Posted on 09/04/2003 6:12:21 PM PDT by Weimdog
Mr. Bustamante's cheap shots are disappointing on several levels. For one, he should know how it feels to have cheap shots taken at him. Some critics have attacked him over his membership in the 1970s in the MEChA, the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan. With its motto--"For the race, everything. For those outside the race, nothing"--and its call for the "liberation" of the territories Mexico ceded to the U.S. in 1848--MEChA is hardly a mainstream group. But it's a stretch to liken it to the Ku Klux Klan, as some critics have done. "You won't convince moderate Latinos that MEChA is dangerous, because many professionals encountered it in college as an ethnic identity group and its politics were secondary," says Martha Montelongo, who hosts a radio show at KION in Monterey. "There are more important and recent issues of ethnic separatism to hold Cruz Bustamante to account for."
Chief among them is the lieutenant governor's support for the failed policy of bilingual education, which has done great damage to aspiring immigrant children. Here Mr. Bustamante has gone beyond merely disagreeing over the best public policy course. In February he lent considerable support to Nativo Lopez, a controversial Santa Ana school board member who was facing a recall. Mr. Lopez is known as the Al Sharpton of Southern California for his ethnic demagogy. He'd drawn the ire of his constituents, many of whom are Hispanic, for failing to improve local schools, but mostly for pressuring parents to demand bilingual education for their children.
In 1998, 61% of Californians voted for Proposition 227, which mandated that English be the primary language taught in public schools. (School districts that have followed Proposition 227's mandate have seen test scores rise for immigrant children.) But Mr. Lopez was hoping to pressure enough parents into defying the referendum so as to render it unenforceable in Santa Ana.
Mr. Bustamante campaigned for Mr. Lopez even though the entire Santa Ana City Council, which has a Latino majority, supported his recall. Beatriz Salas, who immigrated from Mexico 20 years ago, says she was appalled when she and other parents attended a meeting with Mr. Lopez in 1999, where he admitted that his goal was to make Spanish the primary language in California.
Earlier this year, Ms. Salas met Mr. Bustamante and asked him why he had supported Mr. Lopez. "He said it had to do with his anger at Ron Unz, the sponsor of Proposition 227," she told me. "He said that because Unz was all for English instruction he was all for Spanish instruction, and I guess that included Nativo Lopez. I was very disappointed in his answer."
Vivian Martinez, who led the group of parents opposed to Mr. Lopez, says that Mr. Bustamante personally called residents and later urged voters to reject the recall in a recorded phone message. In the end, the people of Santa Ana ignored the Latino power structure. Mr. Lopez was recalled by a resounding 71% vote. He lost every precinct in a city where almost three-fourths of the residents speak Spanish at home.
The parents I spoke with couldn't help but note the irony of Mr. Bustamante going against Hispanic parents who want their children to learn English. A profile in the Orange County Register pointed out that Mr. Bustamante's parents "would not speak Spanish in his household when he was young" so that he could learn English. Mr. Bustamante has accomplished a lot, including becoming the first statewide Latino officeholder in over 100 years. "But since 45% of Latino kids don't graduate from high school, one wonders where he would be today if his father hadn't insisted on an English-only approach," says Ms. Montelongo. "Why is he opposing parents who have their own idea on how best their children can succeed?"
No major candidate for governor of California in this election is anti-immigrant. But having raised the bloody shirt of anti-immigration, Cruz Bustamante should be forced to explain his support for Nativo Lopez, who was repudiated by the very people he claims to represent.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
For any information junkies out there: The profile of Cruz referenced in the article was written by Mark Katches and appeared in The Orange County Register on October 22, 1998.
Section: News
Page: A 15
Title: Bustamante is returning to his original language
POLITICS: His use of Spanish faded when his parents pushed him to learn English.
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