By Joseph Fallon
Volume 11, Number 1 (Fall 2000)
Issue theme: "America's porous borders"
La Raza - The Race
The National Council of La Raza was established in 1968 with support from the Ford Foundation and was originally called the Southwest Council of La Raza. According to a 1984 Ford Foundation report 'Hispanic Challenges and Opportunities,' its funding of La Raza 'provides Mexican American communities and organizations with technical assistance and ... has also become an effective voice for Mexican Americans and other Hispanics.' La Raza operates a Policy Analysis Center, which it claims is 'the pre-eminent Hispanic �think tank'' and uses its 'findings' to lobby for, among other policies, affirmative action, bilingual education, mass immigration, and more 'hate crimes' laws.
For example, La Raza demands an expansion of 'hate crimes' laws claiming 'Traditional hate crimes against Hispanics have increased in number during the 1990s.' What La Raza does not say is that such an increase is due to the flawed methodology employed by the U.S. government for reporting 'hate crimes.' When 'Hispanics' are victims of 'hate crimes' they are classified as 'Hispanics,' but when they are perpetrators they are classified as 'white.' Any bias incident between a 'Hispanic' perpetrator and a 'Hispanic' victim, therefore, will be reported as a white on 'Hispanic' 'hate crime.' The number of 'hate crimes' against 'Hispanics' is naturally increased by such definitions.
La Raza condemns the 'step-up [in] immigration law enforcement significantly along the U.S./Mexico border and in the interior of the country' claiming such activities violate the civil rights of 'Hispanics.'
La Raza has called upon the Congress to rescind the immigration and welfare reform acts of 1996 calling them 'a disgrace to American values.' In addition, it has demanded another amnesty for illegal aliens from Central America coupled with this threat 'Our elected officials should not be surprised if their failure to act on reforms of these terribly unjust laws is met with a firm response at the ballot box.' And U.S. citizens should not be surprised that those going to the ballot box for La Raza include illegal aliens and non-citizens.
On its website, www.nclr.org, La Raza claims to be 'the largest constituency-based national Hispanic organization, serving all Hispanic nationality groups in all regions of the country...[with] over 200 formal affiliates who together serve 37 States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia...and a broader network of more than 20,000 groups and individuals nationwide - reaching more than two million Hispanics annually.'
Where does La Raza get the funding to support its many activities? According to its website, 'the organization receives two-thirds of its funding from corporations and foundations, and the rest from the government.' For the period 1992-1996, the total amount of 'gifts, grants and contributions' to La Raza was more than $38 million. This does not include revenues from 'government fees and contracts.' Over three years, 1996-1998, La Raza received over five million dollars from just three foundations the majority, nearly four million dollars, from the Ford Foundation, $850,000 from the Carnegie Corporation, and another $850,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation.
For the period 1993-1996, La Raza paid $983,522 in 'compensation of officers, directors, etc..' But paid $9,842,560 in 'other salaries and wages.'
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc1101/article_912.shtml
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