California League of Latin American Citizens

C.A.L.L.A.C. Affiliated with the National League of Latin American Citizens

P.O. Box 433 Torrance CA 90508-0433 Tel: 213.787.5476 callac@janbtucker.com http://nllac.blogspot.com/2011/08/announcingformation-of-national-league.html

CALLAC AGENDA REQUEST FOR NCMC MEETING SET FOR MARCH 10, 2013 Introduction At the last NCMC planning meeting for the 2012 Moratorium people proposed what we will characterize for simplicity as a follow up meeting. This proposal was accepted by consensus. We understand that our comrades and allies of the National Brown Berets de Aztlan have been seeking to have this meeting called for some months. We are now apprised that the meeting that has been called for March 10, 2013 is being characterized as a pre-meeting and has only been publicized to a very small, truncated list of organizational representatives at this point. CALLAC is not clear as to whether these actions are substantive or only misunderstandings of semantics but at the outset we do not understand how these decisions were made nor do we understand who made them. This may simply be typical organizational paranoia on our part or they may simply have been spur of the moment decisions made in haste. Either way, if they are substantive decisions we opine that they contradict the consensus reached at the last NCMC meeting, whether intended or not. So, as a threshold issue, CALLAC takes exception to the fact that this meeting has not been publicized to all the usual suspects, i.e., the full range of organizations and individuals that are typically invited to full and regular meetings of NCMC who have traditionally participated over the decade. Interference with Consensus Decisions at the 2012 Moratorium By consensus a specific minimum time was set by the planning committee for speakers with the understanding this if time permitted they might be granted more time if there were scheduling problems. In point of fact, there were scheduling problems which, if anything, dictated that more time should have been granted to speakers, not less, i.e., at least one band did not show up, speakers did not show up, and the event itself ended far shorter than the agenda had provided for. Libertad Ayala as co-MC for the event, without advance notice to the two speakers proposed by CALLAC and accepted by the committee, Patricia Nazario and Kiko Salazar, truncated their time as they got on the stage by more than half, thereby thoroughly disrupting their prepared and practiced speeches. Again, this was done at a time when it was not clear that there would even be enough showups to completely fill the agenda. Consequently, we raise the following questions which we expect to be addressed and answered at the March 10, 2013 meeting: Prior to truncating Nazario and Salazar's time, did Ayala confer with co-MC Guillermo Suarez?

Did Guillermo Suarez concur with Ayala's decision and did he even know about it? Why did Ayala think that she had the authority as co-MC to truncate a speaker's minimum time with or without conferring with Suarez?

There is a particular appearance of impropriety with Ayala's truncation of Salazar's time, which suggests to us that Suarez was completely unaware of her potential unilateral decision-making. Suarez has been actively supporting freedom for Ramsey Muniz. In spite of the fact that in 2012 there was no objection raised by any group to having a speaker for Ramsey Muniz, during planning for the 2010 moratorium, my proposal to have a speaker on behalf of Ramsey Muniz was so vigorously opposed by Xenaro Ayala as representative for La Raza Unida Party (and because Muniz was in its heyday one of the most prominent LRUP representatives as well as its most dynamic candidate and orator) that I did not even bring the matter up for a vote at the time. Here are the essential facts concerning Xenaro Ayala's opposition in 2010 to having a speaker for Ramsey Muniz: Xenaro stated that he had visited Ramsey Muniz Xenaro stated that he did not believe Muniz's story surrounding his arrest and prosecution Xenaro offered no specifics of what he found unbelievable about Muniz's account Xenaro would have had to have visited Muniz in federal prison in Texas Getting visitor privileges for federal inmates is not an easy process and requires submission of a formal visitor application which must be pre-approved Assuming that Xenaro's representations in 2010 were accurate, I subsequently posed the question to Ramsey Muniz of what Xenaro had discussed with him Ramsey Muniz responded that not only had he never met Xenaro Ayala, he did not even know who he was; Irma Muniz additionally contended that she had never heard of Xenaro Ayala

Perhaps Muniz's memory is faulty. Xenaro can clear the air of whether his organization is biased towards Muniz and his representatives by providing the committee with a copy of his visitor application to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the BOP's communication granting him visiting privileges. Abuse of the Agenda NCMC is a coalition. It is no secret that there is outright animosity between representatives of the various organizations in the coalition. While CALLAC's articles of incorporation makes it an organization that is strictly opposed to racism in all its forms, we have tolerated overt expressions of racism such as rants against people with blue eyes that were obviously directed towards CALLAC's representative, the only person with blue eyes in the room. We have further been subjected to comments that we perceive as not even thinly veiled Jew-baiting under the racist assumption that all Jews are Zionists. CALLAC objects and takes exception to these practices within NCMC although we accept that we have to continue to tolerate them. However, we take exception to and will not continue to tolerate people bringing up non-agendized issues of who can or cannot participate in NCMC as a coalition and an institution. It is improper on its face for organizations to attempt to dictate which individuals do or do not represent other organizations in NCMC. CALLAC has to tolerate racists and Jew-baiters from other organizations (not to mention people that we consider to just be personally obnoxious individuals, such as those we have publicly criticized for engaging in and tolerating racist private behavior towards African Americans, e.g., doing Amos and Andy routines in Negro dialect).

Consequently, we object to the practice of other organizations bringing up non-agendized items (especially at the end of the agenda during announcements) in an attempt to dictate who will be the permitted organizational representatives of CALLAC or any other organization. Similar complaints Having conferred with our comrades and allies in the National Brown Berets de Aztlan we anticipate that they will wish to address similar complaints and concerns at the March 10, 2013 meeting. Respectfully submitted: The Board of CALLAC with approval from Angel Luevano, National Vice President, NLLAC