Question for Californians, regarding Bustamante

[Syrinx]

Is he an anti-Anglo racist? That's what I heard on some tv show, I can't even remember which channel. They said he was a member of some Mexican hate group, kind of a Mexican version of the Ku Klux Klan. I think it was Tucker Carlson that said it on Crossfire last week. Plus I 've seen stories on Drudge about Bustamante railing against "niggers." If this stuff is true, I think I'd prefer Arnold.

[AP]

1. The media is telling lies about that group. The head of the GOP's

latino outreach group was a member. Someone here posted a thread about it the other day.

You can here Bustamante talk about the slip-up on Tavis Smiley's shoe on Wednesday, August 20, 2003. (follow the links at www.npr.org).

I can't help but get the impression that this post is feinging ignorance about these issues (which have been addressed extensively here at DU) in order to stir up controversy.

[Syrinx]

5. please don't accuse me of that

"I can't help but get the impression that this post is feinging ignorance about these issues (which have been addressed extensively here at DU) in order to stir up controversy."

While it's apparent that I'm a little more moderate than the prevailing wisdom at DU on some issues, I'm no freeper. I'm a donating member and have over 1200 posts and I have no time for the childish antics of frat boys and freepers.

You answered the question quite well, until you veered into bad teritory. Why must you accuse me of being a traitor, when I simply wanted to seek expertise I don't have.

Excuse me, I haven't been on DU much the last few days. I've been wrapped up in the Alabama/Oklahoma hype. (As you probably know, we got our asses kicked.)

Anyone but bush!

[AP]

8. Over a thousand posts, an interest in the subject...

and you didn't know the answer to your questions already? Where have you been?

Look, I didn't say you were a freeper. I just suspected that you were trying to stir up controversy. I didn't know you were an avowed moderate, but so be it.

I also don't know how the quality of my answers to your questions could be modified by my last statement. They're good or bad on their own terms. My opinion of your intentions are a separate matter.

[Syrinx]

9. I'm pretty dang liberal...

but moderate on some issues compared to this DU community.

I've really not noticed this topic before. Maybe it's just because I've only now gotten really interested in the race. Or because that's the first time I've heard about that stuff about Cruz.

You can speculate on my intentions all you want, I know what they are. I wouldn't be here, and certainly wouldn't donate money, if I didn't believe in the general ideals of Democratic Underground.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. No. This op-ed from LA Times explains it best.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=9101
Shedding Some Light on Bustamante's Dark Activist Past


Pssst!
Guess what.
Cruz Bustamante doesn't just want to be governor of California.
Have you heard?

He's got ties to an allegedly racist, separatist Latino group called MEChA. Sure, he might act and look like a governor once he takes office. But that would just be a front.

Behind the scenes, Cruz "Bandolero" Bustamante would wage war on the gringo, carrying out a bold plot to return California and six other Western states to Mexico.

snip>
"Are you also a member of MEChA?" one reader demanded, assuming that because of my last name, I might be in on the revolution.
Actually, I'm not a member of MEChA. But more and more, I do like the idea of creating a separate state.

What I'd like to do is take all the yahoos who have nothing better to do than circulate paranoid e-mails and regurgitate every hysterical inanity they hear on talk radio, load these folks onto buses, and create a hideaway for them somewhere in Death Valley, or preferably Idaho.

[Clete]

3. No.

But his opponents are going to try to paint him that way. The Mexican "hate" group was a university club that promoted racial pride. Mostly they got together as mixers, dancing, music and such. I guess you could say that about any ethnic club. Liar Tucker would say that and I'd say the racist label doesn't fall far from his feet. Arnold has ranted against Niggers and there is proof. There is none about Bustamente.

[not systems]

4. It is not true.

The group he was in still exist on campuses it
it no more a hate group than the campus debate club.

look here for info:

http://www.azteca.net/aztec/mecha/smearingofbustamante.html

Bustamante did not "rail" against "n*" he said the word
when he ment negros. He apologised. It was a dumb thing
to do. He was speaking to a mostly african american
audiance when he said it.

What you are thinking Cruz is Arnold is for real.

[not systems]

6. mecha on fox

[Syrinx]

7. thanks everyone

Clete, nothingshocksmeanymore and ezmojason. I asked a reasonable question and got reasonable answers.

[David__77]

11. Just wanted to reiterate...

that MEChA is really just a Chicano student/youth group. My high school had one, and my Spanish teacher was its faculty advisor. There certainly was no anti-white chauvinism here. Its founding members did include supporters of Chicano pride, which along with Asian pride and Black pride were a proper manifestation of the civil rights movement among long-oppressed people. But, more than anything, MEChA today is a group instilling pride and motivation to succeed among Latino youth, who are underrepresented on college campuses and in many professions. There is wide respect for the group in the Latino community for this reason, even among right-leaning Latinos! This issue is entirely a ref herring raised by actually-racist hate radio figures imagining some anti-white conspiracy.

[waggawagga]

10. No

Bustamante was involved with a group called Mecha during his student days. Have you set foot on campus during the past thirty years? These ethnic identity groups exist and sometimes use inflammatory language. Bustamante doesn't want to get drawn into this vortex by condemning the group (all he can do at this point is say nothing or else Republicans would make hay with it).

As for the "N" word, I think he fumbled during a speech he gave on Martin Luther King day. This is another situation where you just have to think. Why would a politician use this word intentionally at this kind of venue? This isn't even like Jackson's "hymietown" comment (it's more like saying "I don't" at your own wedding because you're nervous).