Mexican-American Students at Cornell University Under Siege
Female student chased by 6 or 7 bat wielding thugs
by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de AztlanLos Angeles, Alta California - 1/28/2002 - (ACN) This morning, La Voz de Aztlan received disturbing information concerning two serious racial incidents that occurred at Cornell University over the weekend. The information was provided by two Mexican-American students enrolled at the Ivy League school located in the state of New York. A subsequent investigation by La Voz de Aztlan uncovered an ugly pattern of ethnic discrimination against students of Mexican descent. Apparently, Mexican-American students are under siege by bigoted white students and by an uncaring and hypocritical university administration that includes a "Gestapo" type campus police department working in collusion with the Ithaca City Police Department.
The first incident occurred to a first year student as she and another companion were walking on campus last night. We have been asked by a campus administrator to withhold her name for her safety, privacy and protection against retaliation, and we will honor the request. The information we have is an actual statement by the victim. The female student starts her statement with "Last night, my dignity was nearly stolen from me. How, you may ask. Well let me tell you". As we read the statement of her terrible ordeal, we could not help but be in disbelief that such a thing could occur to a young women student in what is supposed to be one of the best universities in the United States.
Her statement continues "As we walked along, we spoke of the pride that we had in our lives - proud to be alive . . . ." She adds, "It was a moment to be happy and to be grateful." She then says, " Never did we expect to be stripped of our joy, our happiness, ourselves." The student of Mexican descent than begins describing her horrific experience, "We came to encounter a group of 6 or 7 white males that felt that we did not deserve to be here, that we needed to return to the ghetto or the poverty that they think we come from. It quickly became a moment where I feared for my life- for the first time."
She continues, " . . . never has someone come after me because of the color of my skin and tried to bring harm to me for that reason. I've heard almost every racial slur that can be thrown at me, and never did I ever care or allow those ignorant words to penetrate my shield, my spirit, my pride and esteem of being an Hispanic woman. I feared for my life not because I was afraid that my body was going to be hurt; instead I was afraid that I was going to be just another number that would go unacknowledged in this cruel world. That I was going to be just another statistic of racial hatred and I could not defend myself, nor could I say what I had to say, or do what I felt was my duty as a contributor to humanity. I was not going to be allowed to show who I truly am, nor was I going to be the one that opened doors for all the other defenseless children that are brought into this world by poor, uneducated, isolated families who are waiting for someone to reach and grasp their hands and bring them to a new life. I was overwhelmed with emotion- feelings of fear, sadness, anger, despair, and pride."
The freshman student continues with her heart wrenching account of the incident, "They did get out of their pickup (truck) and paced quickly behind us with bats in hand, continuously blurting out things that do not need to be repeated. With soundless prayers to God and our hands clasped together, we turned the corner at Baker (campus building) and ran across the footbridge and uphill to Court Hall ( campus dormitory) where we found sanctuary behind its glass doors. Now I cannot lie and say it ended there because my heart was pounding and tears and fury blinded me. My words were inaudible and my thoughts flooded my mind, but finally I tried to calm down. I stopped crying and tried to find comfort with the thought that maybe I could escape reality for a little while by going away from campus with friends. That did not happen, so I went to my room and found comfort in the words of my roommate and all those who spoke to me. I felt insulted, disillusioned, upset, afraid, angered, and confused. My roommate told me to not allow this one event ruin me; instead I should wear my impenetrable pride of being Hispanic and show them who I am. Although I allowed this to boggle my mind for hours- I finally realized when I came back to my room tonight, that I am so much more in my heart than what I let others see. So right now I am standing up tall and showing my pride. I will be me, a Mexican-American woman that grew up in Chicago and has lived through her shares of misfortunes and pain. That is why I am writing this. My dignity was nearly torn from me, but I did not let it leave my side - I gripped it with all my being and now I am a new, stronger, and wiser person. I am trying to put my life into words and I want those words to be heard."
The other racially motivated incident that occurred at Cornell University over the weekend may be related to the one above. It seems that there are elements that do not want Mexican-American students on campus and are using "terrorist" tactics to accomplish "ethnic cleansing" on the campus. It is unconscionable that the campus and city police may be taking part in these dastardly efforts. This incident occurred to the president of a Latino fraternity while they were winding down a "get together" to celebrate the beginning of the semester. The fraternity house is adjacent to the university and early Sunday morning the campus as well as the Ithaca City police raided the house , peppered sprayed the president and hauled him off to jail. Witnesses say that he was roughed up pretty badly and dragged across the yard of the fraternity house. The student president of Mexican descent has been released on bail but now faces multiple criminal charges. Could it be that this incident that occurred in the morning hours be in some way connected to the one that occurred in the evening to the female freshman and her companion? It is possible that the 6 or 7 bat wielding white thugs may have been out to teach the Mexicans a lesson "ala" Rinches (Texas Ranchers).
The present situation in America is very dangerous for Mexican-Americans and other people of color. Recently in northern San Diego County, here in California, we had the savage beating of five Mexican migrant workers and the dragging death of another. The culprits were 7 white youth who used pellet guns, iron bars and a pitch fork to attack the elderly and defenseless agricultural workers. One of the workers lost one eye when he was shot point blank in the face. The affluent all white community used its influence with the District Attorney to stop the bringing of charges for murder in the dragging death of the sixth migrant worker. Also, recently, in the state of New York, two Mexican laborers were brutally beaten by a white thug who used the pretext of offering work to them. He took them to an abandon warehouse and beat them bloody. Another two Mexicans in the east coast were also savagely beaten in a lounge for speaking Spanish.
As a community, we must not allow this situation to continue. We must do everything possible to protect our workers as well as our university students. We must call for an investigation into the incidents at Cornell University by federal authorities. We do not think that the investigation should be left to the campus or city police. There have been other racially related incidents against Mexican-American students and nothing has been done. Another female student at Cornell has told La Voz de Aztlan that, "Women of color at Cornell live in fear." She mentioned another incident where a Chicana student was "also verbally harassed by three white males last semester." She informed us that the young lady that was chased by 6 or 7 white thugs was very afraid to come forward and we are worried that the university might retaliate against her for doing so.
La Voz de Aztlan is calling for our major national organizations, and specially LULAC, to intervene in this matter on behalf of our students who are working very hard to be successful and contributing members of society. The president of Cornell is Hunter R. Rawlings III and the university can be contacted at 607-254-INFO or via email at info@cornell.edu
