Thread: S.J. should denounce suppression of debate MINUTEMEN

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 617214.htm

Posted on Sun, Sep. 11, 2005


S.J. should denounce suppression of debate

MINUTEMEN: LET MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS PREVAIL OVER MISGUIDED GROUP, NOT ANGRY BACKLASH

Mercury News Editorial

Last week, San Jose's Mexican Heritage Plaza was poised to shine a spotlight on the increasingly emotional debate over U.S. immigration policy -- specifically over whether the Minutemen, a kind of vigilante border patrol operating in Arizona, has a legitimate role in curbing illegal immigration.

The debate on Mexican Independence Day would have been historic for the plaza, pitting Minuteman organizer Chris Simcox against an ardent critic, Art Torres, a former state senator and chairman of the California Democratic Party.

But it has been silenced.

A group of Latino community leaders bullied the Plaza to cancel it, warning that hundreds of protesters would show up and implying that there could be violence.

San Jose's leaders, Latino and otherwise, should denounce this suppression of public debate and condemn the pattern of anonymous threats that leaders of both sponsoring organizations have received. They'll have the perfect opportunity to speak out later this month at the Plaza, whose leaders don't intend to let this matter drop.

The immigration forum was exactly the kind of politically and culturally relevant event the Plaza should be convening as a regional center of art and learning. It was to be co-sponsored by the Commonwealth Club, whose programs always are thoughtful and enlightening, and it would have been recorded for broadcast later on a number of radio stations around the country.

Before scheduling the event, the Plaza and Commonwealth Club consulted Latino public officials and were encouraged to proceed. But after announcing the plan, plaza executive director Marcela Davison Aviles got wind of an e-mail string critical of the event and called one of the participants to set up a meeting. To Aviles' amazement, at least a dozen angry people showed up to demand that the debate be canceled.

Jaime Alvarado, a leader of that group, says there was no intent to threaten. (He offers his viewpoint elsewhere on this page.) But he does not dispute the group's aim to suppress this particular debate. He says the presence of a Minuteman at the Plaza would have been insulting to the community, likening the group to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Minutemen watch the border and, if they see someone crossing illegally, call the Border Patrol. They claim they don't apprehend anyone. But their presence terrifies Mexican immigrant communities, where tales of abuse at their hands are rampant, even though evidence is sparse.

We deplore the vigilante spirit of the Minutemen, some of whom are armed. We hope to see them disbanded.

But they are not the Klan. They represent a point of view shared by many Californians, including some Mexican-Americans, that immigration laws should be better enforced and our borders secured. There has been talk of extending their reach to other states, including California, although the governor fortunately has said they aren't needed here.

This is a topic that won't go away, even if it's ignored. It cries out for public debate. What better place than San Jose, a city known for its diversity and tolerance?

Friday's event would have been an opportunity for leaders from the community, the region and the state to confront Simcox's ideas and to counter his message of militancy. It would have brought credit to the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

Later this month, the board and staff of the Plaza will schedule a press conference to publicly restate their mission, which at least indirectly has been challenged by this narrow-minded revolt. They hope elected officials and other leaders, as well as community residents, will join them in a resolve to make the Plaza a center of culture, a forum for political debate and a source of pride not only for San Jose but for Latinos everywhere.

Who will stand with them?

here is another article on it (from the other side)ContraCosta Times

Posted on Sun, Sep. 11, 2005

Forum addressing Minuteman group canceled

By Jessie Mangaliman

KNIGHT RIDDER

A public forum scheduled next week on the controversial Minuteman Project at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose was canceled Wednesday, after angry Latino community leaders and immigrant advocates objected to the planned appearance of Chris Simcox, Minuteman's organizer.

Calling the self-appointed, citizen border patrol a "racist hate group," local Mexican-American leaders said they took offense to Minuteman in the community's cultural home, on Sept. 16, Mexican Independence Day.

The event, sponsored by the Commonwealth Club, was to feature Simcox and a Minuteman volunteer; Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party and Hans Johnson, a research analyst at the Public Policy Institute of California.

It was billed as a public forum on an important issue of the day -- immigration and the growing number of armed U.S. citizens patrolling U.S.-Mexico borders in Arizona. The Minuteman Project, based in Tombstone, is now recruiting volunteers for border patrols in New Mexico, Texas and California. The Commonwealth Club said the forum will be rescheduled and held in San Francisco.

"This vigilante group is openly racist particularly to Latinos," said Lucy Hernandez, a member of Comite de Cesar Chavez, a San Jose civil rights group, and one of 14 people who met last week with Marcela Davison Aviles, the plaza's executive director.

Said Hernandez, "Knowing the background of this group and have them come to our community home, especially on our day of celebration, was offensive and hurtful."

But Aviles said the event was canceled at the plaza because of "strong safety concerns" raised by the group she met with last Thursday. Aviles said she received at least a dozen anonymous phone calls since then that threatened disruption to the plaza.

During her meeting with Hernandez and others, Aviles said, "They indicated that if the plaza proceeded with the event, it was highly likely -- I'm paraphrasing here -- there would be a large crowd and they wouldn't be able to guarantee the consequences of their behavior."

Aviles said she worried about the safety of people participating in the forum.

Alberto Carillo, a long time community activist and an official of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a national civil-rights group, said emotions ran high during the meeting.

Carillo said he disagrees with Aviles' characterization.

"We were not hostile," he said. "We were angry. We felt insulted."

"I said we would picket the event and I'd get close to 100 people," Carillo said. "Threaten? Nobody said that."

Martha Campos, a program director at Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, a San Jose nonprofit group, said the forum's panel failed to include immigrants and advocates, and legal experts who can talk about the implications of The Minuteman on U.S. civil rights.

Simcox, who has appeared in debates with Latino leaders and immigrant advocates in Arizona, did not reply to an e-mail request for an interview. A spokeswoman for Minuteman, Connie Hair, also did not respond to an e-mail.

"Perhaps we were misunderstood as endorsing Mr. Simcox," said Gloria Duffy, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Club of California, which sponsors 500 public forums a year.

Said Duffy, "We see this a service to the community."

Aviles said she shared Duffy's view that a public dialogue on The Minuteman would be a good way to engage the community in a discussion of a subject that, although it draws strong emotions, affects many people's lives.

"That's really where we were coming from," she said. "By no stretch of the imagination was the plaza supporting or advocating the position of The Minuteman."

In a Field Poll released last week, a majority of California voters rejected the use of citizen patrol.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cct ... 617404.htm