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HispanicVista Columnists

By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

July 28, 2008

 

The usual picket groups were out in force in front of the San Diego Convention Center where the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) was holding its annual convention. The signs indicated their individual and groups’ displeasure with illegal immigration and other signs claiming La Raza was discriminatory, bigoted and thus NCLR is a “hate group.”

This year’s NCLR’s convention attracted more media attention due to the presumptive presidential candidates from both major parties appearing on different days to sway the Latino vote.

The picketers think they have a winning argument with their interpretation and selective translation of the words La Raza. It means race, therefore, NCLR is for open borders, and Latinos in general don’t want to assimilate; and La Raza excludes all but themselves, which as everyone knows, is un-American, and they are the only group that excludes all others from their organization, thus La Raza is part of the Mexican governments secret plan to re-conquer (Reconquista theory) lost territories; and thus the inescapable conclusion can only be that NCLR is a hate group.

In the 1920s, Mexico’s Jose Vasconcelos, the father of Mexican public education, among other accomplishments, wrote a book titled, “La Raza Cosmica” (The Cosmic Race). He described a “new people” made by the meeting with the “old” people. By the “old people” he meant, Europeans, Africans, Asians, Arabians, and Jews who converged in the newly discovered world, now the Americas, in the 1500s. Though the people they met in the new world had been here for thousands of years, they were “new” to those arriving.

The mixing of the visitors (the old) with the new, Vasconcelos described, created a “new people” – La Raza.  Thus La Raza are the first people who are the true “melting pot” in the Americas, something that in future years the United States would take great pride in claiming as its own to illustrate the inclusive nature of its people.

La Raza, however, excludes all those who are not part of the original or continuing mixing of the old with the new people of the Americas. That is not of their making, it is as it happened.

That La Raza both includes and excludes is no different than most other organizations. The Daughters of the Revolution for instance, includes those who can trace their ancestry to participants of the original Revolution, and excludes those who cannot prove such ancestry. This organization is, however, racist because it has turned away descendants of free black slaves who fought in the Revolution. Should they be classified as a hate group? Membership in NCLR is open to all who wish to participate irregardless of race or ethnicity – so it cannot be said they are racists.

Racial and ethnic groups very often form organizations to promote and defend their own. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; The Order Sons of Italy in America as two examples.

Most European American ethnic groups have their own organizations to keep their customs and culture alive and to pass to succeeding generations. But hardly anyone in the United States pickets these organizations and calls them racist or hate groups.

The question then begs – why the Latino organizations?  Is being in favor of immigration reform, paramount to being for “open borders”? Is the desire of Latinos to keep their ancestral language, heritage and culture something to fear as un-American?

As to the accusations that La Raza does not want to assimilate into the American lifestyle, what part of the NCLR convention was not understood? The meetings were held in English, the speakers spoke English, the audience was overwhelmingly composed of US citizens; and its leadership spoke clearly on the subject of immigration without once manifesting an open border policy, but a strong desire for reform and humane treatment for illegal immigrants.

Like it or not, La Raza is about as American as it gets and NCLR is a part of La Raza.

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Patrick Osio is Editor of HispanicVista.com and host of The Baja Connection with Patrick Osio radio program in San Diego’s Kool 1040 AM. The Monday through Friday program can be heard from 6 to 7 PM Pacific time – also on the Internet at www.transbordercommunications.com – Contact at: Posiojr@aol.com

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95 making it possible to download the manual for save on your hard drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while reaping considerable savings over printed copies.