recent incident involving the desecration of the Mexican national flag that was raised Friday on the south side of Scholes Hall.

The incident is still being investigated, but what we do know at this point is that after a ceremony celebrating the Mexican independence day - Dieciseis de Septiembre - the flag that was raised during the celebration was subsequently taken down and, as we understand it, ripped to shreds.

We understand that a suspect has been apprehended by the police, but the investigation is still ongoing at this time. We want it to be understood that the flag desecration is abhorrent to President David Schmidly and everyone in the administration.

In light of incidents that have taken place in the past several days involving students being targeted because of their race or nationality, we want it to be known that UNM will not tolerate acts of racism and xenophobia. These incidents will be answered with disciplinary and/or legal action against the responsible individuals. The person who perpetrated this despicable act will answer for it.

We wish to offer apologies on behalf of UNM to the Mexican Consul to New Mexico, Juan Manuel Solano; to the Mexican Student Association; to all Mexican nationals who have been affected by this deplorable act; and to anyone else who has been adversely affected by this incident. Please know we are doing everything in our power to make sure this act will be sternly

addressed.



Rita Martinez-Purson

Interim Vice President,

Institutional Diversity

Cheo Torres

Vice President

for Student Affairs © Copyright 2007 Daily Lobo

I would respond, but William discourages the only kind of language that is coming to mind right now.

What about apologizing to the AMERICAN PEOPLE for the atrocity of flying the flag solo?

I say we write our representatives and demand public funding be pulled from this school. Anybody live near enough to form an "on the street" protest?

When I calm down, we'll begin the letter writing. If you calm down before me, feel free to commence.

I have heard enough groveling at the feet of the Mexican Government.

I didn't hear the Mexican Govt. apologizing for their nationals burning the American flag, flying it upside down under the Mexican flag or flying theirs alone in our country.

Time these people got some back bone and stop the groveling.

My heart is beating so fast and I'm seeing RED! (And it's not the color of my skin, I'm "FBI" Full Blood Indian). Right now this is as far as I have gotten:doso@unm.edu... the email address for the Dean of Students. I know if I wrote right now it would be totally disregarded due to my language.

When everyone calms down enough there is at least a link to send your message to. I know it's going to take a little while before my blood pressure levels out...LOL!

http://www.unm.edu/

Inaugural Activities for UNM President Span Full Week

David J. Schmidly will be officially installed as the University of New Mexico’s 20th president during a ceremony Sunday, Oct. 7, at 2:30 p.m. in Popejoy Hall. The public is invited to the ceremony as well as the reception that follows at University House. Free reserved seating tickets are available at ticket offices at the UNM Bookstore or UNM Arena.

http://www4.unm.edu/elcentro/

El Centro de la Raza
Statement presented on Oct. 2, 2007
Community Conversation, Ethnic Center Foyer
Veronica Mendez-Cruz, Director


El Centro de la Raza has a long respected history of celebrating many Latino cultures through a variety of venues. We are charged at the University of New Mexico to serve not only the largest growing ethnic population but also educating the campus as a whole. Throughout our 40-year history on campus, we have acknowledged and celebrated the richness of culture. Additionally, we are American citizens with a rich and proud Latino heritage that continuously gets attacked by racist actions.

It is the position of El Centro de la Raza that the acts of Peter Lynch were acts of hate and should be treated as such. In past public forums, Peter Lynch has exposed his feelings about the Mexican population:

"I say next time the ****ing Mod Edit march down our streets we load up on Keith’s semi and fly my garrison sized US flag then we drive threw the MOD EDIT!"

This quote is taken from a MySpace group dialogue entitled "What do we do about the illegal immigrants here?" and is followed up by a peer stating:

"I say we just blow everybody up. MOD EDIT no one is safe."

The safety for our students and community is our primary concern. We believe the act of desecrating the Mexican flag came from Peter Lynch’s feelings of hatred and Anglo-American superiority over people of color. Given all of the recent and past hate crimes that have gone unreported and undisciplined, El Centro de la Raza takes a stand and is demanding further action from the University to prevent actions such as this to be underestimated or disguised in the future.

El Centro de la Raza acknowledges the responses the university has made thus far:
Creating the Division for Institutional Diversity
(which will also address hate crimes)
Hosting a national conference on Immigration
Town hall forums to continue conversations regarding hate crimes
Exploring the core curriculum to include mandatory anti-racist training
Orientation programming that involves extensive anti-racist training
El Centro de la Raza would also like to encourage further action oriented policy development and dialogue as further prevention.

It is also time that the Raza community come forward with a united statement against disguising hate as patriotism.



For more details, please read:

This link is to a letter submitted by Lt. Col. Erik Sevigny to the Daily Lobo regarding the "miscommunication" that led to the Mexican flag being left flying alone.

There are very few organizations where diversity is welcomed, celebrated or as important to the organizational culture as the U.S. military. In today's operating environment, service members also fully recognize the importance of their allies and the need for cultural awareness. Today's military members are often called to work with coalition partners and among various cultures while operating throughout the world. For our unwitting part in this deplorable event, I would like to apologize on behalf of my students, the Army ROTC department and myself. However, our part was due to an act of omission and not one of malicious intent. The Army ROTC students have taken steps to improve communication with other student organizations and within their own ranks to reduce the chance of such an event occurring in future.


Here are a few of the group discussions involving the public, Peter Lynch and his statements, as well as his past comments as quoted above, in PDF format for you to download;

Myspace discussion
FreeRepublic discussion
Reiman discussion



Did Peter Lynch act out of Patriotism as he claims?

Be sure to check out the discussions listed above. In the Myspace discussions, it appears they've taken his comments out of context and expanded them to "hate crime." The Reiman discussion was also very interesting.

This is a prelude of things to come. That is precisely why they pushed for the Hate Crimes Act.

It's perfectly acceptable for our flag to be denigrated, but heaven forbid offending a foreign national. This is nauseating!

On page 1 of the Reiman discussions:


Subject: Will you join me in my outrage? (Long post--please read all!)
Posted by: Just_Soldier_Of_Fowl Replies: 89 Posted on: 9/25/2007 7:54:31 AM
#T890484
On September 14th, a flag was missing from the three poles in front of the
administration building at the University of New Mexico. Two of the poles typically fly
the flag of the United States and the flag of the State of New Mexico. The third pole
flies the flag of the University of New Mexico, however the UNM flag was not flown that
Friday, in deference to the campus Hispanic student group, El Centro de la Raza
(literally, “The Center of the Race;â€

I was tired, beginning to become cranky, and now, I am outraged.

However, for the sake of keeping my cool....which is really all that William ever asks of us in situations like these.....I'm not going to send out my emails until I've had a nap, am in a better frame of mind, and have had a chance to calm down.

Originally Posted by go4gin

My heart is beating so fast and I'm seeing RED! (And it's not the color of my skin, I'm "FBI" Full Blood Indian). Right now this is as far as I have gotten:doso@unm.edu... the email address for the Dean of Students. I know if I wrote right now it would be totally disregarded due to my language.

When everyone calms down enough there is at least a link to send your message to. I know it's going to take a little while before my blood pressure levels out...LOL!

I wrote them right after the story broke. It is reminiscent of writing Frankenstein or Boxcar. No response.