Why do so some polls in California show this person to be in the lead, when he obviously subscribes to racist ideologies. This past thursday, he refused to renounce his ties to the extremist, hate group MEChA.
The groups motto is “For the race everything. For those outside, nothing”. The group has also been associated with anti-semitic groups, such as Nation of Aztlan.
This MEChA group, which Bustamante thinks highly of, seems like a bunch of Mexican Nazis.
So, what is the reason for his popularity and support ? Do Californians not care about his racist ties ? Are they racists themselves ? Do many Californians want to turn the state into “Mexifornia” ?
Most people know about Schwarzenegger’s father being a Nazi, something which he is not proud of at all, evidenced by his support for various Jewish organisations, including the Wiesenthal center. I would think that it is slightly more a problem if a canditate running for office (Bustamante) was a racist himself, which is evidenced by his support for violent, racist organisations.
Oh boy! A Fox News link - so you know it’s Fair and BalancedTM. And I see they are quoting that blowhard Larry Elder. He’s nothing but a reactionary right-wing radio talk show host of the same ilk as Rush. Sorry, but I’m withholding judgment until I hear from a real source.
I don’t know anything about MECHa, but the Nation of Aztlan are certainly very antisemitic, just as bad as other hate-groups such as the KKK (infact I believe they re-publish KKK articles).
Perahps searchlight (the anti-facist magazine) might have some information on them:
Aztlan was the legendary original home of the Aztecs. The term is used by some radical Hispanic groups in the southwestern United States who want to set up a racially pure independent Hispanic state in the American Southwest.
Ok from my perusal of things, “Voz de Aztlan” is pretty effed up. But this is apparently a very, very small group of people. While I’ve found some evidence that they like MECHa I haven’t (yet) found any evidence that the MECHa cares that much for them.
Consider an example: a KKK member likes the Republican party. This KKK member is also a member of the Republican party. Does it follow that the Republicans like the KKK?
So an explicit MECHa endorsement of Voz de Aztlan is in order.
My impression of Aztlan is that they are Anti-Zionist (as opposed to anti-Jewish, there is a difference)and over the top paranoid. Their anti-gay stance isn’t that far from many bible-belt Republicans.
I pretty much dislike Bible-belt Republicans, too.
And one more thing about the territory claimed to be “Aztlan”. Anyone actually familiar with the region will know that it was never politically, linguistically, nor culturally unified before it was done under a European invader (Spain).
The “Aztlan” movement is a racist movement, and MECHa explicitly (if you go and read MECHa’s constitution) advocates this “Aztlan”.
Voz de Aztlán is most likely a tiny fringe group. They have no real connection with MEChA, and if anything are either a radical islamist attempt at recruiting disgruntled Mexican-Americans or a put on by some other extremists to ‘prove’ how dangerous Mexicans really are.
MEChA is mostly campus based. It is hardly a mass movement. It has little pull outside the liberal arts department of a few campuses. I would argue it had a place for such groups in the 1970’s when there was more blatant racism. (If we can forgive some of Schwarzenegger’s marijuana use and sexual behavior from the 1970’s as products of their time, why not Bustamante’s youthful radicalism).
Most MEChA members I know of today (and I went to a university with a chapter) are not much different than any other campus based left-wing group. Some of the members are dingbats to be sure, but none would threaten anyone’s safety. And they are not connected to antisemitism or terrorism in anyway.
Also “Aztlán” can mean a lot of things. It really refers to the original semi-mythical home of the Mexica (Aztecs). Some use it to describe the areas of the Southwest that were originally part of Mexico- before 1848. A few over the years have advocated separatism, and only the far left and far right take that element of the movement seriously in some way.
Most of the Aztlanistas are actually anti-“Hispanic”, and advocate returning to the Mexica (Indian) heritage - which is somewhat problematic because, in truth not all Mexican-Americans are from the same origins and there are “real” indigenous people (Apache, Dine, etc.) that beg to differ with the assertion that the “Aztecas” are native to the southwest. In all, it is a movement founded at a time when there were real social injustices, but has become increasingly marginal over the years.
There is nothing anti-semitic about the the MECHa constitution. You still need to support that accusation.
From what I can tell Aztlan is a symbolic place. From thisarticle
I encourage to read the link.
My impression of them in college was like any other student group that sponsored events and speakers. If you were hispanic and politically active at my school, you probably joined MECHa, that’s all there was to it.
I’m sorry but I’m just undwhelmed by the proof of your accusations. As I said, Aztlan appears to be symbolic and it’s not symbolic for killing the white people or whatever you think it is. It’s about self empowerment and recognition of a culture that has faced a lot of oppression.
My impession is that if you accused a MECHa member of trying to create a race based state, they would laugh in your face.