LUCIO AND OLIVEIRA PUT ON THE MANTLE AS THE SAVIORS OF HISPANICS

By Juan Montoya

It must be election time.
Why else would you have State Sen. Eddie Lucio calling out newt Gingrich (should he gain the Republican nomination for president) to fisticuffs over his statements on Hispanics?
You remember. Lucio stepped forward to defend our honor after he was told (because he admitted he never saw or read the remarks) that Gingrich had dissed our culture.

Lucio, D-Brownsville, is going on his 21st year representing District 27 in South Texas which includes all of Cameron County, a slice of Hidalgo, and the empty stretches of farmland in Kleberg and Kenedy counties, was "outraged" by remarks Gingrich reportedly made about the Spanish language.
In 2007, Gingrich told the National Federation of Republican Women that that Spanish is the “language of living in the ghetto.” In the speech, he blasted bilingual education and the law that allows states to use more than one language on ballots and other government documents. In Texas and other states across the southwest, English and Spanish are used.
“We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English ... so they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” Gingrich famously said.
Lucio, in his best West Texas drawl so alien to his poverty-stricken constituents, he said he was "deeply offended that anyone who wants to be president of this country, a country of immigrants, a country that was formed by taking Mexican land to begin with, would utter such comments,” Lucio said.
Well, now, that should make us feel a whole lot better knowing Eddie's taking off the kid gloves and calling out that Nasty Newt.

And how about State rep. Rene Oliveira? You know Rene. He's been wining and dining across the panorama that encompasses his district (and in Austin) on political contributions in between sessions. And he can proudly point out that he has been on the board of directors of the National Council of La Raza. More than one local resident has seen Rowdy Rene imbibing and making like a gavilan pollero putting the move on  any strays he might run across at hospitality cocktail hour.

He also stood up for us downtrodden Mexes by voting against giving local cops the authority to get immigration status identification during traffic stops. He even coined a cute little phrase: "Driving While Mexican" and uttered it on the floor.

But if this unlikely pair of La Raza paladins had really stood up for us, they would not have facilitated the rape of our community college by the UT System by excluding not only UTB-TSC, but also UT-Pan American in Edinburg from funding through the fabulously wealthy Permanent University Fund (PUF). Instead, they meekly came hat in hand and for a passel of lentils held the community down while the UT regents pillaged and raped her. "You want to meet my seester, Mister?"

Over the course of the 20 years that the "partnership" has existed, it is estimated that "transfers" from TSC to the UT System (UTB) have totaled close to $1 billion. Were it not for the current majority on the TSC board, the System would have acquired some $200 million in community college assets including the real estate, buildings and bank deposits. It took community residents showing up at their doorstep and in hearing sin Austin to let these fine gents know that we weren't going to allow the rape to continue before they finally got the message.  

Why is it that of the 15 or so components in the University of Texas and Texas A & M system only those in predominantly Hispanic (let's call a spade a spade, Mexican-American) South Texas are left out of sharing in the oil and gas royalty investment revenues? Even neoconservatives like Dan Rentfro, the TSC counsel, has argued that the local branch of the UT System can well take the system to court and argue that the state is discriminating against us because of our communities' ethnicity.

Isn't that where the paladins of la Raza are supposed to step in and defend our honor?

No, instead, they argue that such actions would be "contentious." We should just be satisfied that we have the burnt orange longhorn skull affixed to the buildings we pay for and be thankful for it.

If the folks over at Prairie View had though like out heroes, they never would have forced the UT System's hand and took them to court and got their share of the PUF cash. They didn't care if the dispute got "contentious." After all, they were defending their people (overwhelmingly black) and getting what was rightfully theirs, a fair share of the state's education monies from the PUF.

Leave poor Newt alone, Eddie. And if Rene took some time from his partying and womanizing for just long enough to defend our honor in the legislature, we might just believe the Superhero drivel coming from these gallant defenders of our honor.

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