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Mediamatters.Org - During the June 5 broadcast
of his nationally syndicated radio
show, G. Gordon Liddy
claimed that undocumented immigrants from Mexico come to the United States and
"want to fly the Mexican flag"
and "want to speak Spanish" instead of
learning English. Liddy then stated:
"They want to
reconquer America,
they say."
Discussing immigration with a caller, Liddy asserted: "[T]he problem that I
have is with people who come over here and instead of wanting to become
Americans, you know, fly the American flag, learn English, and so forth, they want to fly the
Mexican flag, they want to speak Spanish, you know, and other varieties of
illegal alien. And that's -- that is what
distinguishes these people from the previous immigrants." He continued:
"Previous immigrants said, 'Man, we can't wait to get
out of' -- you
know, whatever the country was they came from. 'We can't wait to
get to the United States.
We want to be Americans, we want to learn English, and, we want, you know, the
best for our children,'
and what have you. And they proudly displayed the American flag." Liddy added: "Not so,
especially these illegal aliens up from Mexico and what have you. They want
to reconquer America,
they say. They have this outfit called the Reconconquista [sic]
or something of that sort, whatever it is in illegal alien."
Media Matters for America has
repeatedly documented instances of conservative commentators, including columnist Michelle Malkin and MSNBC political analyst
Pat Buchanan, claiming that
immigrants subscribe to a "reconquista" philosophy aimed at
recapturing the Southwestern United States for Mexico. "Reconquista" is a term associated with El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, a
document drafted in the early formation of the Movimiento
Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
(Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán,
or MEChA), a group with affiliates at numerous college campuses and several
high schools that
"promotes higher education, cultura, and historia."
In a July 15, 2006, article,
Los Angeles Times reporter David
Kelly wrote of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán:
MEChA leaders say it is a historical
document from a more radical time distorted by critics who focus on a few lines
while missing the broader picture.
"When did we say we wanted a
separate nation? We never did," said Graciela Larios, who recently retired
as head of the UC Riverside MEChA club. "We know about the spiritual plan
for Aztlan. It reflects the time it was written in. We are not ashamed of it.
We stand by it."
From the June 5 broadcast of Radio America's The G.
Gordon Liddy Show:
CALLER: I thought at one time that
for immigrants, we --
they were required to have a sponsor,
and --
LIDDY: Yes, they -- a sponsor. What
that meant was, someone
who would be responsible for a place for them to stay, you know, housing, and a
job. So that the whole idea was that they
would not become a -- what
was called a "public
charge" -- you know,
would be on welfare or anything like
that. They would come here, they would have somebody who would sponsor them,
they'd have a job, and they'd have a
place to stay.
CALLER: Well, I believe that could be enlarged upon and -- so that we wouldn't
be put upon by these people that come here and want to raise heck about America.
I'm a proud American,
and I believe that those of us that are citizens have a right to complain about
things that we find grievous, but if you're a newbie coming to America,
you need to want to be America -- an American and love America,
not come over here and raise dickens and be protesting and all that business. Because you don't have the right to do
that. It may say so, but if it does,
that needs to be
changed, because
that's just not right.
LIDDY: Well, now, America's a free country. And
everyone who is here legally has the protections of the Constitution, and one of them is the
right to gather together peacefully to petition government, you know, with
respect to any grievance that you might have. Now, I don't have any
problem with that. What I have -- the
problem --
[crosstalk]
LIDDY: Now, wait a
minute. Now, the problem that I have
is with people who come over here and instead of wanting to become Americans,
you know, fly the American flag, learn English, and so forth, they want to fly the Mexican flag, they want
to speak Spanish, you know, and other varieties of illegal alien. And that's -- that is what distinguishes these people
from the previous immigrants. Previous immigrants said, "Man, we can't wait to get out of" -- you know, whatever
the country was they came from. "We can't wait to get to the United States.
We want to be Americans, we want to learn English, and, we want, you know, the
best for our children,"
and what have you. And they proudly displayed the American flag. Not so,
especially these illegal aliens up from Mexico and what have you. They want
to reconquer America,
they say. They have this outfit called the Reconconquista [sic]
or something of that sort, whatever it is in illegal alien.
CALLER: La Raza.
LIDDY: Yeah, well, La Raza,
that's another outfit.
That's called
"the race," that's what that means.
CALLER: You made my point very well, probably much better
than I could. But that is exactly what I'm talking about. If you want to
come here and love America
like we do, that's all great. If you don't, stay home.
LIDDY: Well,
yes. And we're talking about legal immigration. We're not talking about
the illegals, either. Media Matters - G. Gordon Liddy smeared undocumented Mexican immigrants, claiming they "want to reconquer America, they say" {...} On his radio show, G. Gordon Liddy claimed that undocumented immigrants from Mexico come to the United States and "want to fly the Mexican flag" and "want to speak Spanish" instead of learning English. Liddy then stated: "They want to reconquer America, they say." {...} Published: June 6, 2008, 10:37 pm - Indexed: June 7, 2008, 10:21 am - Page Size: 21KB |