Albuquerque, N.M. – U.S. Senate Candidate and Congressman Tom Udall today released the following statement regarding Bernalillo County Republican Party Chairman Fernando C de Baca's divisive comments and refusal to resign:
"As our nation commemorates Hispanic Heritage month, and we in New Mexico celebrate over 400 years of historical contributions and our strong cultural diversity, Fernando C de Baca's comments are both insulting and disgraceful. We boast New Mexico's long-standing minority-majority status because of our immense pride in our vibrant diversity. Chairman C de Baca's comments are not only demeaning to the people and pride of New Mexico, they perpetuate and validate racism. These words are unacceptable for any official who represents our great state."
This morning on the Bob Clark show, C. de Baca said he had talked to Senator Pete Domenici, and now indications are he may resign following a private meeting with party leaders as early as today.
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As an African American & native New Mexican (my cousin is also an elected black female Republican official Jane Powdrell-Culbert who was elected from a community that has a high % of Hispanic voters) I hear these types of historical inaccuracies all the time. Most Hispanic New Mexicans know of the conquistadors but forget or don’t know that prior to Spain conquering the new world they were the subjects of the north African Moors. Also that they were in fact Muslims prior to becoming Catholics which was an allegiance formed with the Roman Catholic church at the time to over throw the Moorish rule (not because they legitimately believed that Christ was the or even a savior).
The purpose of pointing this out is to address C. de Baca’s comment “African-Americans came here as slaves. Hispanics consider themselves above blacks”. Because if the superiority complex that he is acknowledging is do to blacks being the slaves of the conquerors and other Europeans then by that same logic Hispanics would be “beneath” those of African decent merely because their white Spanish ancestors were slaves first and had to adopt by force the religion of Islam (which I think is a totally stupid theory). In my opinion this shows the lack of historical knowledge many native New Mexicans have both black and Hispanic which can be viewed as a direct reflection of New Mexico’s academic success or lack there of when compared to the other 49 states in our great union.
I could be wrong but I seem to feel that most Hispanics in New Mexico do not truly know their heritage beyond the conquistadors. And if they did they would know how inter woven their heritage is with those of African decent and would not “diss” the very same people that have shared with and help make possible the beautiful expansion of Latino culture. From the north African influenced architectural style & “Spanish tiles” to the music of said culture: salsa, reggaeton, bomba, plena, etc. Even most major league baseball players of “Latin decent” also share African decent.
We’re are all in this together even more so when it comes to my brown and black brothers & sisters. But if C. de Baca, his family, or any other New Mexican Hispanic truly believes what was said in the BBC interview that blacks are in fact beneath them then I would advise that they throw out all of their Motown(oldies) & War CDs along with all the other stereo-typical “Hispanic” things that "sub-par blacks" use to cling to as a part of their popular culture examples: zoot suits, Michael Cooper’s wearing of socks to the knees while wearing shorts, sagging of denim jeans, rap music etc.
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