I have had the great privilege of editing and writing for La Voz de Aztlan this year. Throughout both semesters, our issues focused on stories relevant to Hispanic and student concerns, from the gubernatorial debate between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown to the controversy surrounding undocumented Associated Students Inc. President Pedro Ramirez. As part of the ethnic supplement for the Chicano Latin American Studies department, it was our duty and responsibility to highlight current events critical to our constituency.
However, recent remarks have categorized the La Voz de Aztlan publication and its contributors as radical Chicano supremacists conspiring to reclaim this land back to the Mexicans. La Voz de Aztlan made no attempt at reviving a debate from 1848, and the likelihood of reclaiming this land back to the Mexicans is as likely as figuring out the spot where the first American was shot to start that war.
This attack from student activist Neil O’Brien (who appeared on the May 9, 2011, issue of La Voz for his questioning of ASI President Pedro Ramirez) is part of his ongoing crusade to hold this university accountable for harboring undocumented students as well as to demonize any opposition to his arguments. This means any Chicano group and the student publication La Voz de Aztlan.
His criticism of Hector Cerda’s article “ASI wasteful spending and accountability” is unfounded, his article was an opinion piece with key phrases like “it seems like,” “it looks like” placed under the editorial section of the paper. Cerda’s investigation led him to a series of questions, not to a definitive conclusion.
Likewise, O’Brien takes aim at Luis A. Sanchez’s poem “America,” labeling it hate speech. To this I ask, does life experience matter? Is history true? Can an individual with native Purepecha ancestry write a poem about genocide in America? Besides O’Brien’s literary criticism, his attempt at silencing artistic expression is despotic and ominous.
His most blatant attack, however, was directed toward reporter Ana Mendoza, which I take personal. Not only is Ana Mendoza a dedicated reporter, but also a fine mother and a proud woman. O’Brien caricatures Ana Mendoza as an irresponsible mother willing to sacrifice her child’s safety for political perception. This is a cowardly attack that should be frowned upon. It doesn’t speak volume to the level of conviction Mendoza has in her beliefs, enough to compel her to expose her family to the reality of democratic practices, which involves dissent as one of its elements.
The claim that Mendoza is driven by a bias in her reporting is false as well. Not only does she write for La Voz de Aztlan, but she has received journalistic awards for her articles for The Collegian.
This is not a condemnation on Neil O’Brien and his activist work, much of which is his own investigation into discrepancies in the university system, but rather his animosity toward those who hold differing points of view and his expression through jingoistic rhetoric and nativist sentiment.
I, as the editor of La Voz de Aztlan, do not belong to any Chicano organization or to the idea that American land should be reclaimed back to Aztlan. La Voz de Aztlan, as well as other ethnic supplements, emerged out of the movements of the ‘60s when students began to identify themselves with their own ethnic heritage, La Voz de Aztlan being the voice for the newly discovered Chicanos. Fifty years later, La Voz de Aztlan continues to express concerns for the Chicanos at Fresno State.
Moises Hernandez is the editor of the ethnic supplement to The Collegian La Voz de Aztlan.
HJ Walter • Dec 19, 2012 at 8:35 pm
It’s quite sad and toxic for our futures to watch some recent immigrants. legal or otherwise, bash Americans and/or “Anglos”. The US has certainly been less than perfect and has not always met its own ideals, but what country has? The US has always had more legal immigration from more countries than any country in history. Mexican people fleeing Mexico escape much greater oppression, economic, political, and otherwise, than will ever be found here. The sad truth is that the Left side of the political spectrum feeds agrievement and entitlement in their endless culture war. They use economic disparity to create racial and cultural animosity. Yet many immigrants have moved to economic success in one generation or less. Proud “Latinos” indeed all immigrants should join America, help us continue to make it great, become part of us. OUT OF THE MANY, ONE, E. Pluribus Unum
Kaaterina Tomas • Dec 13, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Not only is Luis Sanchez’ poem historically and factually inaccurate, it verges on the illiterate. As an editor, I decline to publish this kind of rant attempting to masquerade as “poetry,” and I am appalled by the lack of erudition and ignorance displayed in “America.” This student’s teachers should be ashamed to have this piece appear in print. EX: that pitiful line “where women give birth but not votes” – translates as “where women give birth but do not give votes,” sheer idiocy. I refer him and the “editors” of this publication to Pulitzer prize-winning Archibald MacLeish’s “Conquistador,” which I believe the child’s teachers should also review. A literary journal under any name should never publish illiterates.
Joe • Dec 13, 2012 at 1:08 pm
“Does life experience matter? Is history true?”
Well, anyone who has ever taken a course in historiography will tell you that history is a narrative, and therefore is always an interpretation of some kind. You cannot 100% accurately depict the past, and therefore any attempt to do so is moot, and unprofessionally arrogant. This is especially the case in the exampled poem above, which adds insult to injury with regard to any sense of objectivity by succumbing to racist sayings. Certainly SOME Americans raped, pillaged, and plundered; however, this gives no one the right to label “America” as a land of idiots who would gladly do so any more than Hitler had a right to claim that ALL Jews were against Germans simply because SOME may have profited off the country. But then you may say, “well, it is artistic expression” in an attempt to trump any argument as to history. To this I can only ask in return when exactly art becomes propaganda. Were the posters on German streets with hateful depictions of Jews in cartoon form art?
Sandra Day • Dec 11, 2012 at 10:54 pm
The poem by Sanchez is very inflammatory. I’m tired of people bashing anyone of any ethnicity, its indicative of having a small brain and little insight. I am a white woman and married a man born and raised in Mexico-he would call me “white as*!$” , and voiced his disdain of the white man stealing Texas. There IS a deep seated hatred of the gringo to this day. Get over it already! I think it would be an amazing thing to see some strong, educated people return to Mexico and bring the country to real change. I lived in Mexico ,saw many parts of it and is a beautiful country.
Jack Jones • Sep 25, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Could people from Argentina be called Latinos? It a country with people who are selfish, ignorant, and inhumane. Great Article.
Nin Pujol • Sep 10, 2011 at 12:57 pm
I am from Spain, and to all the activistas mejicanos out there, if California should belong to someone else it would be Spain. But Spaniards are intelligent people so California is and should be part of the US of A.
Also if all the illegal or undocumented or whatever you want to call them would put as much fervor and energy to fight what’s going on in their own country of Mejico, as they spend putting down the USA (that’s bending over backwards to accomodate them) maybe I would have some respect for them. BTW is American is the way Luis Sanches describes it..What the hell is he doing here???
Anonymous • May 19, 2011 at 3:01 am
I have all my facts straight and stand by my article. All my documentation is in line as it pertains to Cerdo’s “hit peice” on ASI, Selena, and Tara. Afterall i have all the documents to prove it. Since La Voz is intended as a “cultural insert”, can ANYONE please explain the “cultural relevance” about Hector’s article titled “Wasteful Spending and Accountability?” While you’re at it, can ANYONE please explain the “cultural relevenace” of Mendoza’s article titled “ASI Executives Under Review” which is also found in La Voz. Contrary to Hernandez’s claims, I am not against Latinos(or Chicanos). I want to emphasis my opposition is to the radicalism that is being promoted by allowing hate speech on campus(coincidentally found in La Voz De Aztlan). Does Sanchez’s poem fit La Voz’s “anti-racist” platform? In regards to Ana’s “honorary awards” for her journalistic talents, I’m pretty certain the awarding agency was fearful of being Ana’s next target of “institutionalized racism”(for more information on this read Ana’s article titled “Honors Program Lacks Diversity” where she intentionally and maliciously slams the Smittcamp program) That may explain why she was given her awards don’t you think? Afterall, bias reporting, misquoting sources, and deception certainly isn’t award winning material. Lastly, I want to remind readers that I am an Argentinian-American. If La Voz aims to be the voice for the Latino constituency on campus then there is nothing biased or hateful about a Latino holding a La Voz accountable for their lack of class.