Chapter 4:
Carlos Guerrero Editorial
In the midst of the raging debate over secession came a stinging rebuke from an old time activist long respected in the Latino community.
Carlos Guerrero first made his name back in the heyday of La Raza Unida Party (“The People United” Party.) LRUP began back in 1970. With the breakup of LRUP in 1978, Guerrero turned to writing, advocacy journalism, teaching, and sporadic runs for public office.
LRUP was among the most important Latino movements calling on Mexicans to break away from domination by Anglo racists in the state, but it was hardly the first. In 1859, a man named Juan Cortina saw a former worker of his being abused by an Anglo sheriff. Angered, he shot the sheriff dead. Calling on Mexicans in the Rio Grande Valley to rise up, Cortina found plenty of volunteers. He led hundreds of fighters from the valley. In daring raids, they attacked the Anglo authorities that oppressed their people. Cortina fought for over a dozen years, both before and after the Civil War. He is still remembered today by Mexicans as a Robin Hood figure.
In 1915, a group of Mexican anarchists (yes, anarchists in Texas) led a failed uprising in the tiny town of San Diego, Texas. The Plan of San Diego called for Mexicans across the southwest to rise up and drive out their racist oppressors, forming a nation based on anarchist principles. PSD followers called for alliances between Mexicans and American Indians, Blacks, Japanese-Americans, and German-Americans. (Sometimes the PSD is inaccurately depicted as a “race war.” The multiracial alliance, especially the presence of Germans, disproves that. The only race war was that being done by an Anglo minority on the Mexican majority in the Rio Grande Valley.) Yet in spite of its grandiose plan, the PSD probably had no more than 150 fighters. The plan became bound to fail when one of its members was arrested and found with a copy of the plan on him. He turned informer. Forewarned, the authorities fought off several dozen attacks from the PSD relatively easily. Perhaps fewer than two dozen lives were lost on both sides during the PSD attacks.
The army, Texas Rangers, and Anglo vigilantes retaliated with a terrifying campaign of ethnic cleansing. The three most southern counties in Texas, Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr, suffered a minimum of 300 deaths, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans summarily executed whether they were involved or not. Some estimates were up to ten times that number, over 3000, killed by the typically brutal savagery of the Rangers and others. Property losses were estimated in the millions.
Such losses convinced Mexicans in the state that violence would never be a solution to defeating oppression. In the aftermath, LULAC or League of United Latin American Citizens formed. Made up of members of the tiny Mexican middle class in Texas, LULAC members were doctors, lawyers, teachers, journalists, and small businessmen. They stayed with legalistic approaches or quiet petition and negotiation, especially suing in court to obtain rights. LULAC had many victories in challenging segregation laws, obtaining more rights for Latinos, and success in the larger society.
But LULAC were also pro assimilation and anti immigrant. One had to be a citizen to join. LULAC even supported deportation campaigns. LULAC also were unwilling to challenge authorities with anything as “provocative” as public demonstrations. In the 1940s, LULAC lost its status as a leading civil rights group to be replaced by the GI Forum, made up of returning Latino World War II veterans. Later came MAYO (Mexican American Youth Organization), and MECHA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or National Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan), both student protest movements. The Brown Berets, formed in the mid 1960s, were obviously the Latino version of the Black Panthers, Latino nationalists. By 1974 they were gone, though another version of them returned in 1994. In Texas, they had very little presence.
(Some of the more ludicrous anti-immigrant racists attack the Brown Berets or other Brown Power activism as somehow “racist” in of itself. Mexican is a culture, not a race. Mexicans can be of any race, though most are mixed ancestry/mixed culture American Indians.)
In Texas, the most important activist group during the civil rights era was LRUP. At its height it won majorities in two city councils, two school boards, and elected two mayors. In the statewide run for governor, their candidate received almost a quarter of a million votes, 6% of the total and nearly a third of Latino votes statewide, and a majority of support among Latino youth, especially college students.
Guerrero published his editorial in the San Antonio Express-News:
Call for Independence From Texas:
Do Not Let the Rightwing Loons Take Us Out of the USA!
We Will Make the New American State of Aztlan!
The most patriotic group in Texas, the most reliably gung ho super Americans…They are Mexicans!
Mexican-Americans, probably some of you would insist on calling us, or Latino, or Hispanic. But we’re not from Hispania! Or any other mythical place in Anglo imaginations. We will not let you pretend we are Europeans when most of us don’t have family from there. We are Mexicans plain and simple, and proud to be called that.
Not Mexican American as a label most of us drop because it’s too long to say, unless Cheech Marin is joking about it in that cool song he sang while Chong played terrible guitar. Just Mexicans, and it doesn’t matter if you confuse us with Mexicans from Mexico. Land and culture don’t necessarily tie to nation. Mexico’s government doesn’t inspire loyalty, even within Mexico, not even to Mexican citizens.
But American government, except for the pinche migra and abusive cops, does. It inspires passionate devotion in Mexicans both US-born and immigrants, and even so called illegals, those without papers. As a nation and a government, America inspires love, like Romeo was inspired by Juliet, like Mary was inspired by the angels sent by Almighty God.
Meanwhile, at the same time, the most disloyal, the most distrusting traitorous people in Texas are a peculiar strain of Anglo conservatives and Republicans. Not old time small government pragmatic conservatives who want less regulation, but angry, vindictive, hostile, foaming at the mouth, how-dare-anyone-disagree-with-me types. They rant about lynching, shooting, or executing politicians or appointed officials for imagined offenses, see black helicopters in the sky, and sinister re education camps in Black and brown inner city kids going off to Job Corps.
There are none more disloyal as to see all government as “tyranny.” Anarchists, but without any sense of community except their common hatreds, and without any sense of cooperation except to make sure the average working man can’t do that same cooperation for better wages. They want others to have the right to work for less than minimum wages and die in the street or the emergency room because of no insurance. They are Social Darwinists who hate Darwin almost as much as they don’t understand him. They are Hobbesians who haven’t thought it through, even while driving a car made safe by government standards down a highway (not toll roads) paid for by government on the way to a Fourth of July or Memorial holiday celebrating victories won by soldiers (the ultimate bureaucracy) and not mercenaries.
The more extreme conservative white Texas may see government as evil, but Texas Mexicans, Tejanos, sure don’t. We wish there was more of it, doing more. Being your brother’s keeper, after all, is a good Catholic principle, as it was a good indigenous tribal principle less than a century and a half ago when most Mexicans were still in tribes. Half a dozen generations haven’t erased the fealty to that principle, only circumstances called for a transfer of it to the church and even more so to the nation-state. Like any good socialist instinct, most Mexicans know We The People Are The Government. It is not some outside oppressing force, as white conservatives often believe.
So I’m pretty fed up with these radical conservative (or maybe rightwing anarchists) Anglos bashing We The People. I want to stay part of the United States! I don’t want to be dragged out of it by these loons!
And I know many of you agree with me.
Yes, I’ve done my share of protests over the years. But I would never have done them if I didn’t care, ca
re deeply, passionately, with all my heart, about this country and its people, all of its people.
I also care deeply about a nation that (some cops and government agents aside) lets me do all the protesting I’ve done by word, deed, pen, and with my big mouth. I couldn’t get away with half of this in Mexico, and my ancestors have been here since before Stephen Austin and Sam Houston, and way before Davy Crockett’s foolish little trip.
That’s why you see so many deeply loyal, deeply patriotic Mexicans. That’s why so many of us are over in Iraq and Afghanistan, in uniform.
And that’s why most Mexicans want nothing to do with this crazy, unpatriotic, disloyal, verminous, traitorous, malformed, pipe dream foolish notion of a so called independent nation of Texas. Texas was a lousy nation for a Mexican to be trapped in before, a place where you’d get killed by a racist Anglo at the drop of a hat, with your daughter raped and dishonored. That will happen again if they should somehow succeed and secede.
So, first thing: Stop the crazy drive towards secession.
Second thing, and the easiest way to make sure secession can’t succeed: Break away from Texas! Send them a message!
The law says quite clearly we have the right to do so. (Unlike their crazy claim of being able to secede. Que chingas es eso! Que pendejos!)
Texas can break into as many as five states. OK, let’s make one of them the new state of Aztlan, named after the Aztec homeland, which may well have been Texas anyway. Everything in a line from Del Rio to San Antonio to Corpus Christi, all the way south, should be the new state of Aztlan.
El Paso and the western panhandle, why don’t you form your own state too? You have more in common with New Mexico than Texas.
Austin, they have never liked you progressives, greens, and free thinking artistic types. Why not break away and form your own state?
And west Texas Mexicanos, why not form your own state too? I know it can’t be easy out there for you, surrounded by Bible Belt types, such as Rick Perry himself. What would it say to the world if Rick Perry’s own hometown does not want to be part of Texas anymore?
How much easier will life be for us to never have to listen to rightwing fundamentalist Christian conservatives again? These are people constantly trying to refight the Civil War, but along religious lines. They are American Taliban against everyone else.
How much easier will life be for us to never have to put up with nonsense like Official English or immigrant bashers who don’t stop to think that we Mexicans have been here far longer than them, or their ancestors?
And these new states, these will all definitely be blue states, free from red state domination.
They want secession? Secede from Texas!
Aztlan Now!
Sincerely, Carlos Guerrero
Guerrero’s editorial sent a shockwave throughout the state. Within days, numerous volunteers set up Aztlan Now petitions for statehood, websites, organizing drives, and sought out their elected officials to press their calls for separation from Texas.
Aztlan Now movement members had the simplest approach. “Do you want to leave America?” “Hell no!” was the typical answer of most Texans, about 70%. But for white Republicans (frankly there weren’t that many Republicans in the state who weren’t white), about half wanted secession.
For Mexican-Americans, the numbers were a strong statement of patriotism and loyalty, over 95% opposing secession and treason. For Democrats (the majority of whom in the state were Mexican) numbers ran over 80% against secession.
Blacks were even more opposed, over 98%. Just like with the Confederate symbol, nearly all nonwhites can see the Texan symbol and identity does not include them. Unfortunately most of the Black population lived in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, or in the many east Texas small towns. A few Black leaders considered a separate state for Black Texans, but there was no way to form one with a Black majority short of the craziest kind of gerrymandering. Many joked (and some seriously planned for) how they would leave Texas if secession somehow succeeded.
Getting support from some segments of the general public was one thing. Mostly the newness of the idea was the largest barrier. But unlike most white Texans, most Black or Latino or “other” Texans aren’t heavily invested in the idea of Texan identity. The same is true of plenty of leftist white Texans, who see people with pride in living in or being from Texas as hicks at best, rednecks at worst.
Getting support from political leaders was much harder. Most feared being labeled as fringe thinkers, and if the separate states idea was not carried out, relations with their fellow politicians on the other side of the aisle would be that much more difficult. Outside of some small town councilmen and a few state congressmen, most elected leaders in the future Aztlan had a wait and see approach.
Of all the media, Fox was predictably the most hysterical and angry. Hannity went on a tear, insisting without proof, like always, that these groups were somehow “racist.” O’Reilly, true to form, repeated a slur he had used in the past, calling the movement “led by wetbacks.” Limbaugh also repeated some prior race baiting of his. “Lazy Mexicans…I didn’t know they had it in them to work hard for anything.” Michael Savage, of course, was somehow convinced it was all a conspiracy by Muslims.
Probably the funniest reaction came from Bill Maher. On his New Rules segment he took a shot at Perry and the secession vote:
“New Rule- Conservatives, you can’t call yourself patriots…if you want to leave America or overthrow America!
It’s getting pretty screwy when a Mexican named Carlos is showing himself to be a one hell of a lot more patriotic than any of you white guys!
(The audience laughed and cheered.)
When did conservatives become so disloyal? Remember when conservatives used to say ‘Love it or Leave It? Now they don’t love America anymore, and they want to leave it!”
(The audience laughed and cheered again, followed by applause.)
The strongest reaction to the editorial actually came from secession supporters. Guerrero received his first death threats within minutes of the essay being published. His email and voicemail overflowed with angry secessionists spouting bile and venom. Racist taunts accompanying most threats were about what one would typically expect:
“If you know what’s good for you beaner…”
“Go back to Mexico you commie…”
“I’ll shove a shotgun up your wetback greaser ass…”
But Guerrero could not arm himself in self-defense. In 1979, he had been caught smuggling several pounds of marijuana across the border. The jury included two Latinos, and they and an Anglo member had voted to acquit him. With a split decision, he would have gone free. But the judge intervened, ruled that the dissenting jurors were ignoring clear evidence of lawbreaking, and declared Guerrero guilty.
The judge sentenced him to the maximum of twenty years to life as a “large scale” smuggler. Public outrage at the heavy handedness and clearly political motive for the harsh sentence became a minor cause célèbre. Two years of appeals followed, with Guerrero finally getting time served and the rest of the sentence suspended. But no governor had ever granted him a pardon, so he was not allowed to either own or carry a gun. Getting a pardon in Texas, while technically a rigorous process screened by the governor’s office, was usually a routine matter bureaucratic procedure. But no governor ever wanted to be seen as soft on crime, especially with a famous leftist radical and drug smuggler. Guerrero would never get a pardon.
For protection, Guerrero had to turn to moving from friend’s house to friend’s house, keeping an irregular schedule, and always living and traveling with those who could possess a gun legally. College students groups or veterans’ groups were most often his bodyguards.
At a news conference, a reporter asked Rick Perry what he thought of the burgeoning breakaway movement from Texas. Governor Perry’s reaction was as ignorant and reckless as on anything else he typically said:
“Oh, it doesn’t worry me one b
it. I know we’ve got a great state, and I know most of our Hispanic voters want to stay part of it. Tell you what, I’d even let them put it to a vote! County by county, why not? I bet you right now every last county would vote to stay part of good old Texas.”
The reporter couldn’t believe his ears. “Will you commit yourself to allowing a vote, Governor? Will you publicly promise that?”
“You bet! I’ll make you a bet right now, I’ll eat your hat if these breakaway movements get anywhere.”
True to his word, Perry confidently pushed for a resolution in the state legislature, and used his bully pulpit to rush it through. The state’s Republicans and conservative Democrats, confident any breakaway movement would never succeed, voted for Perry’s “Loyalty to Texas” resolution. So did the minority and progressive members of the legislature, eager to placate their own voters.
The resolution read:
Be it resolved that Texas has nothing but people who are loyal to this great state, once an independent republic.
That Texas, in the finest republican tradition, wishes to give its citizens an opportunity to show their loyalty.
Therefore the State of Texas, and formerly an independent republic, will hereby allow each individual county to vote whether to form any separate state, to remain part of the State of Texas, or to join any return to an independent Republic of Texas.
When Guerrero first heard Perry’s public declaration, he could not believe his ears and good fortune. Seemingly this allowed Texas to balkanize. Potentially there could be individual isolated counties side by side, some breaking away, some remaining part of the state. And were Texas to actually secede, there could be war as vicious as the Balkans had. It was more important than ever to make certain entire regions voted to break away.
But this also gave Aztlan Now a firm legal footing. Now the only thing necessary was to win the hearts and minds of local voters. And both Perry and the secessionists were making that so easy!
“Thank you, Rick Perry!” Guerrero thought. “You could not have made my work any easier.”