I got a phone call tonight, on my cell phone, from a young lady who said that Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez should “learn English” and “go back to Mexico.” The caller blurted out something about the Holocaust and then hung up.
I was left wondering if the anonymous caller knew anything about the Native American Holocaust? Or that Alvarez, like 60% of modern Mexicans and Mexican Americans, is a Mestizo – which means she is descended from Native Americans and the Spanish who conquered Mexico. (Another 30% of today’s Mexicans are thought to be Natives even today – in fact many of these people still speak only their native tongues).
Alvarez erred by comparing Santa Ana business owner and developer Irv Chase to Adolf Hitler – but she was trying to make a valid point – that Chase has systematically profited over the years by partnering with former Santa Ana City Manager Dave Ream to squeeze Latinos out of Downtown Santa Ana. Chase’s purchase of the Yost Theater, which Ream arranged to have effectively stolen from the Olivas family, is but one such example of this.
Did the Chase family suffer in Germany during WWII? Yes, regrettably they did. In fact six million European Jews and other minorities, such as gays and Gypsies, were killed during WWII, in what is now known as the Holocaust. This was not the first time Jews were targeted in Europe. Spain expelled them during the Inquisition, killing many in the process. Some of them ended up in Mexico.
But a far more horrific genocide occurred in Mexico, and the rest of the Western Hemisphere – when over 90 million Native Americans were killed, by disease and guns. The Spanish conquistadors destroyed the Aztec Empire – enslaving their victims and setting up a caste system that saw the Natives end up on the very bottom of the new Mexican society.
The Spanish murdered with complete abandon – and raped at will. But what the Americans did to the Native Americans was just as bad:
How many of the white Republicans now attacking Alvarez are descended from the very killers who massacred Native Americans with glee?
The fact is, Mexicans know all too well what genocide is all about. Some of us have known it in both the Old and the New World. My maternal Great Grandfather was a Sephardi Jew, whose family fled Spain during the Inquisition. But my maternal Great Grandmother was a full blooded Native American, who was forced to marry a Spanish rancher in Texas at the young age of 14. She later escaped, taking my maternal grandfather with her, to Mexico, where she ended up living in one of Pancho Villa’s camps. She later became a curandera, a Mexican healer. My grandfather was always very proud that he was born an American.
Mexicans are full of such stories. One of these days I will have to sit down with Alvarez and find out where her family came from, and what they endured on the way to the U.S.
Alvarez is no anti-Semite, that I know for sure. I also know that she came here at a young age, from Mexico, and eventually went to law school, became an attorney and then ended up working in the O.C. District Attorney’s office, as a prosecutor. We should all be proud of her success – nothing was ever handed to her. She had to work to get where she is today.
Minuteman Lupe Moreno ripped Alvarez today in the O.C. Register. That figures. Moreno hates her own people. That she would call Alvarez out is complete hypocrisy considering that Moreno wants to deport all the Mexicans who are here in the U.S. today.
Doesn’t Moreno realize that this hemisphere once belonged to our Native American ancestors? Doesn’t she know they were murdered by the Europeans? I guess not.
Don’t forget that Moreno is an appointed member of the OC GOP Central Committee, which Thomas Gordon, another Alvarez critic, was reelected to last year. Racism and hatred of Mexicans is part and parcel of everything that party does.
That Moreno thinks it is OK to rip Mexicans tells you all you need to know about her – and all of the other white Republicans, and their fake liberal allies, who are now calling on Alvarez to resign.
Of course she should not resign. How silly. Does she need to choose her words more carefully? Sure, but Chase is by no means the only guy in town whose ancestors suffered greatly at the hands of Europeans…
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Should she step down as mayor pro tem?
No.
"But a far more horrific genocide occurred in Mexico..."
I'm sorry: When you stoop to claiming that one genocide was more horrific than another, you've stepped into the territory of hyperbole and are just making excuses for bad behavior. Claudia's behavior was reprehensible, period. Knowing the trials and tribulations that her (and my) ancestors face doesn't make her any less culpable for her actions.
If you're going to offer as a voucher for her character the breadth of her education and success, then based on those facts I have to draw the conclusion that she should have known better.
I can't say whether in her heart Claudia Alvarez is an anti-semite, or any other sort of bigot, but the obvious contempt she has for people with whom she disagrees is definitely a flaw in her character. And her lack of professionalism on the Council dais is a valid reason to question her fitness for office.
To answer your question, yes, she can be anti-semitic_if her ancestors suffered a "holocaust" too.
If somebody claims that a jew is acting like Hitler though is that being anti-semetic? If somebody says that a black person is acting like a slave owner is that being anti-black? If somebody says that a Mexican is acting like a Minuteman, does that mean that such a statement is being anti-Mexican? hmmm? Are we even allowed to go there?
A Mexican Minuteman? You just described Lupe Moreno!
Common Paul, give the girl some breathing room... "professionalism" is just a BS word made up by people with little charisma and talent. People are people no matter what stupid position they hold. And come to think of it, I'm sick and tired of all of these "professionals" and their pc, bs, hiding behind their stupid Shirt, tie, and irrelevant "language skills".
many "professionals" are just incompetent bureaucrats with no real talent outside of exploiting the economic, "capitalist" (America is a Corporatocracy...Far different than Capitalism) American system. The imbalance of this system, especially here in So cal is so far beyond anything that has to do with anything fiscally sane it blows my freaking mind.
Alvarez is A-OK! At least for now... :-)
The gentile white man has f*cked up a lot of sh*t. Go into what they did to the Black man next. You could make a whole series out of this.
Firstly, there is a huge difference between being Indian and being a descendant. As california indians, we continue to live on our ancestral land. We haven't left. I am confused when people use the term Hispanic and Latino, which seem very distant from anyone who identifies as "indigenous". And the use of the term "mestizo" becomes further evidence of a distance people have from a direct relationship and participation to tribal communities. The use of that one really confuses me?
I certainly don't see many folks in Santa Ana standing up, rallying for the original people of the land. InfaWhat I do see is a local tragedy, a California Indian Holocaust, being reduced in significance as a result of a generalized use of the term Native American Holocaust.
Alvarez' anti-semitic racist attacks are just that, racist and an expression of hatred and unacceptable in the space of professionalism. She should be removed. There is an indian saying....you can't swallow your words.
Cindi,
Nice try, but I don't know any self-respecting Native Americans who call themselves "Indians" so you are obviously a faker.
The borders the American thieves created did not exist, nor did the Spanish borders. This was one land, plundered by Euros.
Alvarez is no racist but her Republican critics are.
"Alvarez is no racist but her Republican critics are. "
What about people like me, flamingly liberal Democrats who believe it's right to hold Claudia accountable for the words that come out of her mouth? Are you going to suggest that I'm a racist, too, because I have the audacity to disagree with Claudia or you, Art?
Your generalizations and assumptions about people further no cause and I, for one, just can't take you seriously on this. It's fine if you generally support Claudia, but I don't understand how you can try to justify what she said based on the history of her ethnicity, or the fact that people with opposite political views are also just as vile.
Claudia really screwed up on Wednesday and her subsequent PR campaign smacks of arrogance and entitlement. It's disappointing behavior from someone who supposedly represents me and my city, regardless of her political ideology.
Paul,
I don't know what your stances are on immigration or civil rights. I know plenty of Democrats who are as bad as the Republicans when it comes to bashing immigrants.
Gustavo Arellano said it best - she was right about everything she said, but she picked a bad analogy.
Your name suggests that you are a Mestizo too. Deal with it.
Don't condescend me, Art. Neither you, Gustavo Arellano, Claudia Alvarez, nor anyone else, has the right to judge or define my experience with my ethnicity, so don't try reading into what my name does or doesn't say bout me. And my stance on immigration is irrelevant and none of your concern; don't obfuscate the issue with a non sequitur.
I wasn't at the Council meeting Wednesday, but before I formed an opinion on the matter I did take the time to review the video of the last 90 minutes or so. What I saw when it was Claudia's turn to speak was someone who paused periodically as she lectured the Chases and supporters of the PBID. Her intermittent pauses suggest a certain amount of deliberation behind her words, so you can't convince me that she didn't know what she was saying. She knew exactly what she was saying and she was obviously reveling in her power.
Just as I thought. Well Tio Tomas I can look at video too. We will be posting a collection of Irv Chase's anti-Mexican rants at Council meetings next week. And we will also be posting audio clips from more racist Chase comments made at Planning Commission meetings. Game on!
Admin says:
August 26, 2011 at 7:21 pm
So did Bustamante, with his infamous water bra comments. Yet he is still on the Council…
-------------------------
Yes he is still on the council, but he stepped down as mayor pro tem, and from other appointed boards.
You my friend hit the ceiling when some white guy "in a joking manner" called a Latino "who was smiling and egging him on" a "wetback" That led into your "hategate" bs. It also led to other council members walking out of a council meeting in a show of disrespect because of one word.
I expect that most people will believe that calling a "Jew" Hitler and accusing him / them of a form of murder is as least as bad as saying "wetback" to a Latino.
So I ask you again for your opinion.
For her ignorant choice of words, deliberated before speaking, should she step down as mayor pro tem AND resign from the county water board and other boards and commission post she may hold?
Just like the other councilman did.
cook,
Shouldn't you be out working on Fiala's campaign?
Bustamante stepped down because the Latino legislators forced him too. They would not approve his nomination, with good reason.
Chase thinks he is going to get away with his own racist comments but we will be posting all of that next week. He cannot hide from the city's audio and video clips. By the time we are done with him folks will know who the real hater is.
Alvarez should not step down from anything. She terms out next year. Then the Usual Suspects can run for her seat, and lose to another Latino.
Art, please do post videos of Irv Chase. I'd be happy to comment on the inappropriateness of his language after I've heard them. I'm certainly not defending the Chases; my gut instinct is not to trust them and the more I learn about them, the less I respect them. However, just because Irv Chase has said some awful things doesn't give license to Claudia to stoop to his level.
She hasn't. Trust me he has said far worse. She made a bad analogy - but she was spot on otherwise.
By the end of next week you will all know what Chase is all about.