Guest Column

Arizona anti-immigrant environment clouds thinking

By Mercedes Mercado-Ochoa

January 24, 2005

There are many hot political and social issues in Arizona at the present time because of the anti-immigrant environment which seems to be clouding everyone's thinking.  The most recent strategies seem to be "divide and conquer."  Groups like LULAC, MALDEF and other advocacy groups have chosen to air personal agendas publicly instead of working things out internally.  Individuals take it upon themselves to speak for the Latino community as a whole without a consensus from the organizations they say they represent.  Are egos the priority here?  Why are our leaders losing sight of the bigger picture which in my humble opinion, should be the greater good of the entire community? 

Latino Youth and other minorities of color are looking for mentors, examples which they can emulate!  In Mesa, Arizona., a  three member Civil Rights panel made up of business leaders from Boeing, a local valley newspaper and a human resources company discussed openly what has been successful in building company environments which foster local and global diversity.  This event was held the day after extremely successful MLK festivities which involved a wide cross-section of the community.  The  civil rights discussion was capably moderated by Mary Berumen, the Diversity Director of the City of Mesa who has promoted monthly diversity dialogues to which the public is invited.  Julian Avila of Valle del Sol  recently initiated a Community Power Latino Leadership Program where participants have the opportunity to find out how they can be involved in the community's economic development boards or volunteer in educational and social services.  This is the type of positive messages all communities should be receiving from their leaders!

However, inequities which exist in many of our educational agencies and institutions continue to exist. In the Maricopa Community College District, for example, an outstanding community college Latina President's contract was not renewed and reassigned to other duties right before Christmas break while a math professor at Glendale Community College was allowed to continue using the college's e-mail to promote hate.  The Goldwater Institute has published research which confirms institutionalized racism measures in special education programs throughout the state and legislative leaders continue to balk about funding all day kindergarten while a large percentage of students are failing the AIMS test.  Yet good people continue to fail us by their inaction and indifference.  They allow initiatives like Proposition 200 to pass by not showing up to vote against it and capable, qualified candidates who would truly represent us are defeated at the polls.

I say that Arizona should get busy and do what is right, not what is popular or trendy.  The legacies of Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez continue to resonate in people's hearts throughout the world.  Why not Arizona? 

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Mercedes Mercado-Ochoa can be contacted at: Merchoa@aol.com