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Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hispanic Affairs Dept. Slights All Other New Mexicans
By Jim Scarantino
For the Journal
State Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez has filed legislation to create a Cabinet-level agency called the Hispanic Affairs Department. Its purpose will be “promoting the welfare of Hispanics in New Mexico.”
The secretary of Hispanic affairs will “investigate, study, consider and act upon the entire subject of Hispanic affairs.” The secretary will be advised by a Hispanic Affairs Commission. Eighty percent of its members must be selected from Hispanic, Latino and Mexican-American organizations. Sanchez wants $700,000 for the department's first year of operations.
Sen. Linda Lopez of Albuquerque is on board. She says the department would provide a “focal point to recognize Hispanics and the contributions made to our beautiful state.”
Sanchez's bill overlooks something pretty darned important: everybody in this state who is not Hispanic. Hispanics may be greater in number than any other ethnic group. But the life and concerns of one Hispanic are no more special than those of any other New Mexican. Citizens deserve equal consideration from their government, regardless of race or ethnicity.
If Sanchez cares to create a state agency dedicated to Hispanics, he owes the same effort to every ethnic and racial minority in New Mexico. He should also be advocating Cabinet agencies — and adequate funding — to promote the welfare of Chinese, Russian, Scandinavian, Greek, Arabic, Anglo-Saxon, Jewish, Japanese, Korean, Irish, Pakistani, Punjabi, Vietnamese, French, Slovak, Polish, German and, my personal favorite, Italian New Mexicans.
Let all have a seat at the big table in the Governor's Office. Otherwise, let Sanchez explain why these citizens merit less respect than a Hispanic New Mexican.
Sanchez's legislation openly favors his own ethnic group over others. His bill is also unfair to African-Americans, who, let's not forget, have been in New Mexico as long as Hispanics. The Office of African-American Affairs is currently tacked onto the organizational chart of the sprawling Human Services Department. Sanchez needs to justify giving Hispanics, but not African-Americans, their very own Cabinet secretary.
In 2004, the Legislature reserved a Cabinet position exclusively for Native Americans. One bad idea in government frequently produces another. The existence of a secretary of Indian affairs seems to have bred jealousy in some Hispanics. One cannot help noting that Sanchez's legislation mimics nearly verbatim the law that created the Department of Indian Affairs.
Hispanics are not exactly an invisible minority in this state. They comprise at least 43 percent of our population. Hispanic politicians have long had a strong hand in controlling state government. Fact is, we've had a powerful Hispanic Affairs Department for decades. It is also the institution concerned with promoting the welfare of all New Mexicans. It's called the Legislature.
The same week that Sanchez reports to the Roundhouse, we celebrate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the inauguration of America's first African-American President. King dreamed of America's children one day being judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. He gave his life for a future when we would speak “not of White Power or Black Power” (or Red, Brown, or Yellow Power) “but of human power.” He taught us that when injustice is done to anyone anywhere it is no less done to us all.
President Barack Obama encourages us to believe “that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together … then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.”
A law creating a government agency that singled out White people for favored treatment would be justly condemned because it holds us back from that dream. Sanchez's effort to elevate one ethnic group above others would likewise drag us back to a time when the powerful wrote laws that segregated rather than united society.
The Legislature must step over the tripwires of racism and ethnic chauvinism that Sanchez's bill would throw across our path. His legislation must be rejected.
Jim Scarantino concluded a 25-year legal career as ACLU-New Mexico's lawyer of the year in 2006. Scarantino also served as executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. He currently writes a monthly report for the Rio Grande Foundation.
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