Latino group backs state constitutional convention summit

There's a demographic revolution sweeping the nation, and like most storm systems, it's blowing from west to east. California has lost its white majority, and Latinos are eager to take advantage of their emerging majority status. Who says? They do:

Tuesday's Sacramento summit on a possible new state constitutional convention is picking up some interesting support, including the William C. Velasquez Institute, a think tank on Latino affairs.

"The disastrous state of California's government is of concern to us all," according to a news release from the institute, which is based in Texas and has offices in California and Florida.

"Latinos will soon be the majority in California, and we have a vested interest in not only government reform, but making sure our community is properly represented during the convention development process.

I'd never heard of the William C. Velasquez Institute. To give you an idea of what they're about, check out the bio of its namesake:

In March 1967 he helped found the Mexican American Youth Organizationqv at St. Mary's University, and he also served as the first statewide coordinator of El Movimiento Social de La Raza Unida, the forerunner to the Raza Unida Party,qv a political third party for Hispanics. In January 1968 El Movimiento sponsored a conference on Chicano politics at which attendance was 2,000.

In 1969 Velásquez helped found the Mexican American Unity Council and served as executive director. He was also a VISTA supervisor in San Antonio that year. In January 1970 he helped found La Raza but left the party due to differences in organizing tactics and ideology. In June 1970 he became field director of the Southwest Council of La Raza in Phoenix, the forerunner of the National Council of La Raza.

La Raza [Spanish for "Das Volk"], as you all know, is in the thick of the Open Borders agenda. The ties between La Raza and more radical Latino organizations, such as the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan (MEChA), are strong, including direct funding. More important, there's significant membership crossover between the two organizations, including Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. If you have any doubts about whether their aim is a place at the table, or control of it, just read MEChA's "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan" (The Spiritual Plan for Aztlan), which boasts, "Aztlan belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans." Is that direct enough for you?

The goal of reclaiming the Southwest for the "bronze people" is not just the daydream of a few radicals; it's a long-held grudge many Mexicans still nurse:

On July 27, 1997, then President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo told the National Council of La Raza in Chicago: "I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders and that Mexican migrants are an important - a very important - part of it." On the same occasion, President Zedillo informed his audience of a constitutional amendment adopted by the Mexican government to allow Mexicans who are naturalized U.S. citizens to regain Mexican citizenship so that they can vote in Mexican elections.

Political Science Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, former Director of the Mexican American Studies Center at the University of Texas, Arlington, and Founder of the La Raza Unida Party, noted: "We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. It's a matter of time. The explosion is in our population..."

And it looks like their time has come. With supporters in the US and Mexican governments, it's a serious movement with real political muscle. Tomorrow's summit to discuss the California Constitutional Convention starts tomorrow, but the Reconquista has already begun.