shops and poverty-level service jobs.nThey want a policy that will harm thenUnited States as presently constituted.nThis objective is so clear that leftists feelnthat the defenders of the status quonmust surely see it and be acting toncounter it. “The threat of a strongnLatino population . . . leads the governmentnto attempt further control overnimmigration,” claims Cockcroft.nThe Ford Foundation has played anmajor role in bankrolling left-wingngroups involved in immigration projects.nIn its 1984 study Hispanics: Challengesnand Opportunities, Fordnannounced an initiative to “dispel” thenfollowing image:nThe growing Hispanicnpopulation of the United Statesnis a source of controversy and,nat times, of apprehensionnamong non-Hispanics. To some,nthat population represents a kindnof “fifth-column” threateningnto rend the nation’s socialnfabric through its apparentnunwillingness to assimilate; tondeprive other minorities andndisplaced blue collar workers ofnjobs by accepting work at lownand substandard wages; and tonact as a monolithic and powerfulnspecial-interest group on suchnissues as immigration andnbilingual education.nHowever, Ford’s solution was not tondispute the image but to defend andnexpand upon it. “What Hispanics havenneed of today is what blacks neededntwenty-five years ago: greater knowledgenand understanding of their economic,nsocial, and political situation andnof the roots of their disadvantage, andnthe development of an infrastructurenthat will increase their participation innthe mainstream of society.” Ford hasncommitted tens of millions of dollars tonthis end, supporting over two hundredngroups working to liberalize Americannimmigration laws.nOne of the larger recipients of Fordnmoney is the Mexican American LegalnDefense and Education Foundationn(MALDEF). Between 1982 and 1988nMALDEF collected over $6 millionnfrom Ford, and it jumped to prominencenduring the debate over the Simpson-MazzolinImmigration Reform Actnof 1986. MALDEF provides a primenexample of the radicalization of thenimmigration debate. As MALDEF’snassociate counsel John E. Huerta statednat a 1983 immigration conference organizednby Wayne Cornelius’ Centernfor U.S.-Mexican Studies:nWe seem to be headed for annew kind of McCarthyism innthis country, one that might bencalled Simpsonism, after SenatornAlan Simpson of Wyoming.nSimpson has no blacks in hisncommunity, no undocumentednworkers, not even Hispanicsndisplacing the white labor force.nHe has no political base othernthan a group of white votersnin his community who feelnthreatened, who identify withn”white power.”n(The Center received over $1 millionnfrom Ford during the I980’s. Huertanwas then also vice president of thenNational Lawyers Guild.)nMALDEF refuses to accept that anynimmigration reform advocates couldnhave legitimate motives, calling themn”groups that use a supposed concernnfor the poor, the environment, and theneconomy to turn public opinion againstndark-skinned immigrants.” MALDEFnopposes employer sanctions, interiornenforcement, and any increase in bordernsecurity.nMALDEF is an example of the shiftnfrom assimilation to autonomy amongnimmigrants. MALDEF was created inn1968 by members of the League ofnUnited Latin American Citizensn(LULAC), who had obtained a $2.2nmillion grant from Ford to create anHispanic equivalent of the NAACPnLegal Defense Fund. LULAC was primarilyna middle-class civil rights organizationnattempting to end discriminationnagainst all Mexican-American citizens.nIts code stated: “Respect your citizenship;nhonor your country, maintain itsntraditions in the minds of your children;nincorporate yourself in the culture andncivilization.” The LULAC constitutionnstated that the goal was “to developnwithin the members of our race thenpurest and most perfect type of a truenand loyal citizen of the United States.”nLULAC warned its members not tonassociate with groups that stressed Mexicannnationalism or Hispanic separatism.nIt wished to avoid any charge ofnbeing a group of radicals or agitators.nLULAC organized classes in Englishnnnand in American civics. Mario T. Garcianhas said of LULAC, “It believed thatnthe ‘genius’ and ‘quality’ of Americansnhad made the United States great andnthat Mexican-Americans should developnsuch virtues. These included individualism.nLULAC maintained thatnonly in the United States could citizensnprogress and retain their individuality.”nHowever, MALDEF nonethelessnfell victim to the New Left, becomingninvolved in the antiwar movement andnfeminism as well as the protection ofnillegal aliens. The battle over bilingualn(actually multilingual, as other minorityngroups joined the fray) education wasnpart of the larger struggle. When thenquestion is whether schools are to helpnminorities assimilate into American societynor to help them live outside Americannsociety, MALDEF chooses separatism,neven irredentism. In its officialnhistory, MALDEF traces its originsnback to “The expansionistic fervor ofnthe newly forming United States. … Ifnthe land of the Southwest could speak,nit would have an amazing story tontell. . . . The story of a people whonwere conquered and brutally subjugated.”nA political Reconquista of thenSouthwest plays a role in much ofnleftist thought on both sides of thenLIBERAL ARTSnDANCING WITH WOLVESnAccording to the Census Bureau, thenAmerican Indian population is soaringn—up 38 percent in the last ten years.nThis increase is too large to be accountednfor by the birthrate, which leaves onlynone cause; the number of people wantingnto be identified as Indians—basednon a fraction of Indian ancestry, or thenmyth of Indian ancestry, or on nothingnat all — is soaring.nAs Joanne Jacobs, a columnist for thenSan Jose Mercury News, wrote lastnApril 3, it’s not only that “affirmativenaction rewards minority status,” andnthat “being an Indian means nevernhaving to say you’re sorry for WoundednKnee.” In “urban, yuppified, angsthappynAmerica, Indians are perceivednas spiritually correct people, conservingnrather than destroying, being rathernthan consuming.” Being an Indiannmeans you “can get all the historicalncachet, without the pain.”nJULY 1991/57n