Finally – understanding Russell Pearce

state legislator’s his anti-immigrant rational is becoming frighteningly clear

Now state legislator Russell Pearce’s rational for continuing to pound on his anti-immigrant and anti-Latino studies drum is becoming frighteningly clear. Last month Pearce responded to a question from LPM with an e-mail detailing the why of his amendment against cultural curriculums for Mexican Americans in the Tucson High School District. The European American from Mesa responded, “The intent of my legislation is NOT to prohibit the legitimate teachings of any historical events in our world’s history. What I am hoping to do is make sure that our public schools are not being used to facilitate hate and dissention by any group of people for another group of people.”

The rest of the e-mail is filled with editorial rants against Aztlan and MEChA by Right-wing writer Linda Bentley of the Sonoran News publication – which still preaches that “Socialism is progressing to Communism” – against Phoenix-based Tonatierra and its coordinator, Salvador Reza; against the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); National Council of La Raza (NCLR), and Mexican American Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). The scariest material is from another article proposing that there is a study that shows “…the Mexican government has embraced the concept of ‘demographic warfare,’ a reconquering of the southwestern United States through unchecked illegal immigration and by exporting its ‘surplus poverty’ to regain control” (of its former territories). Conspiracy theories. Paranoia. Immigrant workers as secret spies for foreign countries. This is the type of mental activity swirling in the brain of the leader of the Republican agenda at the state Legislature.