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M.E.C.h.A. chapters are prevalent in most high schools in California. This is how the reconquista ideology is be perpetuated in the high schools. Get them while they're young and fill their heads full of revisionist history.
Read up on this wonderful little extra-curricular activity here....
Amazing to me that most Christian clubs (and I am not a Christian by the way) are banned from campuses across the U.S. but this garbage flourishes.....
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The Philosophy of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
Preface
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A) hereby establishes the following principles based on our knowledge, ideas and opinions to enhance the progress of M.E.Ch.A. In order to have an understanding of M.E.Ch.A., we bring forth this document to guide Mechistas in their principles, values and conduct.
Historical Foundation
The Chicano Movement of the late 1960's helped spark cultural and historical pride in our people. Chicanas/Chicanos demanded to be treated as equals and denounced acculturation and assimilation. Brown pride began to express itself through poetry, literature, art and theater. The contributions of the Chicano Movement are numerous and continue to be very valuable to our society.
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A.) is a student organization that promotes higher education, cultura, and historia. M.E.Ch.A. was founded on the principles of self-determination for the liberation of our people. We believe that political involvement and education is the avenue for change in our society.
In March of 1969, at Denver, Colorado the Crusade for Justice organized the National Chicano Youth Conference that drafted the basic premises for the Chicana/Chicano Movement in El Plan de Aztlán (EPA). A synopsis of El Plan stipulates: 1) We are Chicanas and Chicanos of Aztlán reclaiming the land of our birth (Chicana/Chicano Nation); 2) Aztlán belongs to indigenous people, who are sovereign and not subject to a foreign culture; 3) We are a union of free pueblos forming a bronze (Chicana/Chicano) Nation; 4) Chicano nationalism, as the key to mobilization and organization, is the common denominator to bring consensus to the Chicana/Chicano Movement; 5) Cultural values strengthen our identity as La Familia de La Raza; and 6) EPA, as a basic plan of Chicana/Chicano liberation, sought the formation of an independent national political party that would represent the sentiments of the Chicana/Chicano community.
In April of 1969 over 100 Chicanas/Chicanos came together at UC Santa Barbara to formulate a plan for higher education: El Plan de Santa Barbara. With this document they were successful in the development of two very important contributions to the Chicano Movement: Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A.) and Chicano Studies.
The fundamental principles that led to the founding of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán are found in El Plan de Santa Barbara (EPSB). The Manifesto of EPSB sees self-determination for the Chicana/Chicano community as the only acceptable way for our people to gain socioeconomic justice. El Plan argues that a strong nationalist identity is a necessary step in building a program of self-determination. Self-determination, in this regard, challenges those involved in principle struggle to respect the rights of all Chicano and Chicanos. EPSB stresses that in organizing M.E.Ch.A. every opportunity must be taken to educate Raza. At the same time, El Plan exhorts Mechistas to preserve Chicana/Chicano culture in this culturally diverse society, both in community and on campus. Thus, a Chicana/Chicano Nation is a necessity defined as an educational, socioeconomic, and empowered Chicana/Chicano community. The Manifesto of EPSB warns us in part:
We recognize that without a strategic use of education, an education that places value on what we value, we will not realize our destiny. Chicanos [and Chicanas] recognize the central importance of institutions of higher learning to model progress, in this case, to the development of our community. But, we go further: we believe that higher education must contribute to the formation of a complete man [and woman] who truly values life and freedom. (p.10) EPSB
Both El Plan de Aztlán (EPA) and El Plan de Santa Barbara (EPSB) served as the historical foundation for the establishment of a viable Chicana/Chicano Movimiento and are therefore fundamental to the M.E.Ch.A. Philosophy.
M.E.Ch.A.'s Philosophy
The Chicana/Chicano student movement has been plagued by opportunists that have sought to rechannel the energies of our people and divert us from our struggle for self determination. The educational plight of Chicana and Chicano students continues to be ignored by insensitive administrators. Overall, Chicana/Chicano junior high, high school and college push out rates have risen since 1969, forcing many Chicanas and Chicanos to a life of poverty. These factors along with a growing right wing trend in the nation are combining to work greater hardships on Chicanas and Chicanos. New repressive and racist immigration laws are continuously directed at our Gente. Along with this, the current administration has started the process of dismantling Affirmative Action and Civil Rights protections. Just as Hispanics seeks to deny our indigenous heritage, so does Latino. The terms Hispanic and Latino further ignore our unique socioeconomic and historical aspects of our Chicana/Chicano Gente. This cannot be ignored. We cannot coin terms for unity sake when these terms fail to fully represent our diverse communities. Chicanismo does not seek to use the word "Chicano" as an umbrella term when representing all of "La Familia de La Raza". Rather, Chicanismo seeks to educate our barrios and campos about our history y cultura to further create a movement of self-determination for the Liberation of Aztlán, something that Hispanic and Latino has yet to represent or recognize. These factors have made it necessary for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán to affirm our philosophy of liberation (i.e. educational, socio-economic, and political empowerment) for our Chicana/Chicano Nation.
We, as Mechistas, see the process of Chicanismo as evolutionary. We recognize that no one is born politically Chicana or Chicano. Chicanismo results from a decision based on a political consciousness for our Raza, to dedicate oneself to building a Chicana/Chicano Nation. Chicanismo is a concept that integrates self-awareness with cultural identity, a necessary step in developing political consciousness. Therefore the term Chicano is grounded in a philosophy, not a nationality. Chicanismo does not exclude anyone, rather it includes those who acknowledge and work toward the betterment of La Raza.
Chicanismo involves a personal decision to reject assimilation and work towards the preservation of our cultural heritage. Recognizing that all people are potential Chicanas and Chicanos, we encourage those interested in developing a total commitment to our movement for self-determination for the people of Aztlán to join Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán.
Thus, by all means necessary, We Chicana/Chicano estudiantes or Aztlán, dedicate ourselves to taking our educational destiny into our own hands through the process of spreading Chicanismo, in the spirit of carnalismo.
M.E.Ch.A. is committed to ending the cultural tyranny suffered at the hands of institutional and systematic discrimination that holds our Gente captive. We seek an end to oppression and exploitation of the Chicano/Chicana community.
As Mechistas, we proclaim that we are the people of Aztlán and that we recognize our indigenous unity with our brothers and sisters of Ixachitzlan (Alaska to Tierra del Fuego). We declare that we are the descendants of El Quinto Sol. Our fundamental drive is to organize and challenge Chicana/Chicano estudiantes to maintain self-respect and dignity to overcome historical prejudices and discrimination against the Chicana and Chicano Gente. The historic mission of M.E.Ch.A. involves an educational plan of action that builds an educational ladder for the advancement of our people. Recognizing that the strength of our movement is rooted in our barrios, M.E.Ch.A. pledges itself to reach out to the community and schools, to establish new educational opportunities. We also recognize that our M.E.Ch.A. chapters are much stronger when they are rooted in and accountable to the Chicana/Chicano community. Consequently, We, Mechistas commit ourselves to return to our community and contribute to the development of the Chicana/Chicano Nation.
The Challenge of the Future
Despite growing repression and a lack of progress by our people in this society, we must be optimistic. As, M.E.Ch.A., we must accept the challenge to combat all forms of oppression, and manifestations as experienced through racism, sexism, and homophobia, both inside and outside of our Movement, in order to better develop a more meaningful educational plan of action (refer to Goals and Objectives). Advocating an educational revolution, we recognize that our bullets are our books and our victories are an increase in Chicana/Chicano graduates committed to our people's progress. We, as Mechistas must dismantle the co-optation of Raza students from becoming "corporate Hispanics" claiming to be leaders of our community with no understanding of El Pueblo Chicano. Instead, M.E.Ch.A. seeks to train future community leaders to be consciously committed to serve the people of Aztlán.
M.E.Ch.A. also supports Chicana and Chicano worker struggles to abolish economic and political exploitation. In the final analysis, we recognize that the destiny of the movement will be determined by each Mechista accepting responsibility for carrying the Movement forward.
Each MEChista's Responsibility
MEChA
Founded in 1969, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) is the youngest of the four "Hispanic" organizations. It is also the most unabashedly racist and its pronouncements the most incendiary. Reconquista The Takeover of America, prepared and published by the California Coalition for Immigration Reform in 1997, documents the truth about MEChA by quoting what the founders and supporters of this organization have said.
The first chapter of MEChA, called "El Plan de AZTLAN," was established at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1969. Other chapters eventually were formed at other colleges and even at high schools. "According to Miguel Carillo, a Chula Vista High School teacher, there are MEChA chapters at over 90% of the high schools in San Diego and Los Angeles."
Money facilitated this rapid growth. Where did the money come from? As unbelievable as it sounds, according to Jacqueline Carrasco of UCLA, "Most chapters get their budget from the (tax-funded) schools and sometimes from the associated students. Funds range from $100 to $8000 for larger schools such as Cal State Northrop."
Among the demands MEChA has made are rescinding California Proposition 187 (ending welfare benefits to illegal aliens); rescinding all "English Only laws; abolishing the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol; and open borders.
The goal of MEChA, however, is an independent "Aztlan," the collective name this organization gives to the seven States of the U.S. Southwest — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. According Miguel Perez of MEChA, at Cal State Northridge "When asked his preference of government, he replied, ‘Communism would be closest. Non-Chicanos would have to be expelled…opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep the power."'
As one of MEChA's mission statements declares "This is revolution at its basic level, moving the people ["Hispanics"] to confrontational politics…" At the November 1996 MEChA statewide conference, one thousand supporters assembled to condemn California Proposition 187 and Proposition 209 (ending bilingual education). According to Reconquista, California State University Professor, and MEChA advisor, Rodolfo Acuña — who previously stated "the (demise) of the Soviet Union was a tragedy for us" and "Chicanos have to get a lot more militant about defending our rights" — proclaimed "anyone who's supporting 209 is a racist and anybody who supports 187 is a racist… you are living in Nazi U.S. We can't let them take us to those intellectual ovens." Not surprisingly four months after those and other incendiary statements were uttered, a MEChA representative during a rally in front of Los Angeles City Hall publicly declared; "When the people in this building don't listen to the demands of our community, it's time to burn it down!"
This was not an empty threat. In 1993, in order to advance their demand for full department status for Chicano Studies at UCLA, MEChA spearheaded a riot that destroyed half a million dollars worth of campus property.
MEChA spreads its message of hate through campus newspapers such as El Popo, Aztlan News, Chispas, Gente de Aztlan (UCLA), Voz Fronteriza (UC at San Diego), La Voz Mestiza (UC at Irvine), and La Voz Berkeley. MEChA's hatred extends to any "Hispanic"-American who is loyal to the United States. For example, the front page of the May 1995 issue of Voz Fronteriza carried a picture of Luis A. Santiago and the story of how this INS agent was killed in the line of duty defending the U.S.-Mexican border. The headlines read "Luis A. Santiago Death Of A Migra Pig."
In April 1997, MEChA held its national conference at Michigan State University and decided, in an apparent attempt to be more indigenous, to change the spelling of its name replacing the "ch" with "x." "MEChA" became "MEXA" and "Chicano" became "Xicano."
Unlike MALDEF, and La Raza, MEChA apparently does not receive funding from the ford foundation, the Carnegie Corporation or the Rockefeller Foundation.
Unlike LULAC, MALDEF, and La Raza, MEChA does not have a national headquarters. Instead, it has regional centers.
MEChA (the Spanish acronym for "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan") actively promotes the view that the southern border of the United States is illegitimate, and even flirts with the idea of expelling non-Hispanics from the territories lost by Mexico and establishing an all-Hispanic nation to be known as Aztlan. It has an estimated 400 chapters in universities and high schools, mainly in the American West.
What does this citizens group have to do with Illegal Immigration?
What conclusions should I draw from this? This post is about illegal immigration and yet your posting about university Chicano activist groups?
Now - I don't have as many "reputation points" as some of the experts, but
its sounds like all 'hispanics' are being lumped into illegal sub-humans?
And, it was a joke when I got out of Viet Nam and entered college and from what I understand, it's still a joke (reconquista) fueled to new heights due to xenophoebia.
Focus on the "American GI Forum" that is the oldest "Hispanic/Latino" organization formed so the Military serviceman of Mexican descent could get a decent burial with the rest of the U.S. Military veterans.
M.E.C.h.A. is comprised of U.S. Citizens? U.S. Citizens for reconquista of the mythical Aztlan? Pass me some of whatever it is you're smokin' there, Tex.
Oh wait, you didn't even read the links did you? Of course not, why should this post be any different than the previous posts you've commented on!
M.E.C.h.A. is comprised of U.S. Citizens? U.S. Citizens for reconquista of the mythical Aztlan? Pass me some of whatever it is you're smokin' there, Tex.
Oh wait, you didn't even read the links did you? Of course not, why should this post be any different than the previous posts you've commented on!
Don't need to read the links superstar...those are not things to be taken seriously (see Black Panther, Aryan nation, KKK, Lions club, Masonic Lodge) and just cause you recently heard about them, some of us have known about them for a long time - they've been around.
Check out all the post, webpages you want, nothing replaces walking in Activist shoes. Don't use the word CHicano, if you don't know the history, don't profile or sterotype those that join those groups.
Can't really tell you what I think of you and your post, but it isn't in agreement. Sounds like personal propaganda. Simply, the "connotations" I recieve from your post are your deep dislikes for Mescans.
Don't need to read the links superstar...those are not things to be taken seriously (see Black Panther, Aryan nation, KKK, Lions club, Masonic Lodge) and just cause you recently heard about them, some of us have known about them for a long time - they've been around.
Check out all the post, webpages you want, nothing replaces walking in Activist shoes. Don't use the word CHicano, if you don't know the history, don't profile or sterotype those that join those groups.
Can't really tell you what I think of you and your post, but it isn't in agreement. Sounds like personal propaganda. Simply, the "connotations" I recieve from your post are your deep dislikes for Mescans.
But here puff on this.
I love the way you feel free to comment on material you haven't read. No ignorance in that methodology. If you had read the material, then you would realize that two of the sites are pro-M.E.C.h.A. and explain the history quite adequately, at least from the "Activist Chicano" point of view.
I doubt if a person could travel around this country and gather enough Klan members to fill a high school football stadium. Neither do you see any of the above mentioned hate groups actively recruiting at high schools and collegees with the benign compliance of the United States government. But then again, I guess you failed to pick up that little tidbit with your superior psychic abilities since the actual analysis of the written word is so far beneath you.
I won't even lower myself to reply to the "mescans" inuendo except to say that I have never, nor would I ever, denigrate an entire culture by using the slang vernacular to describe an ethnic group of people.
By the way, it's "I" before "E" except after "C"--receive.
I love the way you feel free to comment on material you haven't read. No ignorance in that methodology. If you had read the material, then you would realize that two of the sites are pro-M.E.C.h.A. and explain the history quite adequately, at least from the "Activist Chicano" point of view.
I doubt if a person could travel around this country and gather enough Klan members to fill a high school football stadium. Neither do you see any of the above mentioned hate groups actively recruiting at high schools and collegees with the benign compliance of the United States government. But then again, I guess you failed to pick up that little tidbit with your superior psychic abilities since the actual analysis of the written word is so far beneath you.
I won't even lower myself to reply to the "mescans" inuendo except to say that I have never, nor would I ever, denigrate an entire culture by using the slang vernacular to describe an ethnic group of people.
By the way, it's "I" before "E" except after "C"--receive.
"Mescans" is an affectionate term (you flunked) and yes, you passed spelling. Now can you contribute to society? or are you going to preach hate as a Professional student of "whatever"...
and yes, I'm a lazy typist - but I don't pretend to be an expert. Happy pretending.
"Mescans" is an affectionate term? Not according to my Mexican American neighbor or my Mexican American niece, nephews and brother-in-law. Actually my brother-in-law, with whom I just got off of the phone, said that perhaps it is an affectionate term--in the way that the "N" word was an affectionate term slave owners used with regards to their slaves.
I don't pretend to be an expert on anything, but at least I research material before I go around commenting on it rather than relying on osmosis to get me through.
By the way Tex, unless you have something useful to contribute to this thread, I would really appreciate it if you would just go elsewhere. You seem to be on the lookout for anything I post just so that you can come along behind me and toss in your non-sequiter two cents worth. Why don't you go haunt the Politics by Permeation thread and leave me alone?
"Mescans" is an affectionate term? Not according to my Mexican American neighbor or my Mexican American niece, nephews and brother-in-law. Actually my brother-in-law, with whom I just got off of the phone, said that perhaps it is an affectionate term--in the way that the "N" word was an affectionate term slave owners used with regards to their slaves.
I don't pretend to be an expert on anything, but at least I research material before I go around commenting on it rather than relying on osmosis to get me through.
By the way Tex, unless you have something useful to contribute to this thread, I would really appreciate it if you would just go elsewhere. You seem to be on the lookout for anything I post just so that you can come along behind me and toss in your non-sequiter two cents worth. Why don't you go haunt the Politics by Permeation thread and leave me alone?
Kele, you have always known how to draw them out of the woodwork....LOL
"Mescans" is an affectionate term? Not according to my Mexican American neighbor or my Mexican American niece, nephews and brother-in-law. Actually my brother-in-law, with whom I just got off of the phone, said that perhaps it is an affectionate term--in the way that the "N" word was an affectionate term slave owners used with regards to their slaves.
I don't pretend to be an expert on anything, but at least I research material before I go around commenting on it rather than relying on osmosis to get me through.
By the way Tex, unless you have something useful to contribute to this thread, I would really appreciate it if you would just go elsewhere. You seem to be on the lookout for anything I post just so that you can come along behind me and toss in your non-sequiter two cents worth. Why don't you go haunt the Politics by Permeation thread and leave me alone?
It is useful - don't you wan't anyone to question your motives for a more
'pure' and useful purpose? Wouldn't that 'perfect' your whining about reconquista, mescans, etc..
I know you would rather hear "good girl - you go", but, I can't. Let me give you an example "you know your brother or sister is ugly and you tell them that all the time, but you also protect and defend them when someone else tell them"
Oh, and I wasn't talking about Mexican-Americans. I'm talking my group 'mescans' - do you remember reading that a large number of people were asked to decide loyalties to whatever country? If your Mexican American neighbors or relatives don't consider that a 'term of endearment' why should they consider it a negative? is it because people like you and before you (way before you) have always addressed Mexican as a negative.
There's you a purpose - educate those around you. As a professional student, how do you contribute to your community? church? school? anything?
...well you always got your Rep points to be proud of.
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More on M.E.C.h.A.
Pass me some of whatever it is you're smokin' there, Tex.