Anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist sentiments -- The Chicano / Palestinian connection

An Essay by Hal Netkin

OPENING COMMENTS:                                                                                                                                             

The intention of this essay is not to clarify history nor to get into a tit-for-tat contest with any Raza group about who did the most wrong to whom, as I'm not a historian nor does it make any difference to the objective of this essay which group was "right" or which group was "wrong." My intentions are to show that certain factions of Raza groups such MEChA and those who call themselves Chicanos are separatist and racially divisive organization who relate to and support terrorist organizations.

When I read the MEChA constitution or the "El Plan de Aztlan" manifesto, I take those writings at face value. I do not accept translations that attempt to water down the meanings. If in fact those documents don't mean what they say, they are at minimum, divisive, and should be banned.

My use of the word "American" refers to any American citizen regardless of ancestry and regardless of how they got here.

My use of the word "citizen" refers to all American citizens -- by birth or naturalized. I regard all citizens as being equal. There are no citizens more American than others. and anyone born in the U.S.A. like myself is a "native American."

I recognize the rights of individuals, not "preferred" groups and consider that no one person or group has any more rights in America than another based on ancestry. As such, I believe that the rightful owners of the United States are its present citizens.

My use of the word Mexican refers to any Mexican citizen -- not Americans of Mexican descent whose nationality is not Mexican.

My use of the phrase "illegal aliens" refers to a persons residing in the U.S. without the permission of the U.S. Government and is the official nomenclature of the ICE. Non U.S. citizens residing in the the U.S. with permission (green card), are legal resident aliens.

BACKGROUND:                                                                                                                                                       

The cheap underpaid menial labor provided by first generation illegal alien "immigrants" is seen by most of them as a condition of being better off than in their native country (mostly Mexico). While their cheap labor may have some short term benefit to some Americans, in the long term the legacy of the exploitation of immigrants remains embedded in the minds of their succeeding generations.

A growing number of offspring of the first generation of Mexican immigrants are U.S. born citizens, but who do not consider themselves as Americans -- often making reference to "our people" --  who refer to themselves as "Chicanos" and become active in MEChA. The acronym MEChA stands for "Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan." or "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan."

The majority of those who label themselves as Chicanos are separatists who believe, that as a result of the Mexican-American war which ended in 1848 with The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, the American Southwest was virtually stolen from Mexico by the U.S.

MEChA is an Hispanic separatist organization that encourages anti-American activities and civil disobedience. The radical members of MEChA who refer to themselves as "Mechistas," romanticize Mexican claims to the "lost Territories" of the Southwestern United States -- a Chicano country called Aztlan. In its national constitution, MEChA calls for self-determination by its members to liberate Aztlan. MEChA's national constitution starts out:
These anti-American "Mechistas" live with the false illusion that they are being racially discriminated against because they are Latinos while totally dismissing the idea that maybe it is their ideology that is being discriminated against.

There is an oxymoronic irony in MEChA's declared teachings. While publicly declaring their tolerance to the views of other individuals and groups, they show egregious intolerance of anyone who wants our immigration laws enforced.

In the 70's, Tony Villar, aka Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, vandalized and trashed the Dean's office at UCLA ($100,000 worth of damage) because the Regents would NOT recognize Chicano studies. Villaraigosa was at the time the Chairman of MEChA.

More recently, MEChA college students trashed their local college newspaper. They did not like the coverage of one of its events by the campus newspaper. So a few of its members went around and gathered up half of the 5,000 circulation from news racks, torn them in half, and dumped them in trash bags at the newspaper’s office, in front of some staffers. More...

MEChA AND CHICANO SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIANS AND ASSOCIATED TERROR GROUPS       

From discussions and debate with Chicanos and Mechistas, I learned that for most Chicanos, the only source of news was from Raza websites such as the viciously anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist website, La Voz de Aztlan (The voice of Aztlan). From such sites and MEChA propaganda, Chicanos are duped into the belief that they are living in "occupied" America -- paralleling their cause to the Palestinian cause.

Reasoning with Raza believers who buy into non sequiturs amounts to the impossible.

Particularly uneducated Chicanos even buy into the Blood Libel myth. Some even regard Osama bin Laden as a hero.

Mechistas refuse to repudiate Palestinian hate sermons and the use of children to disseminate anti-Semitism.

Of course we live in America where anyone can say or believe what they want. But what makes this an American problem is that colleges and high schools all over the U.S. certify MEChA organizations which are funded by tax payers and encouraged by many U.S. politicians.

Hal Netkin
"Chicano and Chicana students of Aztlán must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community, politicizing our Raza (Race) with an emphasis on indigenous consciousness to continue the struggle for the self-determination of the Chicano people for the purpose of liberating Aztlán."