Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
- 70,230
- 10,865
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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.08.2006 
Guest Opinion: Hector A. Morales Jr.
tHalf a century ago, some of us were "over there" fighting a little war in Asia. It wasn't limited to the Korean Peninsula. We were protecting the world's democracies and defending the American way.
Meanwhile, back home, a cancer was growing on the American body politic. Its name was the House Un-American Activities Committee, a weapon of the U.S. Congress. HUAC attacked any dissenting American person or group it deemed dangerous to those in power at the time.
Fanning the flames of psycho-patriotism was a venomous demagogue named Sen. Joe McCarthy. He and HUAC destroyed many careers and lives before they were stopped.
Today, 50 years later, many Latinos, both citizen and non-citizen, are fighting and dying in a little war in the Middle East. It isn't limited to Iraq. They are helping to protect developing democracies and defending the American way.
Meanwhile, back home a cancer is growing on the Arizona body politic. Its name is the House Select Committee on Government Operations, Performance and Waste, a weapon of the Arizona Legislature.
As HUAC did in the mid-20th century, the House committee has carved out a 21st century mission of attacking dissenters it deems dangerous to those in power today.
The committee's majority members appear to be a gang of McCarthy wannabes. A committee hearing held April 20 exposed its reactionary purpose; TUSD Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer and Tucson High School principal Abel Morado were ordered to appear and explain why the district runs a "sweatshop for liberalism.''I'd have to wonder a this statement being said.
Activist Dolores Huerta and Congressman Raul Grijalva were lambasted in absentia. Committee Chairman John Allen, R-Scottsdale, said that former Ku Klux Klan member and Louisiana legislator David Duke would be a "counterbalance" to Huerta.
Committee member Jonathon Paton, R-Tucson, voted for criminalizing undocumented workers and their families, and demanded prior censorship of speakers in public schoolsCOLOR=Red]From what I read about the Huerta statement, alot of people in AZ WERE upset about and expressed it to the school.[/COLOR] implying legislative retribution. Then when questioned, he retreated to an innocuous position of seeking only "balance."
Huerta, a former schoolteacher who knows from experience that high school students are not as naive or uninformed as Rep. Paton would have us believe, did say, "Republicans hate Latinos but she later modified that overstatement.No she didn't. She said that only a certain type of Republican shares that view.
I personally know that not all Republicans hate Latinos. Some of my very best friends are Republican, including more than a few Hispanics, and they are actively supportive of Latino aspirations.
But many Latinos are aware that there is a growing mob of McCarthyite Republicans in Arizona state government who love to use their political power to marginalize us into oblivion.
The good news is that they will self-destruct, as did their ideological predecessors of the Cold War era.
http://www.azstarnet.net/allheadlines/127878
Guest Opinion: Hector A. Morales Jr.
tHalf a century ago, some of us were "over there" fighting a little war in Asia. It wasn't limited to the Korean Peninsula. We were protecting the world's democracies and defending the American way.
Meanwhile, back home, a cancer was growing on the American body politic. Its name was the House Un-American Activities Committee, a weapon of the U.S. Congress. HUAC attacked any dissenting American person or group it deemed dangerous to those in power at the time.
Fanning the flames of psycho-patriotism was a venomous demagogue named Sen. Joe McCarthy. He and HUAC destroyed many careers and lives before they were stopped.
Today, 50 years later, many Latinos, both citizen and non-citizen, are fighting and dying in a little war in the Middle East. It isn't limited to Iraq. They are helping to protect developing democracies and defending the American way.
Meanwhile, back home a cancer is growing on the Arizona body politic. Its name is the House Select Committee on Government Operations, Performance and Waste, a weapon of the Arizona Legislature.
As HUAC did in the mid-20th century, the House committee has carved out a 21st century mission of attacking dissenters it deems dangerous to those in power today.
The committee's majority members appear to be a gang of McCarthy wannabes. A committee hearing held April 20 exposed its reactionary purpose; TUSD Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer and Tucson High School principal Abel Morado were ordered to appear and explain why the district runs a "sweatshop for liberalism.''I'd have to wonder a this statement being said.
Activist Dolores Huerta and Congressman Raul Grijalva were lambasted in absentia. Committee Chairman John Allen, R-Scottsdale, said that former Ku Klux Klan member and Louisiana legislator David Duke would be a "counterbalance" to Huerta.
Committee member Jonathon Paton, R-Tucson, voted for criminalizing undocumented workers and their families, and demanded prior censorship of speakers in public schoolsCOLOR=Red]From what I read about the Huerta statement, alot of people in AZ WERE upset about and expressed it to the school.[/COLOR] implying legislative retribution. Then when questioned, he retreated to an innocuous position of seeking only "balance."
Huerta, a former schoolteacher who knows from experience that high school students are not as naive or uninformed as Rep. Paton would have us believe, did say, "Republicans hate Latinos but she later modified that overstatement.No she didn't. She said that only a certain type of Republican shares that view.
I personally know that not all Republicans hate Latinos. Some of my very best friends are Republican, including more than a few Hispanics, and they are actively supportive of Latino aspirations.
But many Latinos are aware that there is a growing mob of McCarthyite Republicans in Arizona state government who love to use their political power to marginalize us into oblivion.
The good news is that they will self-destruct, as did their ideological predecessors of the Cold War era.
http://www.azstarnet.net/allheadlines/127878
