ROTC TARGETS LATINOS

Students and faculty at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), are campaigning to oust the Army ROTC because they say it targets Hispanic students and has no place on a college campus. "I don't agree with the militarizing of campus," said Jose Moreno, a CSUN Chicano/a studies graduate student and co-founder of The Committee on Raza Rights 10. "Having the ROTC (here) is militarizing the campus." Moreno is one of a number of students and faculty concerned about the Hispanic Access Initiative (HAI), which is part of CSUN's contract with the Army ROTC. They say the initiative allows the military to target a group of students by ethnicity. "Only 12 percent of Latinos in the U.S. ever qualify to attend a university," Rosa Furumoto, assistant professor for the Chicano/a Studies Department, said last week. "Now, we finally have a few (Latino) students on campus, and we have the military wanting to drain off those students."

Controversy began last fall, when President Jolene Koester announced that the Army ROTC would be on campus by January. Oriel Maria S. Bernal, Chicano/a studies and Latin American literature double major, said the president didn’t bother to ask Latino students what they thought about the plan. "She didn't consult with the Latino students who would be most affected by this," Bernal said. "It's more than obvious that it's a very racist contract. It is targeting a specific group of students."

According to Lt. Col. Philip Butch, recruiter-trainer for Army ROTC at CSUN recruiters have not changed any of their strategies. "I don't target any Hispanics," Butch said Friday. "I don't target anyone."

However, the HAI is the result of an analysis conducted by Cadet Command on Army ROTC. Based on the results of that analysis, a plan was developed which the Secretary of the Army approved in 1999 to expand Army ROTC presence to additional campuses with high Hispanic enrollment. The Hispanic Access Initiative provides for instructor salaries, scholarships, marketing dollars and operating expenses at each of these schools where traditionally "underserved" populations enroll in college. In addition, the HAI provides special access to the student records of Latino students. The HAI is an initiative that Latino educators have also criticized because this recruitment begins in the high schools and continues into the university level.

An open letter to CSUN President Jolene Koester from Rosa Furumoto, Assistant Professor, Chicana/o Studies Department, reads in part, "…The Army's interest in CSUN's Hispanic students is part of the military's current and historical trend towards recruiting poor and working class youth, especially Latinos and African Americans, to serve in our nation's military…. Historically Latinos have died serving this nation in percentages disproportionate to Latino representation in the total population. Twenty eight percent of the names on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC are Latino (Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Report). Over 50% of front-line troops for Operation Desert Storm were people of color with a large percentage of these Latinos…. So very few Latinos and African Americans make it to college with even fewer graduating and going on to more advanced degrees. It is extremely painful and insulting to the Latino community to see our youth siphoned off at such disproportionate rates for military service. This is not the dream we have for our children or those of anyone else. We do not want CSUN to provide the U.S Army with the resources and access to our students to help perpetuate this injustice… Your stated principal reason for signing the agreement with the U.S. Army is the potential loss of 8 million dollars in federal funding to CSUN… However, what is the message we send to our students and the community when we endorse the militarization of our campus and the military targeting of Hispanic students in exchange for maintaining these funds? How many human lives and/or injuries is 8 million dollars worth? What a powerful message you could send to our government leaders, the nation, the community, and our students if you would stand up and refuse to be a cog in the military war machine."
Sources: Ventura County Star, US Army Cadet Command News, An Open Letter to President Koester Regarding ROTC - CSUN "HISPANIC ACCESS INITIATIVE", Hispanic Vista

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Okay... If they're groomed to become officers, they're upset; if they end up being buck privates, they're upset; if they're included, they're upset; if they're excluded, they're upset... what the hell do they want?!? Fucking beaners...

Hey Coronel Sanders! What does KFC mean? Kill a
Fucking Caucasoid?

If you listened to Mexican people and learned their history and my own people's history of being robbed by this nation then you would understand. But judging by your comments you sound too stupid to think.

When you evolve into a human being, pick up a copy of Rudy Acuna's "Occupied America" to learn why Chicanos and Mexicanos demand justice, civil rights, and better opportunities other that the military.

Chicanos and Mexicanos can demand anything they'd like. What they get is what they deserve, and what they've earned.

you really ought to investigate hushmail.com or something like it. your email is embarrassing.

At the risk of sounding silly, what are you talking about?

Fido:"At the risk of sounding silly..."

...that never stopped you before....

Why dont you racist scum take a break and address the core issues.
Name calling may have worked in 3rd grade, but here we are trying to have a "enlightened" discussion.
the representative for the ROTC stated "were not targeting anybody" right.
the presence at a place of higher learning is targeting college students.
If they are focusing on universities in a high hispanic area, then (like most fascists)
they are targeting a hispanic population.
INFORMATION AND EDUCATION ARE THE KEY TO DISPRUPT THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX BEFORE IT POISONS ANOTHER OPEN MIND.
Multi-cultural direct action approaches are needed to let the armed forces know
"we dont want YOUR kind here"

Please people be kind to one another, this is la the melting pot of the world, home to the most diverse population in the world.
SIGNED
an american mutt

What a good anarchist! Doesn't bother to use punctuations. How revolutionary! Then, this homo brags about education and open-mindedness, only to completely contradict himself by stating, "we dont want YOUR kind here"! Fabulous! Just for the record, I don't want any spics in the officer ranks. Actually, I just want them gone...

At California State University, Northridge, some left-wing Hispanic activists are complaining that a college program is "targeting Hispanics." The people who run the program deny the "charge," though they do say that Hispanics are underrepresented in their profession, reports the Ventura County Star.

http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/mo/article/0,1375,VCS_167_1800735,00.html

Huh? Aren't minority activists supposed to be in favor of affirmative action? Not, it would seem, when the program in question is the Reserve Officer Training Corps. Apparently these left-wingers hate America's military more than they love equal opportunity.

Now I've seen everything! The government is now supposed to make policy on the basis of what people here illegally want! Half of these "protestors" aren't even supposed to be in this country, but they want to run it. Time to go, amigos! Vincente Fox is calling (he's in big trouble too!).

YOU IGNORANT FUCKEN WHITE PEOPLE!!!!!!

The point of our effort to remove these cowboys from our campus is because we are not going to allow this selected president to send off our youth to die in an imperialist war.
If Affirmative Action does not belong in the universities (like STUPID W. has stated), then Affirmative Action has no place in the military.
Instead of the Hispanic Access Initiative, they should have a Honky Access Initiative or a White Trash Collectors group rounding up the worthless white folks who believe the shit they are force fed.
If you crackers are so gung-ho then you "Hos" should be force fed with DEEZ NUTS!

Hey Jeffy,
what are you talking about? So ROTC is looking for Latino Americans. Big deal. These are college kids. Old enough to vote. Smart enough to be in college. It isn't the draft. No one is forced.

You seem to be making a rather racist statement - that latino college students are so gullible, weak willed, dumb and easily lead astray that they will be lured into the military against their will? I don't quite see how else to read your statements. Me? The latinos I know are smart enough to think for themselves. They are smart enough to Just Say No.

Show some respect for these people, give them some credit. You paternalistic statements are sickening.

I don't understand why is there so much hatred among Latinos? As latinosn we come to America to do any type of job to at least make a couple of "centavos" cents to take to our family to have a better futre for the family and specially for the future of the children. We come to the united States for a better future. If students complain about the ROTC in the campuses of the universities' is because the most affected are the Latinos. Instead of sending Latinos to the army why not give them the opportunity of attending college and get career. Later in the future it becomes more beneficial for the society. Don't you think?

I don't understand why is there so much hatred among Latinos? As latinosn we come to America to do any type of job to at least make a couple of "centavos" cents to take to our family to have a better futre for the family and specially for the future of the children. We come to the united States for a better future. If students complain about the ROTC in the campuses of the universities' is because the most affected are the Latinos. Instead of sending Latinos to the army why not give them the opportunity of attending college and get career. Later in the future it becomes more beneficial for the society. Don't you think?

Wow so many exchanges between two different sides, the resist and the Chicanos. All I have to say is that it is wrong for the army to target one group and say that the military must reflect or mirror California when the reality is that we should be focusing on the UCs mirroring our communities that are filled with potential doctors, engineers, and teacher. What more can I say? The Government is corrupt no mater what way you look at it. I mean look at the war do you really think we are there to free the people? Why didn’t we fight to free the starving women in children in Communist parts of South America or the rotten sick that are left ignored to die alone in parts of Africa? Why didn’t we go there? I’ll tell you why, because they don’t have anything that this cold dripping rich living government wants. That’s why the CIA went to Chile in the 70s during Chile’s Military Rule era, because the American government had some investments down there. The CIA even tried to cover it up by declassifying records, specifically related to the murder of American Citizens. The CIA was forced to release hundreds of records on covert operations including 16,000 secret U.S. documents that are now declassified. Can you believe that our government is willing to go as far as to hide the truth from its own citizens…? Well it’s not that hard to believe but still. Well I kind of went of topic there, but I believe that we should fight for this. The only reason I am able to go to school is because of my ancestors. “We, Latinos, didn’t get here because we got a hand out. We’re here because our ancestors fought to open the doors, we fought, I fought, and we must continue fighting to keep the doors open.”(Elias Serna Professor Chicana/o studies Department UCSUN, not direct quote) Not just only for the Latinos in are community but for all the people. We all need to speak out. Like a great Latino writer once said, “Who tolled my people to be client? Who made them afraid of their own voices?” (Not a direct quote) By the way I don’t get it, why would you be resist. In the end isn’t humanity that truly maters. “Isn’t humanity that brings us together not race, or gender, or religion?” (Quote form myself, Maria Guadalupe Borja)

Wow so many exchanges between two different sides, the resist and the Chicanos. All I have to say is that it is wrong for the army to target one group and say that the military must reflect or mirror California when the reality is that we should be focusing on the UCs mirroring our communities that are filled with potential doctors, engineers, and teacher. What more can I say? The Government is corrupt no mater what way you look at it. I mean look at the war do you really think we are there to free the people? Why didn’t we fight to free the starving women in children in Communist parts of South America or the rotten sick that are left ignored to die alone in parts of Africa? Why didn’t we go there? I’ll tell you why, because they don’t have anything that this cold dripping rich living government wants. That’s why the CIA went to Chile in the 70s during Chile’s Military Rule era, because the American government had some investments down there. The CIA even tried to cover it up by declassifying records, specifically related to the murder of American Citizens. The CIA was forced to release hundreds of records on covert operations including 16,000 secret U.S. documents that are now declassified. Can you believe that our government is willing to go as far as to hide the truth from its own citizens…? Well it’s not that hard to believe but still. Well I kind of went of topic there, but I believe that we should fight for this. The only reason I am able to go to school is because of my ancestors. “We, Latinos, didn’t get here because we got a hand out. We’re here because our ancestors fought to open the doors, we fought, I fought, and we must continue fighting to keep the doors open.”(Elias Serna Professor Chicana/o studies Department UCSUN, not direct quote) Not just only for the Latinos in are community but for all the people. We all need to speak out. Like a great Latino writer once said, “Who tolled my people to be client? Who made them afraid of their own voices?” (Not a direct quote)

By the way I don’t get it, why would you be resist. In the end isn’t humanity that truly maters. “Isn’t humanity that brings us together not race, or gender, or religion?” (Quote form myself, Maria Guadalupe Borja)