Dear Editor,
I am an alumnus and was recently browsing the Campus Times Web site when I came across the article regarding the formation of a MEChA chapter at ULV [“MEChA to start chapter,“ April 2]. After reading the article, I must admit that I am somewhat confused as to what exactly the goals and philosophy of this chapter of MEChA are, since they seem to contradict those of the national organization.
In the past, I had heard some disturbing things about MEChA, so I decided to investigate for myself. The Web sites of every chapter had a common mission statement, known as “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán.” El Plan is an interesting document. It speaks about Americans of European descent as “gringos” and “gaubachos,” calls for a return of the southwest to Mexico, refers to North America as a “bronze continent “ for “bronze people,” and sounds the rallying cry “For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada,” which means “For the Race, everything. For those outside the Race, nothing.” Read it for yourself at www.berkeleymecha.org/documents/epeda.
The Campus Times article said that MEChA “opposes racism…and oppression of any kind.” Forgive me if I find that hard to believe in light of El Plan. Any mission statement that speaks in terms of racial epithets, ethnic cleansing and the total and deliberate disenfranchisement of those outside the preferred ethnic group seems pretty far from a racially tolerant organization to me. If such words came out of the mouth of a person of European descent, that person would likely be a Neo-Nazi or member of the Aryan Nation. Interesting parallel, isn’t it? Perhaps El Plan should be called “La Solución Final.”
While it is perfectly reasonable to have student organizations representing the diversity of our society at the University, MEChA is a flatly racist organization that has no place in the atmosphere of multicultural tolerance that ULV strives to maintain. I have no doubt that the administration would never allow the Ku Klux Klan or the Aryan Brotherhood to set up a chapter at ULV, nor should they. Groups that espouse racial hatred should never be embraced by the University.
According to Ms. Bucio, “Many people have stereotypes and think we’re radical activists, but we’re not.” Gee, why would anyone think that about MEChA? Maybe this chapter is different. If so, then it should formally repudiate El Plan as the racist diatribe that it is.
Dan Ross
Class of 2002
Dear Editor,
Since I teach a course on the death penalty at ULV I find it hard not to respond to Taylor Kingsbury’s very misleading opinion piece on the Deanna Laney case in Texas [“Mommy’s deadly hands found not guilty,” April 16]. Laney was found “not guilty by reason of insanity” following a capital trial in Texas and will spend the rest of her life in a Texas institution for the criminally insane. This does not mean that she was “cleared of all charges” and Mr. Kingsbury’s notion that Laney will be released when her condition improves is ludicrous. Even the prosecutor in this case agreed that the verdict was appropriate and all of the expert witnesses (including the prosecution psychiatrist) agreed that Laney was insane at the time of the crime.
Interestingly, Mr. Kingsbury seems so upset by this case that his own reasoning appears to go by the wayside. Maybe some reflection would allow him to understand Laney’s condition a little better. He suggests at one point that Laney should be doused in alcohol and set on fire, and he suggests expanding the death penalty to include more crimes even though he appears to know nothing about how the death penalty actually works, especially in Texas where discrimination and mistakes are rampant (California’s death penalty system doesn’t work much better). It is this kind of unthinking response that keeps the dysfunctional capital punishment system limping along and prevents any intelligent consideration of how it might be reformed (or abolished if reforms aren’t workable, like most other modern countries have found).
Please, Mr. Kingsbury, next time you decide to write on a topic like this, take the time to learn something about it first.
Ernie Thomson
Associate Professor of Sociology/Criminology
Dan Ross
