Police Checks of Cars Halted
Maywood temporarily suspends checkpoints after complaints they ensnared mostly illegal immigrants without driver's licenses.
By Jose Cardenas, LATimes Staff Writer
Maywood has agreed to a four-month moratorium on police checkpoints, criticized by some for mainly ensnaring illegal immigrants who can't get driver's licenses.
Mayor Pro-Tem Samuel Pe?a and Mayor George Martinez announced the moratorium at a meeting attended by hundreds Wednesday night at St. Rose of Lima Church.
The meeting was the result of efforts by two community groups that for months have worked to organize residents in opposition to the policy.
"I honestly believe that the community basically said, 'Look, city of Maywood, your checkpoints not only get unlicensed drivers, but they also get unlicensed drivers who can't get driver licenses,' " Pe?a said.
"Our job is to make sure safety comes first."
The Police Department is short-handed anyhow, Pe?a said.
The checkpoints were established at 6 p.m., twice monthly, at four of Maywood's busiest intersections.
Some residents said that the checkpoints mostly caught undocumented workers, who cannot legally get California driver's licenses, as they drove home from work.
Residents also have criticized the checkpoints as a money-raising device for the city and a tow-truck operator with which it has a contract.
That company, Maywood Club Tow, earlier had agreed to release vehicles impounded at checkpoints to their owners without charge until Sept. 10.
Some residents said the four-month moratorium might be sufficient if a measure now in the state Senate ? SB 60 ? which would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, becomes law.
Marcos Hernandez, 29, a schoolteacher and member of L.A. Metro Organizing Strategy, a community organization, lauded the moratorium.
"It's a historical night, because there was a shift," Hernandez said.
"We have been working with these guys for three months to be able to show them that we have the power to organize," Hernandez said.
His group and another organization, Comite Pro Uno, also had asked city officials to declare a moratorium on the impounding of vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers stopped anywhere in the city.
On such points, Pe?a said more dialogue is needed to make sure the city does not compromise safety.
"I honestly think there are other things to talk about," Pe?a said. "The devil is in the details."
OCTOBER, 1996
MEChA Calls for the Liberation of Aztlan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicanos call the seven states of the Southwestern United States Aztlan. Its roots stem from a mythical land which the Aztecs supposedly once occupied north of Mexico City. In the modern context, Aztlan is the territory ceded to the United States by Mexico as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. Mexico agreed to the settlement and the U.S. paid for the land.
Aztlan is the "A" in MEChA - Movemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan - The student movement of Chicanos of Aztlan...one of the largest student movements in California...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The preamble of the MECHA constitution reads:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Chicana/Chicano students of California must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community; as well as politicize our Raza (Race) and continue the struggle for self-determination of the Chicana/Chicano people and the liberation of Aztlan"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is from the October, 1996, VCT newsletter:
1995 Textbook Calls for Liberation of Aztlan
SANTA BARBARA...Oct 12...Santa Barbara County has adopted a textbook which calls for the "liberation of Aztlan" by Chicanos. The book, The Mexican American Heritage, will be used for high school "Chicano studies" throughout Santa Barbara County.
According to a review of the book by Debora L. Sutherland of Santa Barbara, the book introduces the concept of "Aztlan" in the first chapter and from that point on uses the term to mean the seven states of the Southwest which were ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
"The book consistently questions the validity of our existing border with Mexico," Sutherland wrote." It also makes it very clear that with the continuing influx of Latinos into the Southwest along with their high birthrate, these so-called 'natives' will realize their power to control Aztlan once again."
On page 107 it says,
"Latinos are now realizing that the power to control Aztlan may once again be in their hands."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOSE WHO SCOFF AT THE IDEA OF A MEXICAN TAKEOVER OF THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES DON'T UNDERSTAND HISTORY AND THEY UNDERESTIMATE MEXICANS.
Maywood temporarily suspends checkpoints after complaints they ensnared mostly illegal immigrants without driver's licenses.
By Jose Cardenas, LATimes Staff Writer
Maywood has agreed to a four-month moratorium on police checkpoints, criticized by some for mainly ensnaring illegal immigrants who can't get driver's licenses.
Mayor Pro-Tem Samuel Pe?a and Mayor George Martinez announced the moratorium at a meeting attended by hundreds Wednesday night at St. Rose of Lima Church.
The meeting was the result of efforts by two community groups that for months have worked to organize residents in opposition to the policy.
"I honestly believe that the community basically said, 'Look, city of Maywood, your checkpoints not only get unlicensed drivers, but they also get unlicensed drivers who can't get driver licenses,' " Pe?a said.
"Our job is to make sure safety comes first."
The Police Department is short-handed anyhow, Pe?a said.
The checkpoints were established at 6 p.m., twice monthly, at four of Maywood's busiest intersections.
Some residents said that the checkpoints mostly caught undocumented workers, who cannot legally get California driver's licenses, as they drove home from work.
Residents also have criticized the checkpoints as a money-raising device for the city and a tow-truck operator with which it has a contract.
That company, Maywood Club Tow, earlier had agreed to release vehicles impounded at checkpoints to their owners without charge until Sept. 10.
Some residents said the four-month moratorium might be sufficient if a measure now in the state Senate ? SB 60 ? which would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, becomes law.
Marcos Hernandez, 29, a schoolteacher and member of L.A. Metro Organizing Strategy, a community organization, lauded the moratorium.
"It's a historical night, because there was a shift," Hernandez said.
"We have been working with these guys for three months to be able to show them that we have the power to organize," Hernandez said.
His group and another organization, Comite Pro Uno, also had asked city officials to declare a moratorium on the impounding of vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers stopped anywhere in the city.
On such points, Pe?a said more dialogue is needed to make sure the city does not compromise safety.
"I honestly think there are other things to talk about," Pe?a said. "The devil is in the details."
OCTOBER, 1996
MEChA Calls for the Liberation of Aztlan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicanos call the seven states of the Southwestern United States Aztlan. Its roots stem from a mythical land which the Aztecs supposedly once occupied north of Mexico City. In the modern context, Aztlan is the territory ceded to the United States by Mexico as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. Mexico agreed to the settlement and the U.S. paid for the land.
Aztlan is the "A" in MEChA - Movemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan - The student movement of Chicanos of Aztlan...one of the largest student movements in California...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The preamble of the MECHA constitution reads:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Chicana/Chicano students of California must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community; as well as politicize our Raza (Race) and continue the struggle for self-determination of the Chicana/Chicano people and the liberation of Aztlan"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is from the October, 1996, VCT newsletter:
1995 Textbook Calls for Liberation of Aztlan
SANTA BARBARA...Oct 12...Santa Barbara County has adopted a textbook which calls for the "liberation of Aztlan" by Chicanos. The book, The Mexican American Heritage, will be used for high school "Chicano studies" throughout Santa Barbara County.
According to a review of the book by Debora L. Sutherland of Santa Barbara, the book introduces the concept of "Aztlan" in the first chapter and from that point on uses the term to mean the seven states of the Southwest which were ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
"The book consistently questions the validity of our existing border with Mexico," Sutherland wrote." It also makes it very clear that with the continuing influx of Latinos into the Southwest along with their high birthrate, these so-called 'natives' will realize their power to control Aztlan once again."
On page 107 it says,
"Latinos are now realizing that the power to control Aztlan may once again be in their hands."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOSE WHO SCOFF AT THE IDEA OF A MEXICAN TAKEOVER OF THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES DON'T UNDERSTAND HISTORY AND THEY UNDERESTIMATE MEXICANS.
